I'm getting tired of the spam

[ScottJC]

Every day I come here I see more spam, and it sometimes takes days to get deleted.

The site was recently reinstalled, I saw the Apache page the other day so perhaps something can be done about this now.

Someone had access to make the changes I am about to suggest so its time to dig up this again!

Suggestions for solving this problem:
1) Hire more moderators
2) Make new members posts be moderated, i.e. until they have a certain number of posts, all posts they make must be approved by a moderator before they appear on the board, other forums can do it.
3) Set new accounts to have to be approved by moderators after registration, I know this board can do that, as a lot of the users have random usernames it should be easy to spot them.
4) Update this boards software if you haven't already ;)

I will of course continue to report the spam posts when I see them but I wish I didn't have to.


Also while i'm at it put this in 1964's heading if the board supports it ;)

For 1964 only. Even though it's :) <?php echo date('Y'); ?> :)

[[SS] Starscream]

More moderators are needed. I've even seen several mods listed as being here at the time most of the recent spam was posted and they left without doing anything. The forum seems dead and no one cares, but someone has to. I nominate myself to be added to the team.

[ScottJC]

More are needed yes however its typically not a good idea to ask to be moderator as admins don't respond well to it.

Should probably let other people nominate mods (not themselves) if adding new ones were feasible.

[[SS] Starscream]

I was only kidding, but yeah, more mods are needed. I didn't exactly pm anyone asking to be a mod. :)

[Allnatural]

Every day I come here I see more spam, and it sometimes takes days to get deleted.
It should never be that long, given that I'm here at least once each day cleaning up.

More mods would help, but I think it would be better to stop them from registering in the first place. Does this site even use a captcha (I haven't checked lately)?

[Toasty]

Also while i'm at it put this in 1964's heading if the board supports it ;)

For 1964 only. Even though it's :) <?php echo date('Y'); ?> :)
+1

Or use client-side Javascript if that's not supported. Would also be very pleased to see steps taken to reduce the amount of spam on here! I may not post too often, but I usually stop by multiple times a day and hate to see spam cluttering up the boards.

[MasterPhW]

In the beginning of the spam attacks, nearly 3 years ago, I reported every fcking spampost/-bots after I spotted them. Now, few years later, I see that it won't work, because most of them probably already gave up and clean from time to time. It's a shame, that martin is missing for so long.
Btw: It should be possible to change the 1964 headline, because a new sub forum was created just recently (EmuTalk.net > General Emulation > Unofficial Emulation Projects > 1964 (Unofficial))
The bots are really getting on my nerves... hope there's a chance to do ANY of the things you suggested!

[Allnatural]

Btw: It should be possible to change the 1964 headline, because a new sub forum was created just recently (EmuTalk.net > General Emulation > Unofficial Emulation Projects > 1964 (Unofficial))
The bots are really getting on my nerves... hope there's a chance to do ANY of the things you suggested!
That was Gent. He's still here regularly, but I don't think he can do much about the spam other than promoting more mods.

[NES_player4LIFE]

spam sucks.
side note today is imabot's birth day. :D

[smcd]

I like this site and just thought I would say hello! :bouncy:

Spam is a real problem these days. If only there were some drug to cure it - maybe with enough wow gold someone can develop one! or at least be able to buy some cheap airfare or quality replica watches and replica handbags


(This post is meant to be taken in jest to lighten the mood... ;))

[ScottJC]

It should never be that long, given that I'm here at least once each day cleaning up.

More mods would help, but I think it would be better to stop them from registering in the first place. Does this site even use a captcha (I haven't checked lately)?

It looks like it does, but that doesn't seem to be stopping them, so my suggestion about automatically moderating their posts would be the next logical step before more mods

i.e. they won't be seen by anyone but mods until approved would be a good idea, most new members unfortunately are spammers, kinda irritating.

Even if that can't be done,

More mods would be good, as you and gent seem to be the few mods who are active lately, I've never seen much other mods around other than the visit by VampireUK the other day.

[Martin]

Here I am! Hehe :)

Wow it's been a while since I logged in here...

[Martin]

Every day I come here I see more spam, and it sometimes takes days to get deleted.

The site was recently reinstalled, I saw the Apache page the other day so perhaps something can be done about this now.

Someone had access to make the changes I am about to suggest so its time to dig up this again!

Suggestions for solving this problem:
1) Hire more moderators
2) Make new members posts be moderated, i.e. until they have a certain number of posts, all posts they make must be approved by a moderator before they appear on the board, other forums can do it.
3) Set new accounts to have to be approved by moderators after registration, I know this board can do that, as a lot of the users have random usernames it should be easy to spot them.
4) Update this boards software if you haven't already ;)

I will of course continue to report the spam posts when I see them but I wish I didn't have to.


Also while i'm at it put this in 1964's heading if the board supports it ;)

For 1964 only. Even though it's :) <?php echo date('Y'); ?> :)

Yeah server upgraded the other day, nice and fresh. Pretty speedy too. :P

1) Well I'm not exactly up to date so if you have any suggestions for who'd be good as mod let me know (I'll subscribe to this thread)
2+3) I don't think that would be needed
4) I would but it costs and arm and a leg. :( Since vBulletin now is at version 4 we need a new license at around 150 bucks.

Updated the 1964 forum info ;) And changed the registration settings a bit (a little more difficult registration question)

[NES_player4LIFE]

WOW where the heck have you been???

glad to see back!!!

"for 1964 only" hehe

did you get pay pal straighted out? if so set of a donate for the cause button we'll get that 150 in no time.

Martin please Ban the word "Viagra" from any use on emutalk.

[Martin]

Hmm well let's see, been pretty busy getting my degree hehe. Also been working. Good to be back :)

[Allnatural]

This forum looks really great, almost forgot about it. Very nice and clean. Shame noone is posting anymore.
Yeah. The guy that runs it is a bit of a tosser though. :P

[ScottJC]

I knew since the board was updated that someone was around who could do something heh, good thing I noticed the Apache thing.

Welcome back, its about time you showed up, i've been wondering where you've been!

Suggestions for mods eh,
Well, personally i'd feel better about appointing one of the older members as it, since I can't nominate myself, I'd pick someone such as lazertag, smcd, MasterPhW, Toasty (and pretty much everyone who replied to this post). Not all of them are that active around here though.

Personally if I had to pick one I'd nominate Toasty, he seems to be around a lot and i've seen him post in a fair number of threads, more often than I reply lately.

[Toasty]

Thanks for the vote of confidence, ScottJC. But if I were chosen, it would be my first solemn duty to take disciplinary action on the goofball who triple-posted above...

Welcome back, Martin! :P

On the subject of expense in keeping the board software up-to-date, I guess you could always try ditching vBulletin and converting to a FOSS solution like phpBB, though it would obviously change the look and feel of the board substantially. In any event, it's good to hear from you again.

[ScottJC]

Yes someone do something about that b--- who is triple posting, doesn't he know about the magical edit button??

An alternative is we could try some kind of fund raiser to get up to the amount needed to upgrade the board, maybe the old fogies wouldn't mind chipping in, dunno about that though.

[MasterPhW]

I never thought, that would happen! Finally our beloved admin is back and ass kicking.
We don't need much new gadgets or features, we only need spam prevention, new news posters for emu64 (to bring some more clicks to emutalk aswell), probably new mods especially for some still some active parts of the board (like high res textures) and probably a rearrangement of some sub boards (who does need hle derivatives?).

We already thought you were taken by the aliens, martin! :D
Good look with your degree and nice to FINALLY have you back. Thread subscribed aswell.

EDIT: would be in for a donation aswell. To much great memories to let them die. That was the reason, why I kept posting here, too.

[Martin]

Sorry for the triple post, I don't even know my own rules anymore. ;)

I'll see what I can do to update the spam protection first, then I'll see about upgrading the forum.

As for news I think we should revert back to the way it used to be here. Mods and staff can post a thread in the Emu64 news board and it'll show up on the main site with comments and a link back to the thread. As nice as Keith's system is, it was a bit too difficult to get staff (too complicated perhaps) to post and now it doesn't even work at all.

I'll have a look at that as well. :D

[NES_player4LIFE]

Toasty, Smcd, Agozer and MasterPhw are my nominees for moderator.
these four are always online.

[MasterPhW]

Always online shouldn't be a main reason for being nominated as a moderator, the general behavior and knowledge should be. But I can second the nomination of all the old faces in this thread here, because they already proved their knowledge and interest in emulation for many years.

What we also need, is some kind of special title. It would be great to have a custom title for some of our greatest high res texture contributors (DJIPI for example).

[PsyMan]

Honestly, if the board is updated with some capcha-like system the need to trash spam would decrease like a thousand times. The need for moderators for this cause would also... dare I say, be eliminated?

On the other hand, a couple of people familiar with recent emulation progress as a whole, including some derivatives like retexturing, is very welcome. :)

Also Marty, glad you're not dead or something! :doh:

[[SS] Starscream]

Toasty or agozer are good mod candidates.

[Allnatural]

On the other hand, a couple of people familiar with recent emulation progress as a whole, including some derivatives like retexturing, is very welcome.

Definitely. That forum does see the most activity these days.

[Martin]

Honestly, if the board is updated with some capcha-like system the need to trash spam would decrease like a thousand times. The need for moderators for this cause would also... dare I say, be eliminated?

On the other hand, a couple of people familiar with recent emulation progress as a whole, including some derivatives like retexturing, is very welcome. :)

Also Marty, glad you're not dead or something! :doh:

Thanks, yup I'm alive still hehe :party:

I changed the registration question, maybe that will help a little. I also updated the GD image (image verification) options so it should be a bit harder to register. I'll look into other options for spam prevention though (think Wraggy mentioned one)

Now that we got news posting enabled again I can see a lot more people coming here, we still get lots of visitors to the main site.

[MasterPhW]

Could you please fix the bugs aswell?
Avatar upload and file upload is broken for years. Would come in handy to have some texture packs hosted here.

[smcd]

Welcome back, Martin!

[Wraggster]

One Touch Spam ban and Clean on VB forums (its a Mod), takes 2 seconds to install and gives mods/admins the ability to get rid of spammers and their posts in a second. its awesome

[Xtreme2damax]

Welcome back. :)

Yeah spam is an issue all around, since the new years there has been quite an influx of spam, it was speculated that bots found a way around recaptcha. The spammers/bots didn't crack it, they just keep reloading the captcha until they get one they can read.

[Martin]

Thanks guys. Wraggy: I'll give that one a try :)

[ScottJC]

One Touch Spam ban and Clean on VB forums (its a Mod), takes 2 seconds to install and gives mods/admins the ability to get rid of spammers and their posts in a second. its awesome
I like the sound of that, welcome back btw, haven't seen you in a while.

[_Zack_]

Avatar uploading appears to be fixed :)

[Martin]

Yeah both avatar and attachment uploads fixed :)

[PsyMan]

Just tried the arcade, games work but score submitting is broken.

[Martin]

Alright I'll have a look at that :)

[Gent]

Just tried the arcade, games work but score submitting is broken.

I swear hand on heart! that was not because of me trying out cheating methods ;) :P

[NES_player4LIFE]

uploads fixed yea :D

lol

[PsyMan]

lmao Gent.

Seeing Marty replying to that stuff makes me glad that there is someone who has this kind of access to the server. It just happens every few years and such. :doh:

[Martin]

lmao Gent.

Seeing Marty replying to that stuff makes me glad that there is someone who has this kind of access to the server. It just happens every few years and such. :doh:

I'm back for good this time :matrix:

Well it looks like the spamming has stopped. Only problem now is that we get no posts at all hehe :D

[Wraggster]

yeah the old style forums have very much gone south with the advent of social Networking, which is why integration with such things as twitter and facebook matter so much. well imo :P

[squall_leonhart]

Honestly, if the board is updated with some capcha-like system the need to trash spam would decrease like a thousand times. The need for moderators for this cause would also... dare I say, be eliminated?

On the other hand, a couple of people familiar with recent emulation progress as a whole, including some derivatives like retexturing, is very welcome. :)

Also Marty, glad you're not dead or something! :doh:

think again, sadly capcha has been cracked.

a new dark theme would do nicely... im not fond of overly bright forums :p the current dark blue has issues with some font colours and i think spoilers are broken (in the dark theme).

see, spoilers are broken

i suggest installing one of the newer spoiler mods which expand and contract.
or http://www.vbulletin-faq.com/forum/showthread.php?10886-BBcode-Advanced-Spoiler-Code

[Martin]

We'll upgrade the forums soon enough so I guess I'll work with some new styles then :)

[squall_leonhart]

:D lets turn Emutalk into the premier emulation community.... now that CGEMU (formerly NGEMU) has turned into a corporations bankroll.

[Martin]

Hehe yeah it's about time we do that :)

[PsyMan]

:D lets turn Emutalk into the premier emulation community.... now that CGEMU (formerly NGEMU) has turned into a corporations bankroll.

Well, you say similar stuff for every board you've been banned from, so I'm not taking this comment seriously. :P

[squall_leonhart]

Well, you say similar stuff for every board you've been banned from, so I'm not taking this comment seriously. :P

Psyman, why do you think i decided to get banned?

:P I seriously only get banned from places that i can no longer stand being apart of. Whether thats because management has gone out the window (CGEMU's support tickets? lolwut?), or because the moderators are complete dicks who don't do their research before complaining about stuff, then completely admitting to not having a clue or the inclination to learn the truth(Guru3D/NVNews).

Let me put it this way, If I had wanted to be apart of that place anymore, i would've created a new account after i was banned, but the level of fail at that place was intolerable, with xblade and his fail, and then that crazy guy who has since been allowed to rejoin with a dupe account, after he was banned for harassing certain female members in PM (as well as in im).

Not to mention the two faced administration that says one thing to you in IM, and another in the staff board :p.

If it wasn't for Bobbi suddenly becoming swamped with his new business, his new community might be online by now (but life has a habbit of changing plans).

[NES_player4LIFE]

sense marty came back this thread is rocking.

ET lives!

[ihearpixels]

Well, you say similar stuff for every board you've been banned from, so I'm not taking this comment seriously. :P

...You are one to talk. :matrix:

[PsyMan]

...You are one to talk. :matrix:

Hey, I don't remember getting banned from any forum... ever... but even if I was, I'd still be able to post.

[_Zack_]

So back on topic...

Is anyone else as excited as I am about the possible re-birth of this site? I still remember the good old days here, and would love them to return :)

[ScottJC]

Honestly I wasn't expecting the response I got to this thread, that was quite a surprise.

I'm glad I noticed the Apache thing the other day, though someone else could've thought of it.

Martin being back is quite a treat indeed since it brought a fair number of others back from the dead too, I guess he has some kind of mind control powers? It wouldn't suprise me ;)

And yes i'm fairly excited...

[[SS] Starscream]

Glad to see the site coming back as well. Good luck with the update.

[skull1]

Wow! The day finally came. Martin is back. There should be a frontpage post about this.

Welcome back Martin. I think Allnatural together with the other old timers was holding the fort when you were away.

[Xtreme2damax]

Regarding spam, I believe there is also a VB mod that prevents registration to spammers in the StopForumSpam database.

[ihearpixels]

Hey, I don't remember getting banned from any forum... ever... but even if I was, I'd still be able to post.

Funny...very. :matrix:

[MasterPhW]

Nice that the donation fund already raised 150 bucks. Will donate 50 bucks on Monday (pay day. ;))

[squall_leonhart]

I suggest a reconsolidation and reorganisation of the forums boards, i've always found it to a be a little disorganised.

maybe moving the long dead (and barely used) n64 emulators into a single section, and rearranging the non emulator discussion sections.

all the General *Console and General *Handheld discusions should be consolidated, theres too many boards with no activity for there to be a point to keeping them as individual sections.

NullDC, FCEUX and other boards are also not present :p

[MasterPhW]

I think we should wait for the forum upgrade till we reorganize the board. Shouldn't be a long wait and after that, martin can do it in the fancy new UI of vB 4.x. The most important point is to keep the whole posts/discussions alive, would be a GREAT loss, if it won't make the jump to ET 2.0.

[Martin]

I suggest a reconsolidation and reorganisation of the forums boards, i've always found it to a be a little disorganised.

maybe moving the long dead (and barely used) n64 emulators into a single section, and rearranging the non emulator discussion sections.

all the General *Console and General *Handheld discusions should be consolidated, theres too many boards with no activity for there to be a point to keeping them as individual sections.

NullDC, FCEUX and other boards are also not present :p

Yup we've discussed that in staff, it will be done after the upgrade :)

[Wraggster]

time to have new boards covering the new consoles too, maybe :P

[Robbbert]

To get back to the spam, I admin a certain board, and I added anti-spam measures that seem to work well. I created a "Introduction" forum, where a new person tells us about himself. He also needs to read the announcement, which asks him to apply for a member group. The "Introduction" forum is not visible to guests, so no spam can be seen by spiders. A moderator will read the intro thread, it's usually rather obvious if it's a bot or a real person. If it looks ok, the mod can then approve the member request, which gives posting rights to the rest of the forum.

Now so far, I've had a few spammers, and none of them have read the announcement. So, the forum (and its reputation) have been protected. The spam is all in one place making it easy to delete multiple threads.

Now on this particular forum, Members can see the "Introduction" forum, but on more sophisticated forums it could be hidden too. Regular Members would never ever see any spam.

The only minus in this, is the fact that Mods always need to be around to keep an eye on the intro forum.

[ScottJC]

Well, we have mods checking the board fairly frequently now, we may have to think about doing that if Emutalk becomes much more popular in the future which is possible with some elbow grease :D