Is there any way to block contributors like Elaine95 who seem intent on spamming these message boards with long messages full of meaningless rubbish?

I've noticed recently that the movement on the Foodlovers forums has dropped off and I wondered if people were being put off by these types of messages.

Marie

I'm certainly a spam hater but I've got absolutely fed-up with reporting it these days. Now I just ignore it with very bad grace, vowing that I'll take a rest from Foodlovers for a while and hope the problem goes away, but every day I can't resist a peak and seeing who else is braving the flood. I'm sure that other regulars are staying away because of the spam.

Personally, I would be more than willing to help fight the battle if only I knew how and was given the tools to do so. I've offered before but with no response.

I think activity hasn't picked up since school holidays (when it is always lower) and now Helen is away which makes a difference. We need our leader!

I'm not speaking for Helen in any way shape or form. I'm only speaking from my own experience having managed many forums over the internet for nearly 20 years.

The software this forum uses appears to be very, and I say this with all kindness, outdated. It appears to be a semi-custom written thing embedded into the Foodlovers website, which was a relatively common way of doing things 10-12 years ago which is when I suspect this website might have come into being. Me saying that is not at all a criticism.

The couple of other forums I currently manage out there are run on complex forum specific software on hosted sites, not embedded into a website such as this. We have to pay about US$250/yr for software licensing and another US$150/yr for site hosting of. In turn, these fees ensure the software is constantly being maintained and upgraded, and most importantly, security aspects continually being improved.

You'd be surprised. but it is very difficult to keep up with spam and spam-bot registrations even in a private members only forum, running up to the minute software with all sorts of spam prevention tools as part of.

So it doesn't surprise me at all that a forum such as this has a problem with spam. Prevention is going to be nearly impossible, and I suspect it requires someone to manually tidy it up.

For whatever it's worth, I'd suggest just ignoring it when Helen is not around to do the housekeeping Personally I feel there is no point getting wound up as spam, unfortunately, is just part of using the internet in ways such as this. Kind of like crappy holiday traffic, it's just something we've got to put up with sometimes to get to where we want to go.

Expecting a spam free zone is unrealistic.

I agree Jenna. My experience has been the same, adminsistering a few forums and also some Facebook group pages: the spam was unstoppable.

I have had no experience managing forums, but the subject headings in spam messages identify them as spam, and I'm also happy to just ignore them. It looks as if most others on this forum do the same - they seldom get a response.

it is not always the spam that puts people off from contributing - it can be the way others respond. Or perhaps some feel that others have such superior knowledge they feel intimidated when asking for advice.

The forum goes through periods where it is not as friendly and fun as it should be. I know I have gone silent for long periods and miss a lot of the old contributors who simply do not bother any more. No fault of Helen's, she does her very best as a moderator.

None of the forums, to which I belong, have the luxury of being spam-free. Including one IT forum.

Ali, thank you for posting your thoughts as I sometimes feel the same way. Often I wonder if it's just me having a bad hair day. Some days things worry me and some days are completely different.

Just to add, Helen does a great job.

I echo everything Ali W says. There was a lot of fun in the past which has gone by the by. Fun which also contributed to food knowledge. The spam doesn't bother me as I merely avoid looking at it. Everything now is so serious.

Oh groan, I am so sorry, spam is a never ending battle.
Lorna I would love you to take on an admin role of the forums and will change your settings tomorrow to be so.
Anyone else is welcome to as well. It just means that you can delete rubbish as it appears.
Jenna do you host sites as well?
Foodlovers has been around for 20 years and while we have had a forum update in that time I am sure that we are due for another and more changes.
It would be great if we could be spam free - I would like my phone to be as well. Sigh.

I wonder what can be done to improve the tone that obviously is upsetting and negative to some of you.
Any thoughts are very welcome.

Meanwhile I will go and start cleaning away that rubbish.

thanks so much,
Helen

Just got your email a few minutes ago, Helen, and I'm happy to help get rid of spam as it appears. I'm just having a bit of a play around to see how it works and I promise I will not be deleting anything other than spam.

Great thanks Lorna, it is wonderful to have you on board.

Jenna are you able to email me re your forum hosting and even any other options for site hosting.

thanks so much