livedarklions

How about not letting people start threads until 10 posts? The bot accounts are starting 5 threads each which is what is crippling the subforums.

unterhausen

It's a idea, but many new users are bitterly upset over not being able to post links and pictures for the first 3 days. Lots of people show up here wanting to share a link and are unhappy they can't. Imagine the butthurt if they couldn't start a thread.
I can understand that. And it would totally kill the introductions subforum
If this keeps up they might have to do it temporarily though.

livedarklions

Is there a way to set up so that for the first 10 posts, new threads would have to be approved by a moderator? I've seen similar arrangements on other forums.

unterhausen

The lifeblood of a forum is new users, can't chase them away before they get hooked. There are systems in place that just need to be tweaked that will make it uneconomic for this group of spammers to bother with us. I have fairly high confidence that what IB is working on will help. Where's the "impatient" emoji?

livedarklions

Definitely, new user access vs. spammer vulnerability is a tricky balance. OTOH, I can't think of a bigger turn off to joining in the discussion than facing a forum overrun with this type of spam. I hope you're right that there's a tweak. Is "uneconomic" a euphemism? Like "nice legs you got here, hate to see them become uneconomic for you".

unterhausen

The delay on starting threads is not a bad idea. There is a delay on posts, isn't there?

"shoes are expensive, let me help you with that"

This place has great anti-spammer protections. Even as a mod I don't see them working most of the time. The current group just has low expectations. I agree that it would be bad for a new user to see a wall of spam, it's bad enough for people that have been around for a while.
There are other cycling forums that would have a lot of trouble with them, I hope they don't head to any of those places.