Starship Asterisk*

Does anyone visit the "Asterisk Cafe" any more??? I was just there. It contains about 150 ligit posts and about 1200 spammer posts. Even some of the ligitimate posts have lots of spam tacked on to them. Can anything be done about this???

Can anything be done about this???

Sure. You can forget about this, for example.

Not doing something about it leads to its acceptance and ligitimization through acquiescence. Do you want them to win??? ( And yes it is a battle if you wish to peruse ligitimate posts on that or any board.) It is difficcult to plow through posts like:
Buy my cell phone
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buy my cell phone
visit my porn site
visit my porn site
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visit my porn site
visit my porn site
visit my porn site
visit my porn site
visit my porn site
visit my porn site
visit my porn site
visit my porn site
visit my porn site
visit my porn site
no buy my cell phone
no nuy my cell phone
no buy my cell phone
no buy my cell phone
no nuy my cell phone
no buy my cell phone
no buy my cell phone
no nuy my cell phone
no buy my cell phone
no buy my cell phone
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no buy my cell phone
no buy my cell phone
no nuy my cell phone
no buy my cell phone
no buy my cell phone
no nuy my cell phone
no buy my cell phone
visit my porn site
What do you think the universe is shaped like?
Buy my cell phone
buy my cell phone
buy my cell phone
buy my cell phone
buy my cell phone
buy my cell phone
buy my cell phone
buy my cell phone
buy my cell phone
buy my cell phone
buy my cell phone
buy my cell phone
buy my cell phone
visit my porn site
visit my porn site
visit my porn site
visit my porn site
visit my porn site
visit my porn site
visit my porn site
visit my porn site
visit my porn site
visit my porn site
visit my porn site
visit my porn site
visit my porn site
visit my porn site
no buy my cell phone
no nuy my cell phone
no buy my cell phone
no buy my cell phone
no nuy my cell phone
no buy my cell phone
no buy my cell phone
no nuy my cell phone
no buy my cell phone
no buy my cell phone
no nuy my cell phone
no buy my cell phone
no buy my cell phone
no nuy my cell phone
no buy my cell phone
no buy my cell phone
no nuy my cell phone
no buy my cell phone
visit my porn site
what telescope is best for viewing saturn
how do people like these boards
Buy my cell phone
buy my cell phone
buy my cell phone
buy my cell phone
buy my cell phone
buy my cell phone
buy my cell phone
buy my cell phone
buy my cell phone
buy my cell phone
buy my cell phone
buy my cell phone
buy my cell phone
visit my porn site
visit my porn site
visit my porn site
visit my porn site
visit my porn site
visit my porn site
visit my porn site
visit my porn site
visit my porn site
visit my porn site
visit my porn site
visit my porn site
visit my porn site
visit my porn site
no buy my cell phone
no nuy my cell phone
no buy my cell phone
no buy my cell phone
no nuy my cell phone
no buy my cell phone
no buy my cell phone
no nuy my cell phone
no buy my cell phone
no buy my cell phone
no nuy my cell phone
no buy my cell phone
no buy my cell phone
no nuy my cell phone
no buy my cell phone
no buy my cell phone
no nuy my cell phone
no buy my cell phone
visit my porn site
want to buy my junk
etc.....
I won't forget about it and no one else should acquiesce

I agree with BMAONE23! I visited the Cafe about a week ago and left because of all the spam. It is really discouraging, Could that junk at least be deleted?
Orin

I agree. (It's easy to say "they ought to....")

Once the existing mess is cleaned up, there are ways to keep on top of it. Of course, it needs someone with Moderator rights to do this (no, I'm not volunteering - just offering up ideas for consideration).

• I believe there is a phpBB hack available which puts a "Notify Moderator" button on the page. That's one way to let mods know that the message is sustpect.
  
  I have also read it's possible to automate the deletion of spam posts. I would suggest caution if the forum were to try that: How do you automate the identification?
  
  The admins can ban spam posters (probably a losing battle this one)
  
  Another forum I go to quite frequently has an "announcement" thread requesting that readers respond to suspicious messages with SPAMSPAMSPAM. The mods then search for that string, make a judgement and delete the thread (or not). This seems to work very well and it helps build a sense of community. But that board has a number of moderators for each forum - this one appears to only have one per forum.

I think at present what is really needed is for some bodies with the time, inclination and appropriate "credentials" (as decided by the Asterisk Admins/Mods) to volunteer, help with the clean up, and then help implement whatever maintenance regime is decided upon.

Any takers?
Not me - like I said it's real easy to say "they ought to" but nothing will change unless someone says "I'm willing to..." or "How can I help..." (Apols to anyone who has already put their hand up.)

bot stopper for new accounts? problem solved.