TraderMBA - when someone has 57 posts and 7 of them are plugging the same website, then he is a spammer. Results of searching on his plugged website(s) http://elitetrader.com/vb/search.ph...=2915462&sortby=lastpost&sortorder=descending
It is like trying to beat back the tide. But if people are successful in spamming, the problem will grow rapidly. But we need to be diligent to keep the weeds out of the garden. Joe, what are the chances of preventing people with fewer than 2-3 dozen posts from including links in a post? Most of the spam is often people with 2-3 posts, who "just want to know if anyone has had success with website XYZ" And these newbie spammers may not realize that after say 25 posts, they ARE allowed to post links. So it would be a strong deterrent targeting spammers.
Some sites I've have done that with a little bit of success, but what happens is that for a smart spammer it's even better that way. Anyone who comes in with one or two or three posts and then starts to spam isnt very sophisticated really. It's pretty obvious. If you require the person to have 20/30 posts or whatever though it does allow them to establish relationships/trust etc, and it actually makes the spammers efforts a lot more productive. Most of course are not smart enough to figure this out...but it does. Your probably better off just letting them come in at one post and nailing them then. Brandon