Minor Forum Adjustments and Updates

[Taw]

A few tweaks and fixes have been applied to the forums over the past month or so. Here's a list of the changes made and tweaked.

-Added new anti-spambot plugins to help counteract spam registrations (we average 7300 attempts a month from spammers roughly)
-Changed our registration system to the following:

• New users are now placed into "New Users" - this is a moderated user group and is UNABLE to post anything with more than two links in it (along with a list of 'bad words' that will prevent their posts from going through if it hits one of these words (mostly spam words like a typical spam email)). After posting a message that is 140 characters or more they are bumped up into "Registered Users". This group CANNOT EDIT THEIR PROFILE INFO.
• Registered Users is no longer the default registration group. This group requires at least one post of 140 or more characters to be moved into it (5 minutes or so delay before the auto-promotion software checks for users who now meet the requirement). This group has a few anti-spambot monitoring systems still in place but not nearly as strict. This group can also edit their profile.

-Added a few forum notices for certain usergroups such as new_users
-Guests can no longer view profiles of users to prevent spammers using it as a means of linking back to their sites by filling out profile info with malicious website URLs
-"Weasyl Name" is now required upon registration of forum and when editing profile
-Auto moderation for new topics tweaked to be less strict and only affect "New Users" group
-Old captcha system (draw the image) removed from registration and replaced with Re-captcha
-Minor text tweak for "Weasyl Name" field
-Forum email settings adjusted slightly
-Site and Forum Support no longer requires tags prefixes for posts due to a random error preventing some users from making new topics

Essentially most of these changes were to fix the rush of spam registrations we were receiving. We still unfortunately do get them but only a few are slipping through from the hundreds that attempt to get in daily. Although most of our attention is the main site, Eminoxic and I plan to update the forums when we can and continue to tweak and change things over time. If you have any suggestions or concerns about the forums we encourage you to make a post about it in the Site Discussion section or discuss it on this thread.

[Nightpaws]

Sounds good. I wish more forums had this sort of spam prevention measure in place!

Just to be sure, if someone is in the New User category and donates immediately, will they still be moved to the Premium user group or will they still have to meet those conditions?

[Taw]

Sounds good. I wish more forums had this sort of spam prevention measure in place!

Just to be sure, if someone is in the New User category and donates immediately, will they still be moved to the Premium user group or will they still have to meet those conditions?

They will be automatically moved into the premium user group and they will not have to meet the requirements. However, even if a user donates the rules still apply to them, so if they donate and spam or break rules, they still receive the same punishments as anyone else.

[Ibuuyk]

But if they create an account, donate, get the Premium status and THEN fill the requirements to get registered user status, will their Premium status be overrode by Registered User or does it either take priority or stack?

[Taw]

But if they create an account, donate, get the Premium status and THEN fill the requirements to get registered user status, will their Premium status be overrode by Registered User or does it either take priority or stack?

Ranks stack. They would not be kicked out of premium if it happened, it would apply the rank as a secondary rank.

For example, my primary rank is set to Director, but I am also: forum admin and ferret. If I had 0 posts and was also in New Users and then made a post, I'd still be Director, but also forum admin, ferret and registered user.

[Ibuuyk]

Ranks stack. They would not be kicked out of premium if it happened, it would apply the rank as a secondary rank.

For example, my primary rank is set to Director, but I am also: forum admin and ferret. If I had 0 posts and was also in New Users and then made a post, I'd still be Director, but also forum admin, ferret and registered user.

Cool, then you did a good job with the ranks!

[foxboyprower]

Sounds like a pretty good system. Let's hope we get good results.