I would disagree, for the following reasons -
1) If someone has something laser-related for sale, and they post an appropriate ad in B/S/T, that's not spam,
that's what that section is there for! As I member,
I WANT to be able to see such ads, and not have them prevented just because they don't happen to be a long-term member of this particular forum!
Note that this does
NOT apply to multiple ad postings, or ads for non-laser related items, those
ARE SPAM, and should be dealt with accordingly.
2) It would hurt established but newer members, long-term lurkers who didn't register until they had something to say/sell (remember, lurkers are over 80% of the users of LPF!), and even some long-term members who don't post a lot!
3) It would also encourage spammers
to fill LPF with a bunch of "junk" posts, just so they could get past the automated limit! And no, the 60-day thing won't stop this - I had some Russian spammers on a different (non-laser) forum that registered a whole bunch of bogus member names,
NOT to immediately spam with them, but for future use, to evade such a delay! I believe c0ld may have run into these guys as well -
http://laserpointerforums.com/laser_pointer_forums_3/forum/showthread.php?t=40141
so he already has evidence in his own hands as to why such a delay won't work!
3) By denying them from posting in
ONLY B/S/T, it is just going to drive the actual spammers
into posting spam ads in all of the other sections of LPF! From an admin standpoint, I think it's
MUCH preferable for the spam ads to be mainly in one place, where they are easier to locate & "swat"!
4) This will not fix the spam problem so much as it will act as a "protectionist" policy for the established sellers! As a member,
I want to see what the new guy has to offer!!! I would also point out that preventing certain sellers from posting ads is a small step down that same path as Wicked Laser's forum!
Hurting spammers is great, but we need to do it in a way that doesn't also hurt LPF users in the process!
What I would suggest -
* Prevent new members from posting live links in
ANY section of LPF until after 10 posts (just like we did in YaBB) - this will stop the "drive-by" Google link spammers.
* Prevent accidentally re-activating previously banned member accounts ported-over from the old forum, that had been created just to spam LPF.
* Implement a good CAPTCHA system for new member registration, to prevent automated registration by spambots (I believe this is already done).
* Perhaps auto-lock a member acct if they posted, say, more that 5 posts in 1 minute, to stop automated spam posting.
* Lock-out spamming members when you see them, and for a really persistent spammer, perhaps IP address block to prevent them from posting under
ANY nick.
Any of these will reduce spam, but
NOT hurt legitimate LPF users in the process!
