Reply to: How long.....

[realityhack]

Fair comment, I have read through the post and used advise from here sporadically for a few years so I can't quibble. I tend to spend around 50% of my time at home these days so will try and provide some help for those starting out.

Congrgatio - welcome to the board.

We don't normally delete anything other than the obvious spam & sockie rubbish.

Any useful feedback you may have here for those starting out will, I don't doubt, be appreciated.

Venture into the 'Social' forum with thick skin. Venture anywhere else and get flamed? Let us know.

[Wodewick]

Completely agree, its a battle and thats why I've always stuck with it, contracting is a state of mind. Its not always a good idea to shred those new to contracting though, it is a transition but its not impossible. I can play the spoons if we need to get musical

No worries on the deletes, it happens.

Welcome to the Forum.

[MarillionFan]

I always try to welcome all Newbies to the board in the style they would be welcomed if they went up against me for a contract.

Cursory nod, little wink and smile, and then I eat them for breakfast.

[Congrgatio]

Fair comment, I have read through the post and used advise from here sporadically for a few years so I can't quibble. I tend to spend around 50% of my time at home these days so will try and provide some help for those starting out. Its peaks and troughs in the industry at the moment as you know, tricky time to take the plunge but also the most rewarding for those who are savvy enough.
Recessions are always good for trimming the wide boys.

[cojak]

That's why we encourage newbies to post in our Welcome/FAQ forum. We're harsher to those cutting up newbies here.

[Congrgatio]

A community??? Good grief we're contractors, not ukulele players! Of course it's fiesty on here - it's just as fiesty out there in contractland.

(Apols if we deleted you before Congrgatio, we usually let most newbies through unless they're spammers or obvious sockies...)

Completely agree, its a battle and thats why I've always stuck with it, contracting is a state of mind. Its not always a good idea to shred those new to contracting though, it is a transition but its not impossible. I can play the spoons if we need to get musical

No worries on the deletes, it happens.

[cojak]

Notwithstadning that, it seems pretty elitest on here, most people that do post get ripped apart, its more akin to a dog fight than a community sometimes. That why I decided to join, try and add a bit of value.

Anyway, if this reply doen't make it then I wont bother with the forums in future.

A community??? Good grief we're contractors, not ukulele players! Of course it's fiesty on here - it's just as fiesty out there in contractland.

(Apols if we deleted you before Congrgatio, we usually let most newbies through unless they're spammers or obvious sockies...)

[Congrgatio]

Moderation is a double edged sword. I hope I didn't come across as too surly. Vbulletin is a superb platform but it does attract a lot of Spammers, not as much as wordpress but pretty close.

It is an awkward juggle and not all those who have their replies deleted will make the effort to post again afterwards. I ran Vbulletin on a number of sites for a few year. Initailly the most effective anti spam approach was a blanket banning IP blocks which worked pretty well for a while and kept most spammers away. After that I blocked using specific email patterns (.ru being a primary one). Trouble is that most spammers opt for gmail these days and we all know that a good deal of real people do too.

Moderation is always needed to a certain extent, but its a horrible job at worst, tedious at best.

I usually watch for patterns in IP and email addresses, after a few months of filtering moderation because far easier.... Don't mean to preach to the converted, just sharing the love . Dont know how much VB 4.o has done to reduce the spam problem, they are a grat team but they have been hung by spammers for years.

Anyone else operating a Vbulletin forum who may be able to help?

[MarillionFan]

I would suggest turning the moderation off on Newbies for a while and see what effect it has.

If it turns into a royal pain in the ass, turn it back on again.

[NotAllThere]

There you go. This one only took an hour and a half to become visible.

[Congrgatio]

I have to agree

you only have to look at at evenings posts to see how dead the site has become.

New posters are put off

I joined the forums yesterday and added a few replies where I though I would add value. Non are showing so as a newb to this forum its makes me think what was the point spending an hour sharing experience / thoughts for the mod simply to delete it?

Spam is always an issue on VB forums, thats why I stopped recommending it to clients (its a good package, but the spammers love it). If you simply delete all the posts then guess what, you wont get eny new members posting. Notwithstadning that, it seems pretty elitest on here, most people that do post get ripped apart, its more akin to a dog fight than a community sometimes. That why I decided to join, try and add a bit of value.

Anyway, if this reply doen't make it then I wont bother with the forums in future.

[NotAllThere]

I'm back now (11 hour drive from the South of France... ). Captcha is great for weeding out spambots (and for assisting in digitising printed works). But not so good for keeping out spammers, and others with agendas.

[cojak]

Spam is not the issue, it can be dealt with.

The problem that has been experienced in the past is that staff from one service provider will pose as disgruntled customers of their competitors, that's what needs to be weeded out.

That can still be dealt with if people report said posts. We could then review reported new posts and deal with them.

But I must admit it is quicker to look at the moderator queue than crawl through all the forums retrospectively just in case something has got through.

The regulars would be expected to report dodgy posts more often with an open house policy.

[Gonzo]

Assumed the system was in place to stop spam but thansk for the comment.

Spam is not the issue, it can be dealt with.

The problem that has been experienced in the past is that staff from one service provider will pose as disgruntled customers of their competitors, that's what needs to be weeded out.

[northernladuk]

Ahhhh....I'm touched.

You met HAB then I see.