ads

[helenrw200]

Is there no way to stop these annoying ads, moderators ?I don't read them any more but they are spamming the site continually and are not always clear from the title exactly what they are.

Helen

[Dave]

Hi Helen

Yes, the ads are annoying, and if you look at the "sticky" thread at the top of this forum you'll see some of the steps we've taken to try and reduce them.

We try to respond as soon as we are aware they are there, we ban the user IP and of course we delete the thread. We have also recently turned off the recognition of url's so that they don't turn into active links.

The reason that the links are posted is because the search engines tend to place heavy emphasis on the number of links to a site when assessing how high to rank it. For this reason many of the porn sites pay people to post links all over the net in the hope they will be read by the search engines and increase the prominence (and thus earning power) of the porn site. The action we have taken ensures that this doesn't happen, but unfortunately the people paid to post are not smart enough to realise!!

The next stage of action would be to require people using this forum to register before posting (as with all the other forums). We are loathe to do this as we judge that some people still want to post here without the requirement to register. This would deter the "link posters", but not stop them, and would potentially lead to them posting on all forums, something that just makes more work for us!

So, in the end, I think the answer is to ignore them, or to report them to us, though in general we see them within an hour or two anyway.

Thanks for your encouragement to keep this a respectable and user friendly place, free from the trash that some want to leave here.

Dave

[helenrw200]

Thanks Dave

I do understand that it's difficult. Some of the groups I'm a member of have moderated posts only , meaning posts have to be approved by the moderators before they are posted, however this has drawbacks too, the main one obviously being that posts can take some time to actually make it to the boards, as one has to wait for the post to be read and approved , it also means ( and I'm not saying this would happen on this forum ) people complain that some posts get unfairly stopped by the Mods for whatever reasons.

This seems to have become a particular problem in the last few months , maybe eventually the spammers will get tired of it and leave the rest of us in peace !

Helen

[Dave]

Hi Helen

Yes, we could get even more draconian, but as you say, I think most of the community would (quite rightly) object. Like every area of society, I'm afraid we have to live with the "objectionable few" who misuse their freedom.

It has become a problem in recent months because google et al have changed their ranking algorithms to give greater priority to links. The sites now pay people in places like Eastern Europe a pittance to post these links - often they have no knowledge even of English.

Don't worry - we'll keep on deleting them!!

Cheers

Dave

[Raymond]

Dave are you moderating on your own or are there others?

Also is there any way to complain about a post, this being a christian site.
Raymond

[Liz]

Dear Raymond

There are several of us, and we do check the site usually more than once a day at the moment. It's a pain, but we are doing our best. Some of the folk posting this stuff even register as normal users.

You can report posts using the red triangle with the black line in, which is below the name of the poster. Doing that may well speed up our response as we do check our emails regularly too.

Best wishes

Liz

[Raymond]

Thank you Liz. It is a comfort that things are being moderated. It is a christian site and will be a target.

Raymond

[1aokgal]

We have one poster on an area that is "living in a sexless marriage" and usually are like minded people trying to reconnect or work through their christian marriages. Evidently this one bimbo got on there and she picks up quotes from the ladies and then puts some bull... about how they should get a divorce like she did. She sound s like someone on anti-depressives. Several have said this is where we are in life...or I am too old, too poor, etc to consider divorce. I confronted her to say since she is happily divorced why dosen't she find another thread?

I told her she was intrusive and invasive and she still does not get it.
What interest does this person have in this thread except to boost up a frail ego and get someone to give her an atta girl for her divorce choice? Is this a common problem on a chat thread? What was an area of real give and take is now a frontal assault from her perspective.

If this continues I guess I will post elsewhere or better yet get more done here.

Advice?
1AOKGAL

[**opaque]

thanks from me too