Hi All !

It's not exactly a problem, but it has been raised by a handful of members and has been highlighted by the moderators that some posts are being moderated whilst nobody knows why..

I have spent most of this evening checking the 'bad words' and point scoring system, and have made a minor adjustment to hopefully help.  For those interested in how it works (and this will especially be the people that have had posts auto-deleted!) i will try and explain briefly how it works.

Firstly, the site settings need to combat those idiots that post tens or hundreds of links to sites of an adult nature, or those highlighting adult themed 'bedroom performance' enhancement drugs (even i have to be careful not to get moderated here!) - and these are the sole aim and goal of the thousands of automated 'bots' that target sites like ours.  In order to stop this, we have a maximum of FIVE links per post.  We considered this ample, and if you need to post more than five links in a post this is a rare occurrence surely?

So - the number of links is fixed, and this stops the 'bots' in their tracks. Great. We have had no 'spam attacks' so it's obviously working! Well done Community Server, well done BeoWorld - we are free of parasites. Yay. 

However, this doesn't stop the more determined 'Troll' or 'Spam Poster' - so we need the next level of filtration.  This comes in the form of a 'bad word' point scoring system, and i will explain.

Firstly - here are the settings.  For a post to be sent for Moderation (meaning it has to be manually read and approved by a moderator) it has to score 5 - 9 points.  For automatic deletion, it has to score 10 or above - and this will almost certainly be a spam post with plenty of swear words, forbidden words and/or obscenities in it.

What words score what points?  Well, the most commonly used obscene spam and seriously offensive words are in there (which most of us unfortunately get in our inboxes daily) - and these score 9 points.  This allows perfectly innocent usage of one of these words, but it will still go for moderator approval. The Moderating team will see it was used innocently and the post will be approved in most cases.

However, using the word in conjunction with another one on this list will score 18, 27, 36 etc and will be immediately deleted as spam. Sorry - but this is more than likely going to be spam.

There are also other words which although less offensive or abusive, used as a 'cluster' (or if they crop up in a post too many times) could flag the post as spam or offensive.  These are usually (but not always) not swear words (although there are many in there) and are usually the old favourites of the spammers like re-mortgage, re-finance, casino etc.  ONE of these words is allowed, then these score 2 points each after that - so using more than 4 of these words gets it sent for approval. Fair enough i think?

I think these levels of filtration are pretty much perfect at the moment, but some posts are getting sent for approval for no apparent reason.  However, i suspect that our languages may be coming into play, coupled with the fact that even a banned word in the context of another word seems to 'count' - such as Essex (see the last three letters) which is a county in England!  We cannot take into account that a non-English word may have a combination of letters in it that counts as one of the serious words, and this is something we will be looking at shortly in detail.

Computers cannot see this - so we have to be patient, and what i have done is very, very slightly 'upped' the scoring levels to see if it will make a difference. If for any reason we get spammed - they are coming straight back to as they were, as i am proud that BeoWorld has not been targeted successfully by the seedy underworld of the internet.  We are a family site, and both the moderating team and myself are very proud to be upholding the standards we all expect.

I hope this may have made things a little clearer!

Lee

 

 

 

Seems fine to me. I agree that I would rather have some moderating to do than be subject to spamming.

As moderators, it is helpful to have some feedback from as many members as possible. Does this system of automatic moderation meet with the approval of the general membership? We obviously have very little spam or abuse - do we think this is working? Or is the enviroment too sterile?

Please reply - the more the better or Lee and I feel we are just talking to each other!

Peter:

Seems fine to me. I agree that I would rather have some moderating to do than be subject to spamming.

Well I think the moderators are doing a great job in keeping Beoworld Spam free. To be fair I have only had a handfull of posts that have had to go for Moderator approval. Not bad when I look at my number of posts.

 

Craig

Seemed to work fine before but then I've never been moderated to my knowledge. Must be one of the good guys!

Hello Lee and Peter

Sorry to interrupt your conversation

I find the auto moderation works very well can't see a need to change it (eg- reduce automatic control levels)

Ps another english county name  that may auto remove/edit - Middlesex

I've been moderated only once. That particular post had a number of links and after some time it was approved. I have no problem at all with the system as it was. Keep up the good work!

The forum stats make the case for automation, I think: 4,789 users, 46,114 threads and 71,314 posts since last April. That's just the legit stuff. I would guess that the amount of spam and viruses, if my own firewall and spamassassin stats here are any guide, is probably the same or even greater. Filtering that by eye would be a 24/7 job, and not a pleasant one.

Automation means a few false positives are unavoidable. I'm quietly impressed at how well things have been set up here. Keep up the good work!

Cheers, Steve

There are lot of good moderators here, exept for one !

There's  a dutch moderator who does not seem to know what it is to be a forum moderator.

He simply makes his own rules and when something does not suite him, he rules like an arrogant King over the forum. I am glad, he is the only one here :-)

I think all BeoWorld moderators have done an excellent job. I take it for granted that I never come across any spam on the BeoWorld forums. I took a brief look at a motorsport related forum the other day and was surprised by all the spammed threads and posts that swamped the forum!

Only one of my posts has needed to be approved by a moderator, and that was because I had attached a number of photos onto one post. Ed approved it within an hour, so I absolutely had no complaints. BeoWorld feels very professional and I wouldn't be a member if it wasn't. If spam does ever get through our current spam security officer (Lee), then I think we'll need to promote a current moderator (Peter) to spam security officer as well. Who's going to do the night shift? Heads or tails?

I couldn't get online yesterday evening as I was babysitting the hooligans and didn't get home till twentyfive to three in the morning.
If I had been on, you can guarrantee I would have replied to this straight away so you wouldn't be having a dialog!

I have been moderated a couple of times, usually for posting too many links or using the word 'Essix' or 'Middlesix'.
Gosh, I even got moderated for using the word that describes the noise made by a farmyard chickens father!
The slight delay or frustration in not getting your post up immediately is nothing compared to the negative vibes you get when visiting other unmoderated fora. (nice word, have I invented it?)
I am proud to be a member of this forum and think the amount of moderation on here is exemplary.
I feel sick to the pit of my stomach when I read the profanities on other sites and usually exit straight away.
Keep it the way it is Lee.

Andy T.

And the spelling moderation here is also exemplary.

Andy foolishly spelling 'amount' with 2 Ms! That is a first.

I think the moderators do a great job, and the Community Server as well. I have been moderated some times before, but IIRC, it was on the german or on the french forum, but I don't remember why.

Henry, IMO it is good not to have spelling or grammar  moderation, otherwise I guess I could have been banned several times already...

No don't worry Tom. Your grammar and spelling is generally spick and span!

I only target the regular offenders.

Aaah, a maximum of five links! That explains why BM6000 thread (in the vintage forum) was caught in the auto-moderation fishingnet :-) Hopefully a nice moderator will approve the thread some day :-)

I think my transgressions have been caused by the heavy use of links (probably my signature block doesn't help ....)

I've been auto-modded several times, mostly for being uncouth, although on several occassions it took me a few attempts to re-try my post before I identified the offending word.

Still, I've no complaints, just look at the stuff they have let me post!

Bingo:

There are lot of good moderators here, exept for one !

There's  a dutch moderator who does not seem to know what it is to be a forum moderator.

He simply makes his own rules and when something does not suite him, he rules like an arrogant King over the forum. I am glad, he is the only one here :-)

 

The moderator you are referring to is no longer a member of Beoworld and his account has been deleted.

Chris.

henrik:

Aaah, a maximum of five links! That explains why BM6000 thread (in the vintage forum) was caught in the auto-moderation fishingnet :-) Hopefully a nice moderator will approve the thread some day :-)

 

Post approved henrik

Chris.

Thank you, Chris! :-)

I have nothing but praise for this site thank you

Hello everybody,

The three last times I (and Emmanuel) had to moderate was concerning sell advertisements made by a bronze member.

Each time, the poster was informed regarding our moderating action and about the Private sells Guideline.

Cheers,

Guy

Medogsfat:

Bingo:

There are lot of good moderators here, exept for one !

There's  a dutch moderator who does not seem to know what it is to be a forum moderator.

He simply makes his own rules and when something does not suite him, he rules like an arrogant King over the forum. I am glad, he is the only one here :-)

 

 

The moderator you are referring to is no longer a member of Beoworld and his account has been deleted.

Chris.

Nice quick answer to Bingo there, Chris!  1 year and 10 months!

Jandyt:

Medogsfat:

Bingo:

There are lot of good moderators here, exept for one !

There's  a dutch moderator who does not seem to know what it is to be a forum moderator.

He simply makes his own rules and when something does not suite him, he rules like an arrogant King over the forum. I am glad, he is the only one here :-)

 

 

The moderator you are referring to is no longer a member of Beoworld and his account has been deleted.

Chris.

 

Nice quick answer to Bingo there, Chris!  1 year and 10 months!

I just got a post from the Moderating team that my post on the last Wednesday thread was excepted, much to my surprise. Good stuff. Won't make it passed the Wednesday thread shredder, though.

beocool:

I just got a post from the Moderating team that my post on the last Wednesday thread was excepted, much to my surprise. Good stuff. Won't make it passed the Wednesday thread shredder, though.

Me too! Fat chance I'm going to go and read what it actually was!