Testing some anti-spam features

Monsen

Hi everyone,

I am just testing some anti-spam measures. Ideally, no one should notice anything at all, but if you for some reason get the message that your comment will be posted once it has been approved instead of just appearing immediately, this is why. Rest assure that if it happens, I will approve your comment as soon as possible.

Now, please be aware that this should not happen to established users (rank newcomer or above), so if it happens, it will be because something is not working as intended. (This is why we test, right?)

Ideally, new users shouldn't notice anything either, but if your post is classified as potential spam, it means it goes to moderator review before being made public. My goal is to have as few of these cases as possible, because I know how annoying that is as a new user to encounter a mandatory spamblock just because you are new.

I would also remind everyone that the way a user is promoted up the ranks is by post count and points combined. Points comes from reactions (Like, Awsome, Insightful, LOL). It is therefore helpful if everyone refrains from helping spammers up the ranks by giving them reactions. This is mostly a problem when people give reactions to someone just because they post an introduction post and say they are new. If they actually say something sensible (gives a good introduction, says something about mapmaking, etc) by all means, go ahead and give them that like, but if their introduction is completely generic ("Hi, I am new", "looking forward to talking with everyone", etc..), please give the reaction a pass, otherwise you are more likely to aid a spammer bypass measures rather than send a kind signal to a new member. (In the latter case, maybe post a reply challenging them to tell something about their mapmaking instead, that way they both get a welcoming reply, as well as being tested)

Wyvern

Haven't needed to post elsewhere today as yet, so we'll see how this one goes.

I did find an oddity on the latest "Necro" thread re Cosmographer (Traveller Satellite Size <7) where I lost the vertical scroll-bar, and had to mouse-wheel scroll down to where the new posting was. Partway through doing that though, the scroll-bar reappeared. The other pages with new additions seemed to be fine for this, however.

Also, have you shortened the list of topics shown on the main "Discussions" page? It only covers nine topics now, as well as the five "Announcements" at the top (on the first page only). While that's OK today, there are days when the list of topics added, or added to, since my previous visit almost filled the old-style Discussions page where you could scroll down the list several times. That's going to get tedious very quickly if the number of "new" posts starts running to several pages, especially as I try to read them in order from oldest to newest. It's also going to make it much easier to miss posts by forgetting to check to other pages.