Author Topic: anon posting, yea or nea?  (Read 10547 times)

Spriggan

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anon posting, yea or nea?
« on: January 16, 2006, 09:33:55 AM »
We've been getting lots of spam lately, both phishing and porn related, and it's time we discussed anonymous postings here on the forums and whether or not we should turn it off.

So what do we get by having it and what do we get by turning it off?

I don't see any negatives to not having anon posting, the few real posters would probably register to post and if they don't who cares?  90%+ of them only post once and those that post more have ended up registering anyways.

True right now we're not getting a lot of spam, a few a week, but it's been escalating and eventually that'll mean we will be getting lots more, and we don't have a forum admin who's on when the others are in bed so sometimes this stuff is on for much longer then it should be.
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stacer

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Re: anon posting, yea or nea?
« Reply #1 on: January 16, 2006, 12:25:41 PM »
I've been wondering why it's been escalating. I don't suppose there's a middle ground anonymous posting thing, like the text recognition test that I've seen on Blogger? If there isn't something like that, I'd say just turn off anonymous posting.
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Re: anon posting, yea or nea?
« Reply #2 on: January 16, 2006, 01:06:28 PM »
One positive thing about anonymous posting is that a few of us who don't think we'll become regulars might want to contribute something, and it enables us to when we can't be bothered to register, otherwise.

Not that this necessarily makes anonymous posting worth it.  But at least it's one positive thing.
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Lightning Eater

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Re: anon posting, yea or nea?
« Reply #3 on: January 16, 2006, 01:47:12 PM »
Wouldn't the spam people just create accounts to spam with if we disabled anonymous posting?

Archon

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Re: anon posting, yea or nea?
« Reply #4 on: January 16, 2006, 01:57:52 PM »
Not if they are auto-spammers.

One thing about turning it off is that a lot of the time when members want to post at a computer where they don't have their account saved, it is an easy way to still post.
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Fellfrosch

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Re: anon posting, yea or nea?
« Reply #5 on: January 16, 2006, 01:58:23 PM »
That does happen quite a bit.
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Tink

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Re: anon posting, yea or nea?
« Reply #6 on: January 16, 2006, 03:38:47 PM »
Considering how much we've gotten just today, I say take it out or filter or something. We could just all remember what our passwords are so we can post from other computers when we need to, right? These spams are pretty annoying.

42

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Re: anon posting, yea or nea?
« Reply #7 on: January 16, 2006, 03:48:22 PM »
I'm of the opinion that it was nice to be able to post anonymously (for when you were ay work or otherwise away), but now it appears TWG has gotten the attention of less savory elements. So perhaps it is time to turn off the anon posting.
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Mad Dr Jeffe

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Re: anon posting, yea or nea?
« Reply #8 on: January 16, 2006, 03:57:16 PM »
like like 4 today!
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Re: anon posting, yea or nea?
« Reply #9 on: January 16, 2006, 03:59:21 PM »
I was going to be in favor of anon posting, but not signing in to post is something I've done once, and that because I'm lazy.

But I've deleted three five spams today. That's as much as I do my email. I'm going to have to vote we turn off anon posting.

fuzzyoctopus

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Re: anon posting, yea or nea?
« Reply #10 on: January 16, 2006, 04:30:10 PM »
I agree with E - I can take the 5 seconds to log on from a strange computer if I want to.
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Re: anon posting, yea or nea?
« Reply #11 on: January 16, 2006, 04:39:39 PM »
And I've deleted one as well, not to mention the one that we just mocked instead of deleting. We are getting nearly the twice the traffic we used to, and I'm hoping it's not all smap bots, but either way I'd like to keep the boards as clean as possible. I say we kill anonymous posting.
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Re: anon posting, yea or nea?
« Reply #12 on: January 16, 2006, 05:36:35 PM »
and lo... it is done.
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Spriggan

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Re: anon posting, yea or nea?
« Reply #13 on: January 16, 2006, 09:24:29 PM »
Wow, 5 in just a few hours today that's annoying.  Considering how easy our register system is I don't see this as driving people away.
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Peter Ahlstrom

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Re: anon posting, yea or nea?
« Reply #14 on: January 19, 2006, 01:55:43 AM »
Wanted to vote in favor of locking out, but...I see you already did it. Yay.
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