Admin approval - is it really a must?

[Bryn]

Well, think of it this way... your forum becomes more popular and suddenly, it begins to attract spambots and sometimes potentially undesirable people. I know there'd be other staff on the forum to keep an eye out for any but, the main admin would probably go insane when this sort of thing happens and shocked to know if the spambots had bypassed the security measures. That's why few like me decide to go for admin approval for when new members come. It may not be something for all forum owners but is doable regardless, but it would be a massive inconvenience for much larger communities, say like it gets about 10-20 members a day.

My own reason for it is that I believe everyone must be scanned before they are let in, from valid email addresses to IPs so that it's not from a shady origin or of someone wishing to wreck havoc by "hiding their ass" under a VPN. Or even a thorough reality check if needed. This had been a security measure I've used only in recent times although, I would've done it sooner when my much older forum was about. It had its fair share of idiots that came on but luckily, no spambots in like ever.

Feel free to have your say on this and if you happen to use this kind of security measure also, I'd like to know your reasons.

 

[Jerlene]

I never do admin approval. I'm a busy person and things come up. Users could be waiting for a really long time to get approved. I just set it up so they have to verify themselves. That weeds out the spammers just as well.

 

[Page]

Admin approval is bad idea regards growing and building your site up. Members will come and join find out it needs admin approval then they leave and might not come back again. Also if it's an busy time and no staff online then just RIP.

That's why you think out of the box and be smart over the spam bot. Add things to stop them for good. Comes down to the signup page. Confirm email, Make them type there email twice, security Question, ReCaptcha. Then members group. First group Newbie! Got to make more then 5 content before they become full member. By being in that group they can't do much at all, not even edit there profile

 

[Bryn]

Admin approval is bad idea regards growing and building your site up. Members will come and join find out it needs admin approval then they leave and might not come back again.

I somewhat disagree. There's one very active member that I was a member of and it always had admin approval since it first founded. Since 2005 would you believe.

Also, most forum softwares these days are able to send out an email to the person waiting to be verified so that they know that they have been approved. I know ProBoards and Jcink does this for sure.

 

[Azareal]

I have a trick for automatically weeding out spambots, although I'm not sure I should mention it here, lest they learn my secrets.

Email verification is trash, every bot can defeat that, you really need something better than that. One way to trip them up is to take advantage of how inhumanly fast they do anything and everything and time their actions accordingly.

 

[Jason76]

I don't think it's a good way to fight spam. In fact, all you need is to force them to answer a good question. One good one would be asking what a word or backward word is backward.

 

[Page]

I don't think it's a good way to fight spam. In fact,

Nope, since they will always be an good going thing for most forums/blogs and site.

It's been going for an long time and and people are used to it

 

[Jason76]

I don't think it's a good way to fight spam. In fact,

Nope, since they will always be an good going thing for most forums/blogs and site.

It's been going for an long time and and people are used to it

What do you mean?

 

[Bryn]

Email verification is trash

Couldn't have said that any better... and that Jcink actually discourages you from using it when it comes to new members (only because the all-important verification email would end up being in your junk/spam folder most times).

 

[Azareal]

I don't think it's a good way to fight spam. In fact, all you need is to force them to answer a good question. One good one would be asking what a word or backward word is backward.

Spambots know how to use Google. Don't underestimate the power of Google.

 

[Golddisk]

I think it is a bad idea unless it you have a private community, in which case it would be an essential thing to have. The best option is to put other preventative measures in place. Sure, some will still get through but as long as you keep them updated it should keep the flood gates from opening.

 

[Kaynil]

I think it is a case by case thing. If you're going toset up admin approval, people should be approved in a reasonable time. It can be a bit frustrating joining and not knowing when to expect the approval, so having a text giving an approximation really helps people to organise themselves to keep an eye on your community.

I don't really use it, unless there is an emergency and I need drastic measures to contain things. I feel admin approval discourages people because it takes the control away from the user to join and jump straight to the thread that moved them to register an account or the gap of time they thought they could use in the community.

 

[Azareal]

I think it is a case by case thing. If you're going toset up admin approval, people should be approved in a reasonable time. It can be a bit frustrating joining and not knowing when to expect the approval, so having a text giving an approximation really helps people to organise themselves to keep an eye on your community.

I don't really use it, unless there is an emergency and I need drastic measures to contain things. I feel admin approval discourages people because it takes the control away from the user to join and jump straight to the thread that moved them to register an account or the gap of time they thought they could use in the community.

It's not quite that simple. If you're expecting someone a certain hour on a certain day, then you can probably quickly pop-in to activate them, otherwise you sort of show up when you show up.

Some admins show up and leave at very precise times like clockwork while others are far less predictable. Ultimately however, you want to reduce the number of spammers, I've had it off for a while, but the moment there's a big wave getting through? It's a no-brainer.

There are a few kinds of users, but those who feel like they to get in immediately usually consists of someone looking to ask a question and someone wanting to give you a piece of their mind. It can be useful for the second to cool down, while with the first, they tend to show up and immediately leave once they have what they want.

It's certainly inconvenient for them, but I'm also inconvenienced by having to delete spam and to activate them, so the feeling is mutual. And spam annoys everyone, not just one person.
One trick Discourse uses is to hide posts which get a lot of reports, and then, a moderator can check to see if it was in good faith or not, but that sounds like a recipe for drama.