You could do it with trust levels
first is "bot filter" which you get when you join (at this trust level you can't post any links)
then "regular" after you have been on the forums for three days.
last "administrator" for admins.
No, looks like they have been reading the forums, so maybe not.
This is already the first level on the forums
Yes but it only lasts for a few hours.
True...
Most of the ones I've seen are posted within a minute after the "person" joins the forum; I catch them while held for moderation. But let me try increasing the time delay...
I was thinking if you could start putting captchas when logging in and signing up
Is there a way to do that without letting Google into our users' lives? Especially given that we're a site for children, I want to avoid Google like the plague.
Maybe you can do some thing like this
<form>
<img src="captcha_code_file.php?rand=<?php echo rand(); ?>"
id="captchaimg" >
<label for="message">Enter the code above here :</label>
<input id="6_letters_code" name="6_letters_code" type="text">
<input type="submit" value="Submit" name="submit">
</form>
Except with an actual image.
I'll pass that along to the management...
couldn't you just get some images off of pixabay, crop them into square tiles, then save the answers on your servers?
Maybe do something we’re new accounts can’t post links or new accounts’s posts must be approved by a mod before they post?
Why not delete accounts that have posted a link within 3 mins of signing up, and say to the user "Your account has been deleted becuase you are a bot, if this is a mistake please email contact@snap.berkeley.edu"
Correction: "Your account has been deleted becuase you have been detected as being a bot, if this is a mistake please email contact@snap.berkeley.edu"
Umm, well, right now, knock on wood, it's not too much work to kill them as they're flagged, whereas inventing a whole system would take time away from real work.
I was surprised not to find a setting checkbox for "trust level 0 users can't post at all."
I don't know what it means.
You say "knock on wood" after or before making a statement about something good. It basically means "hopefully I don't jinx it".
It's a reference to a classic superstition; some people believe(d) that actually knocking on something made of wood will prevent bad luck.
Thanks, @helicoptur and @bh.
In the modern era, when nothing is made of wood any more (unless you're really rich), people will sarcastically say "knock on particle board" or "knock on plastic."