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Update on the spam situation

Anil A - Mod

As some of you may be aware, we've had issues recently with automated programs flooding our forums with passport/fake document scams. 

In order to prevent this, we're in the process of implementing & testing a new anti-spam module for our community over the coming weeks. This module will scan posts for anything resembling spam and will hide anything that it confirms as such. If it's unsure of whether it's spam or not, it'll present you with a "CAPTCHA", where you fill in the letters/numbers presented to you and you'll be able to submit your post. It'll have an audio option to keep it accessible. 

It's quite a sophisticated bit of software, and it's very rare it'll ever hide your posts. On occasion it'll present you with the "CAPTCHA" to fill in, but we imagine this won't be very often at all.    

We're open to feedback about this system & if you have any issues with it, please do contact us on community.manager@nas.org.uk.

 

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  • Fingers crossed it will be alright on the night................

    However these devices are difficult. Some spam checkers used by police forces were found to exclude surnames that were nationalities - Irish, Welsh, French (a not uncommon Scottish surname), German (a frequent Welsh surname) - as racist.

    An engineering firm found themselves in trouble with the word "dike" for a drain, the spam filter objected as it was an adverse allusion to sexuality.

    The CAPTCHA type device is seldom disability friendly, as the audio option is alright if you have the auditory facility set up. The mixed symbols will impact on people with dyslexia and visual coordination problems - so that will eliminate quite a few of us.

    I often cannot successfully use these devices so I may not be able to contribute in future (but that might be a blessing cos I'm sounding off on here too much....)

    The security services were using these on public contact websites, so someone wanting to notify a security or terrorist threat would find themselves unable to do so.

    Just have to see what happens in practice.  Excuse me for being a misery as ever...

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  • Fingers crossed it will be alright on the night................

    However these devices are difficult. Some spam checkers used by police forces were found to exclude surnames that were nationalities - Irish, Welsh, French (a not uncommon Scottish surname), German (a frequent Welsh surname) - as racist.

    An engineering firm found themselves in trouble with the word "dike" for a drain, the spam filter objected as it was an adverse allusion to sexuality.

    The CAPTCHA type device is seldom disability friendly, as the audio option is alright if you have the auditory facility set up. The mixed symbols will impact on people with dyslexia and visual coordination problems - so that will eliminate quite a few of us.

    I often cannot successfully use these devices so I may not be able to contribute in future (but that might be a blessing cos I'm sounding off on here too much....)

    The security services were using these on public contact websites, so someone wanting to notify a security or terrorist threat would find themselves unable to do so.

    Just have to see what happens in practice.  Excuse me for being a misery as ever...

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