Thread

I’ve seen it happen before, and not sure if it would happen here, but at some point the real users of a forum just can’t take it anymore, and they lose interest and leave. Then the only people posting are spammers, the spam doesn’t get flagged because there are no real users, new people who may be interested in the forum immediately leave once they realize there are no real posts, and the forum basically dies.

I don’t think this forum is near that point, but between the current level of spam, and the quantity of English speaking forum members that actually qualify to be called “developers”,  if I didn’t use CI every day, I don’t think I’d stick around. I do hope something good happens here.

Hey everyone,

First, let me apologize if those of us at EllisLab seem distant. While we do indeed have a lot going on, we’re definitely not ignoring CodeIgniter. We’ve been doing some great work on it lately, but that’s generally all focused on working with our developers and the CodeIgniter Reactor team. The forums are a great resource, but they’re meant to be a help to the community, and you shouldn’t take it as a sign that we don’t care if you don’t see us in this particular space. I promise we do!

With the spam, you’re all right. It’s gotten bad. I’m going to hit it hard here right after I post this and remove as much as possible. Those spam reports do come to us, so keep sending them when you find some spam. (Admittedly, it’s a lot to sort through because a huge number of people are using spam report tool as a way respond to the post privately, which is strange, and as a way to say, “I didn’t like the answer that was recommended in this totally legitimate post.”)

The thing is, our spam filtering is incredibly aggressive on these boards, so I’m truly impressed that some of this stuff is getting through.

Overall, I just want you all to know that we’re aware of the spam problems, and we’re working to come up with new solutions to deal with it. That’s just how it goes with spam prevention, after all. Gotta keep up with the weird new strategies that spammers employ. We don’t have an ETA on solutions, but your spam reports do help us note the spam that does get through, so keep sending them.

Thanks!

Hi Kevin,

Thanks’ for update, most of the spam starts hitting the forums on the weekend
and continues through the weekend.

I am always on and off on the forums and I do flag all of them that find.

Hey everyone,
The thing is, our spam filtering is incredibly aggressive on these boards, so I’m truly impressed that some of this stuff is getting through.

You’ve got an e-mail from me regarding that 😊 I can’t add links to my signature, and my profile (seemingly) can not be viewed.

Hi Tim,

The spam filter stops all new user for those functions until I think is 10 posts.
Afther that it will allow you do everything.

Hi Tim,

The spam filter stops all new user for those functions until I think is 10 posts.
Afther that it will allow you do everything.

Ahh, thanks. I thought I might be caught up in something IP based after searching the EE forums for the error I received while trying to view my profile. I live in The Philippines and blundering into blocks or hellbans is just something I have to deal with. I’ve been lurking (well, quite frankly leeching) from this forum for a few months, so I’m here to give a bit back.

I’m glad it can be lifted through participation, I assumed I was in limbo. Thanks again 😊

Happy to finally see an Ellis Lab face acknowledge this! Hooray!

It’s appreciated to see that the report links are actually sorted through (I’ll stop posting the spam contents into them now, haha). Honestly, though, I’d like to see either more participation by existing moderators, or new moderators to assist in the daily organization / spam removal. For instance, it drives me nuts how many general coding questions end up in the bug and code contribution sections.

That and while the spam does seem to be controlled at some point, it would go a lot faster if someone who actually visits the forum dealt with it, rather than waiting for a reported post email to get sorted through by a staff member. I’d be happy to volunteer.

Just my thoughts. Again, it’s good to see this acknowledged and that actions are being taken, but I think it could be improved in the interim with more participation by someone.

I’d be happy to volunteer also.

@Aken & @InsiteFX,

Judging by your recent ridiculous comments to other forum members I would not recommend that Ellislab offer moderator positions to either of you.

I highly disagree with me making “ridiculous comments”, but I won’t deny that I am uninterested in what people think of me. I will always be honest, telling people when they are wrong, and suggesting that they learn more before tackling CI if that is my genuine opinion. If EllisLab agrees with you, then so be it. But I am not interested in being a face of Ellis Lab or CodeIgniter. I am interested in keeping this forum organized and spam-free. It’s their decision.

Well wiredesignz the next time someone comes in and spams the forum 100 times you can go flag them all!

Which I did a couple weeks ago but then you are hardly around on the forums.

@insiteFX, Once again you are wrong.

FYI, I visit the forums every day and flag spam when I see it and have emailed Ellislab quite a few times.
And only a moron would flag 100 spam messages from the same individual, just report the User’s profile.

Both you and @Aken seem to think you’re the unofficial moderators. It’s not your position to tell people where to post or what they should post. It’s also rude to say to non-english speaking members they should get a translator or tell noobs that CI might not be the framework for them.

Well see there you go again, because I have never said that to any user and the on thing on post was telling them not to post in the IgnitedCode forum topic!

But don’t worry about you can help all of them from now on!

But I forget you are Mr. Perfect!

See Ya.

But I forget you are Mr. Perfect!

See Ya.

That’s not a response anyone would like to see from a moderator is it?

I think we are talking more about “spam patrol”, which is different from a “moderator” to me, or, a specific type of moderator with limited abilities.  Spam patrol should only need to be able to disapprove spam posts, or temporarily disable a users posting privileges until a moderator can look at it and make a permanent decision.  More of just a first line of defense.

But really, I think we just need a voting system where if x people flag something as spam it gets “put into moderation” and hidden away until a moderator approves it, if they decide to.  Spam patrol wouldn’t necessarily need to interact with any user, like a moderator might.  Just do behind the scenes stuff by removing spammy posts, which should have a definition.

Spammers are getting pretty clever by posting seemingly legitimate posts and putting a spam link or two in the text (or sig line).  This requires a human to be checking things out as software wouldn’t know if the link was spam or not unless it was hooked up to akismet or something like it, since the link is the only thing that is spammy about some of them.