Hi,
could we please get a better spam protection on the forums?
I think a simple update of the software could already filter out many ads. A slightly modified registration form would do the rest. We’re getting 2-5 spam topics a day, which is quite lot compared to the actual traffic.

Maybe a “report” button to make mods aware of a spam post?

I’ve noticed the “Spam” is falling in slices now.

Err… Probably not the best way to word it…

Anyway, it is getting out of control.

Next thing you know…that “Spam” will be laying between two slices of bread.

Not good.

Regards,

Mark

10 new spam threads just today…
EDIT: 13

I’m aware of the spam problem. There’s no need to complain about it. I’d appreciate it if people would stop filling my PM box about it, too.

We’re planning a big server move, which is also when we’ll be upgrading the forum and wiki software. At that point, it’ll be straightforward to add better spam protection.

If there’s a need for spam busting moderators, then I bet some users here on the forum would be willing to do that job for free. I for one would.

Thanks rdb. Let us know, if you need somebody to help with the move.

11 out of 15 new topics today are spam… we need that upgrade fast. I hate to add more to the spam flood, but is there any ETA on that server migration?

There is progress, though slow as usual. No ETA.

Please let the community help. This status cannot be tolerated any more. The flood of spam scares off newcomers, lowers the search engine ranking and offends loyal community members.
I’m a part of the community for some years now, but seeing the community being left alone like this is the most sad moment since the beginning.

These inconspicuous ads can seriously mean the end for Panda3D.

If you don’t do anything, I’m out here.

Do we have the ability to reject posts with certain keywords? Most of them seem to be advertising a specific product.

If anything, I’m sure there are many including myself who would be happy to help remove the posts manually.

I know that moving a whole community to a new server and software takes much time (especially if its private/free time)

So how about a temporary solution?
It shouldn’t be too hard to write a simple phpBB2 plugin/mod to do the following:

Add a spam vote button on every post.
If the votes reach a critical value (>5) the topic/post will be moved to a specified spam-category.

Add a reset-spam-votes button for the admins.

This way a small group of people would be able to take care of the spam for now. And if a post was wrongly marked as spam the author has the choice to ask an admin for the reset.

I would volunteer to write it as I have some php experience, although I’ve never written a plugin for phpBB.

Another temporary solution might be to create a category with a faked maxed out views and topics count.
The spam bots seem to post only in the “Scripting Issues” category as its the most viewed/used one.

EDIT: Forget that idea… they’re just posting everywhere…

Here, here!

The forums are currently unusable.
Please, please let the community help!

Saying “we have plans to fix this” is not sufficient. Clearly “we” doesn’t currently have the bandwidth, so some new helpers need to be deputized. I’m sure there are several people, myself included (wezu, teedee, and Nemesis#13 have all volunteered above), who’d be happy to help if only we were able.

–jonah

Just being able to remove this shit when we see it would be good for starters…

This situation is becoming unbearable. The legitimate traffic on the forum is now practically non-existent… This won’t “end Panda”, but it will do serious damage if no actions are taken. And taken now, not some time in the future.

Even if that meant 1.8.1 being released months later, we need action. Please, let’s do SOMETHING. Anything.

We’re working really hard on a solution, guys. I’ve also appointed an additional administrator to help with cleaning up the posts for the moment.

Glad to here that there’s an additional admin.
And thanks for the clean-up! The “Scripting Issues” category is finally usable again

Hey, no spam in new posts since yesterday! Looks like the efforts are paying out. Thanks and keep up the good work.

What a huge relief. Thank you very, very much.

What happened? It looks like we’re back where we started… Can the community help now?