AARGH!

[Cai]

If anyone has any suggestions about how to stop the incessant spam, please let me know!

I tried a couple of phpBB2 mods, but they didn't work. If you've had experience with any mod which does, I'd be OH SO HAPPY to hear from you!

[Timalfred]

Is membership of the forum still open? It shouldn't be - it should only be open to facebook group members or society members (or basically from some kind of list).

This wouldn't completely solve the problem but would help.

Telling people that only usernames that make your name clear will be approved too would help.

There's no reason to stop non-members reading the forum. But they should have to join in order to post in my opinion.

[Cai]

That's how it was before, but then every time a member/random bot applies for a membership, I or another exec member has to cross-check it with the member database on the union website :/

Hmmm... I wonder if there's a way to do it automtically? I'm guessing not with out a lot of work... :/

[Timalfred]

I think that we have to accept that controlling who joins the forum involves work - this will decrease after the initial rush of people because this forum is only just being set up. I'm sure all of the exec would be happy to help out - to be honest it sounds as if it should be partly the secretary's job

[Cai]

Ok

I'll fix this up so new members have to be confirmed probably later tonight

[Cai]

K, the forum software is updated (phpBB 2 to phpBB 3). The new software:

• Is more secure (it's got a better CAPTCHA, and one which it's possible to vary the strength of)
• Has better admin tools (which means I can prune bogus accounts and curb bad traffic with greater ease)
• Is better in other ways (see the new feature list if you're interested)

Hopefully this will mean the forum is up and running again with less/no spam!