Can Non-ProBoard Guests Leave Comments?

[Bob]

Forum URL: robsgames.freeforums.net/admin/structure/category_board

I'm having a brainfart here this morning, but simple question:

If I allow "Everyone" to reply to or start threads on one of my Boards, would they still need a ProBoard registration to do so?

I'm guessing the answer is "Yes", but I haven't had my coffee yet and I'm having a hard time thinking this through for some reason. The coffee is decaf anyway...
I'm thinking they would have to have a screen name associated with their comments, hence a registration, right? Or can comments simply be left anonymously as "Guest" or something similar?

[bigballofyarn]

If you let everyone, including guests, reply to a thread, random people from anywhere can reply to a thread. In theory, if a bot can solve a captcha, it can reply to a thread as well. A guest doesn't need a ProBoards account to post as a guest.

[Bob]

Aug 14, 2024 5:12:17 GMT -8 bigballofyarn said:

If you let everyone, including guests, reply to a thread, random people from anywhere can reply to a thread. In theory, if a bot can solve a captcha, it can reply to a thread as well. A guest doesn't need a ProBoards account to post as a guest.

You're running a large forum, could you link me to an example of a Guest posting?
Also, how much of a bot problem do you have?

[bigballofyarn]

This is the ongoing guest chat thread I started in 2009. bigballofyarn.proboards.com/thread/17680/guest-chat?page=1

Real members have also replied to the thread, but you can see all the guests.


Edit: I have safeguards in place though. Post a message as a guest and you will see how it appears. 

Edit 2: I let a few guests do self-promotion on the last few pages of the thread. I know them personally. They just don't have ProBoards accounts. So, those don't count as spam. I generally do not have a problem. I have moderators who nuke things for me while I'm away or asleep. In the event someone is successful in creating a problem post, it's rare and doesn't disrupt my forum. We just delete the message when we see it. It serves them no benefit and only earns them a ban. If they attempt to spam their own ProBoards forum, they risk repercussions from the higher powers of ProBoards.

[Bob]

Aug 14, 2024 5:24:03 GMT -8 bigballofyarn said:

This is the ongoing guest chat thread I started in 2009. bigballofyarn.proboards.com/thread/17680/guest-chat?page=1

Real members have also replied to the thread, but you can see all the guests.


Edit: I have safeguards in place though. Post a message as a guest and you will see how it appears. 

Edit 2: I let a few guests do self-promotion on the last few pages of the thread. I know them personally. They just don't have ProBoards accounts. So, those don't count as spam. I generally do not have a problem. I have moderators who nuke things for me while I'm away or asleep. In the event someone is successful in creating a problem post, it's rare and doesn't disrupt my forum. We just delete the message when we see it. It serves them no benefit and only earns them a ban. If they attempt to spam their own ProBoards forum, they risk repercussions from the higher powers of ProBoards.

Okay, so posts are quarantined before showing up in the forum, I see that now that I've posted. Is this something done automatically by ProBoards or are you using a Plugin for that?
Banning is another thing I was wondering about - how do you ban a troublesome Guest that's not registered? ISP ban?

[bigballofyarn]

No, it's not something that's automatic. There's a post quarantine plugin. www.proboards.com/library/plugins/item/286


I would issue an IP ban.

[Kami]

Just a note that an IP and ISP ban are different. IP Address (shortened to IP usually) is the individual address a user has when accessing the internet. ISP is internet service provider (the company that provides internet access to a user). Banning an ISP would be a pretty big button (and kind of hard to do on an individual forum level) to press just for one spammer :)

[Bob]

Thank you, bigballofyarn, for your help, it's much appreciated.
Thank you also, Kami, I'd always wondered about that.

I will go experiment with my forum.

[Bob]

I've finally gotten around to trying this plugin and I have one question.

Regarding post counts, is it possible to quarantine only those guests that have less than 5 (or whatever number)posts?
I do not want my registered members affected by post counts, just guests.
Specifically, I'm confused by the Examples statement at the bottom of the Quarantine Rules page of the plugin which says: If you want to affect guests in a board: leave members array blank, and set post count to 0

[Kami]

Sept 2, 2024 16:58:01 GMT -8 Bob said:

I've finally gotten around to trying this plugin and I have one question.

Regarding post counts, is it possible to quarantine only those guests that have less than 5 (or whatever number)posts?
I do not want my registered members affected by post counts, just guests.
Specifically, I'm confused by the Examples statement at the bottom of the Quarantine Rules page of the plugin which says: If you want to affect guests in a board: leave members array blank, and set post count to 0

No. There's a fundamental misunderstanding here as to what this plugin impacts, I think.

Guests do not have post counts. They cannot, simply because they are guests. All data about an individual user are tied to account. No account, no data, and that includes the number of posts. IP addresses are not unique; they can be altered, and they can be shared, depending on the ISP and various other tools like VPNs. You cannot have both a quarantine based on post count as well as guest posting. That is why you must set the post count minimum to zero: guests do not have a recorded post count.

[Bob]

OK, got it, thanks.