SHOULD THE CANCER FORUMS BE A CLOSED FORUM?

brainman

To all member,

Many of you have already told my about the Britney Spears messages and other pornographic messages that have been posted recently. Fortunately, our administrators and our moderator have found these soon. But there are times when the administrators and moderators are not available to delete these thread. One possible way to solve this is to make the forum a closed forum. This means that new members will first have to be approved by an administrator.

The Pros for this are: Early detection of porn and ad potentials even before the "member" can post a message.

The Negatives are: There could be a significant delay on approval of new memberships. New members are a significant majority of people starting new threads. Also, often they are seeking rapid responses to their needs.

However, I would like to ask all of you for your input before I ever bring the to Dr. Leo for his consideration and decision.
_________________
Jim
Site Administrator and long-term cancer survivor
1992 Astrocytoma grade 2, left motor strip
2005 Recurrence this time said to be an Oligodendoglioma grade 3, same location.
My Story Part 1: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?p=7350
My Story Part 2: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=8029
Blog http://jimhawkinsport.blogspot.com/

Vee Smith · Moderator Joined: 12 Feb 2006 Posts: 743 Location: UK

For what it's worth, I don't think these forums should be closed forums. It is not always possible to identify trolls or scammers on first sight. But it would be helpful to have a notification button so we can alert the moderators to undesirable postings. I think this works better than sending emails or personal messages.

bethanyaok

[quote="brainman"]

However, I would like to ask all of you for your input before I ever bring the to Dr. Leo for his consideration and decision.[/quote]

Hi Jim! I think it's true that most new topics are started by newbies. I agree with Vee. It would be great to have a notification button. Could there be a second and/or third person functioning as administrator or moderator? That way offensive posts could be removed more regularly. JMO.

Thanks for asking!
Bethany
_________________
Bethany
breast cancer dx 4/17/00
4 AC, 28 rads, tamoxifen
7 years NED, and counting!
BRCA2+ 2/1/07

Lost Dad to Lung Cancer June '05

brainman

Vee, I have still not formed my own opinion on this subject although I do see your point. No matter how vigilant we administrators are, there will be a certain percentage of new members that get through. I already do this checking but it is after the fact and yet people still post messages that violate our policies. I delete about 50% of new member on a daily basis because it is obvious from the information they provided while registering that they are a significant danger (use pornographic sites as their websites, for example). Fortunately, what most new member do not seem to know is that the only information that is required during registration is an active email, a username, and a password. All the rest is optional. So, if a person registers a "viagra.com" site, says he/she lives in viagra, profession is viagra, and hobby is viagra, it is a pretty safe bet that if the do ever post it will be an ad for viagra Laughing

. I can prohibit certain words and even certain email sources... I have banned @mail.ru because it seems like everyone using that IPS service only posts porn. However, I cannot to that for @yahoo.com because a lot of legitimate members use Yahoo! as there email service. Anyhow, my point is that regardless of what we do, a certain number of new, spam members will still get through because they are NOT obvious enough about their true intentions.

I am still thinking and would appreciate all of you to not just vote but to also post a comment.
_________________
Jim
Site Administrator and long-term cancer survivor
1992 Astrocytoma grade 2, left motor strip
2005 Recurrence this time said to be an Oligodendoglioma grade 3, same location.
My Story Part 1: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?p=7350
My Story Part 2: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=8029
Blog http://jimhawkinsport.blogspot.com/

Big Sister · Experienced user Joined: 02 Nov 2006 Posts: 68

Hello, Jim -- Keep the forum open. Many people faced with cancers, whether their own or their loved one's, are looking for help, for answers, for comfort. To eliminate the possibility of connecting because of scammers and spammers is not helpful or humane. A notification button would help us all police the site. Good idea. Kind regards, Pat

swaggerstick1 · Regular Joined: 02 Jan 2007 Posts: 14 Location: Indiana

I voted to keep it open, however, I can see your point and will be happy to go along with whatever you decide. I can live with your decision. Thanks for asking our opinion though.

brainman · Last edited by brainman on Tue Aug 21, 2007 2:00 pm; edited 1 time in total

Just to make sure everyone understands what I am suggesting: "closed" does not mean no new members. The current process sends an email to the new member. The new member has to reply to that email before he/she can begin to post. What I am suggesting is that the email go to an administrator who then can either approve or deny membership.

One of the greatest problems with this suggestion is the most new members who do become active members post their first message within 1-2 days of joining. I can see where a bottleneck could happen if one (and it would be only one) administrator had to first review and approve all new membership applications.
_________________
Jim
Site Administrator and long-term cancer survivor
1992 Astrocytoma grade 2, left motor strip
2005 Recurrence this time said to be an Oligodendoglioma grade 3, same location.
My Story Part 1: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?p=7350
My Story Part 2: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=8029
Blog http://jimhawkinsport.blogspot.com/

phoneman · New User Joined: 15 Aug 2007 Posts: 9

Just get some anti spam add ons to the forum.

I help run a forum (www.end-diverticulitis.com/forum2 , shameless plug there) that also uses PHPBB and we found an add on the basically stopped the spam overnight.

the add on was
Anti-Spam: Only Active Members Can Post URLs
and it only took about 10 mins to install, with easy mod.
http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=464628

the add on only allows users to post urls if they have been active for some time.
_________________
My Dad is the sufferer, Diagnosed Feb 07.
www.dadsbraintumor.com
http://brain-tumor.blogspot.com/

In

As probably the newest member to reply and post- ( and my advice is probably useless Laughing

)

I think to have the new members have to go through the ring-role of emails and waiting to be approved- Not only makes a whole lot more work and hassles for you guys, but also a chance of losing memebers.

Anyone, and everyone understands these things happen, and ignore or let the appointed people know, if there is a problem with someones posts. etc.

I agree with the notification button- good idea. Smile

In
_________________
Thinking of you Inica

*Administrator*

~Nose Cancer~
~Car Accident- Broken Back, Ribs, Spleen
Sternum~
~Continous Cervical Cancer~

My Story-
http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=6731

Smile

9 Lives and still kicking Smile

brainman

Yeah, I am inclined to agree with you, IN. A second part of this issue is to make MY life easier Smile

) As of now, I am the "appointed people (person)" Very Happy

.

You all do not see even 10% of the junk members because I delete their accounts before they even have a chance to post a message. So, I am already doing this to some extent... it would just make it more automatic for me since I would receive the email requesting approval.

But I am also very concerned about delaying REAL, LEGITIMATE new members for obtaining the information and support they seek.

I am still looking for a mod that will add a "spam" or "inappropriate" button to the forum.

Thank you all for your input.
_________________
Jim
Site Administrator and long-term cancer survivor
1992 Astrocytoma grade 2, left motor strip
2005 Recurrence this time said to be an Oligodendoglioma grade 3, same location.
My Story Part 1: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?p=7350
My Story Part 2: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=8029
Blog http://jimhawkinsport.blogspot.com/

jfkbluecircle

Hi, Jim,
I may incorrect in this, but I assume many people "lurk" on this forum (such an icky word, but I cannot think of another one at the moment), before posting. It takes courage to reach out in the very special ways people do on this webspace. Whatever motivates folks to join seems too much for *just you* to predict and in fact manage.

I agree with many others on this thread; having some way of flagging posts as a member might cut back on your workload and also foster an even greater sense of responsibility among members to maintain the integrity of the forums. However, I am no techie (spelling?), so I cannot understand the software issues that accompany such a modification, which may only add to your work.

Thanks for all you do; your kind words of support and encouragement help make these forums personal and humanize the reality of what these diseases do to the lives of those who are coping with them.

Best,
Jessica

In

Again- i have no idea. lol Razz

But is there many problems with spam and inapproprate post?? I gather alot we don't see, as Brainman is so quick. Smile

Is there alot of compaints ???

I personally know these things happen and unless i'm being inadated with spam, i'm not so woried - but *shrug* I can understand why some might.

Inica
_________________
Thinking of you Inica

*Administrator*

~Nose Cancer~
~Car Accident- Broken Back, Ribs, Spleen
Sternum~
~Continous Cervical Cancer~

My Story-
http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=6731

Smile

9 Lives and still kicking Smile

Vee Smith · Moderator Joined: 12 Feb 2006 Posts: 743 Location: UK

It is not just spam - sometimes a person makes an inappropriate comment or starts an unnecessary argument, and it is valuable to be able to alert a moderator to a problem so it can be stopped before it goes too far.

Most of the forums I am on have such alerts and they are helpful.

phoneman · New User Joined: 15 Aug 2007 Posts: 9

you cannot stop people saying with they think in a forum that is one problem. what one person considers not nice, is considered OK by others. but is this spam or just people being people.

We noticed the spam on our forum drop as soon as people were not allowed to post hyper links, eg links to other web sites.
in our site you had to earn the right to post links to other website by being joined for x days, or posting y posts.

seriously for stopping porn and those types of sites this worked great
http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=464628

I would not be allowed to post this link under the above addon, usually spammers just move onto the next site.

if spam is a problem for the admin, check it out.
_________________
My Dad is the sufferer, Diagnosed Feb 07.
www.dadsbraintumor.com
http://brain-tumor.blogspot.com/

Sorayna · New User Joined: 30 Aug 2007 Posts: 1

That's true.People say whatever they want

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