Forum upgrade & a few hiccups

[Edward Revy]

Dear Friends,

We've upgraded the Forum last night.
As always, with new versions, there might be a few hiccups here and there.

Please bear with us as we work on cleaning it up. There's been reports about spam posts being able to make through. We'll be deleting them promptly, as these are old traces of the older forum version.
By the end of this week we should run smoothly.

(We also saved the old forum version, so that we can always roll back if things don't improve).

Thank you for your patience!

Best regards,
Edward

[strobe]

We've upgraded the Forum last night.
As always, with new versions, there might be a few hiccups here and there.

There's been reports about spam posts being able to make through. We'll be deleting them promptly, as these are old traces of the older forum version.
By the end of this week we should run smoothly.

I must have just caught the tail end of all the spam when I looked in yesterday afternoon.
I thought it rather strange to say the least, as I don't recall ever seeing anything but the odd item of spam slip through your net.

Your total lack of spam & annoying advertising banners is one of the main reasons I've stayed here (well, that & the Tech Templates thread), & you should be praised for maintaining that quality front.

[Edward Revy]

Thank you strobe,

I thought it rather strange to say the least, as I don't recall ever seeing anything but the odd item of spam slip through your net.

It shouldn't have happened, as we still have the Rules in place for newly registered users. But to my surprise, upon upgrade to the latest forum version, the rules stopped working for users registered before the update...
That's how you see them here now.

I thought about deleting all users with zero posts, but then, we can't do that, since some of them might be just good silent followers, we must respect this.

Thus, this week we'll keep fighting spammers, and hope it will be over soon.

Thank you for your support!

Best regards,
Edward

[goldtop]

I thought about deleting all users with zero posts, but then, we can't do that, since some of them might be just good silent followers, we must respect this.

That's exactly what I was going to suggest to you via a private message, but now you've aired it it's out here & I think it's a great idea.
Most of these spam usernames are pretty weird & freakish anyway. I doubt they'd take too much weeding out, plus they all seem to be linked to some weird website, so that would highlight the majority of them.

I mean, unless you're talking about a huge amount of new registrations, I'm pretty sure they'll understand if you inform everyone publicly?
I don't think I'd be alone in agreeing that it would be better for everyone if you were to take aggressive action to eradicate this crap.

Although one suggestion would be that next time you guys are preparing an upgrade, it might be best to absolutely ensure your defences are robust. Maybe check with the developers/IT bods that your post interception policy is active prior to roll out?
Because this kind of annoyance really won't do your rep any good with the quality end of your membership Edward.

[Edward Revy]

Your words are true.

Checking the links in the profiles is a very good idea. Thank you! I'm currently working on it and deleting as many "obvious spammers" as possible.
However, it hasn't paid well so far, as we continue to see spam posts here and there, which is getting quite annoying.

Next step this weekend would be to delete all users with zero posts who registered during the past 3 months (possibly 6 months if that doesn't help).
I would hate to do that, but sanity and comfort of active users must prevail if other options failed.

Maybe check with the developers/IT bods that your post interception policy is active prior to roll out?

Absolutely, we always do this kind of upgrades with IT guys.
With this update I was told that earlier forum versions had this particular filter that we used "with the number of posts required per a newly registered user" being coded as a quick fix to the forum. Now it's a fully integrated feature, but it won't work for older versions.
Once I learned it I had two options: never update the forum again, or go with an update and face the challenge, which at this stage is considered "mild", but in few years who knows...

That's what goes behind the stage with this forum.
Will keep everyone updated on the steps taken.

Thank you once again for your patience!

Best regards,
Edward

[Edward Revy]

The cleanup is complete.
Everything should be great from now on.

Thank you everyone for your support and patience!

Happy trading!
Edward

[midgely88]

Good job there Edward.
Hope the next upgrade goes without a hitch