Bewildering Stories Editorial

by Jerry Wright

Forum Spam

I like to think of myself as a pretty mellow guy. I try not to let too much get to me, and I try to "do unto others..." So, when in came to setting up the forum, I left it wide open. Spamming, at the beginning, was infrequent and not terribly troublesome.

Bob Blevins, however, was afraid that a wide-open forum would lead to spam excesses, and sadly, I knew he was right, but I'd tried to leave it open as long as I could. No more!

In the last month, we've had one legitimate new user, and about 20 spammers. Enough is e-flippin'-nough! So, as of this evening, I've set to forum to require registration, and only registered users can leave messages. Guests can still read everything, because we aren't SECRET.

Spam is a drain on resources, and draconian measures should be put into play. There are a number of people who feel that things will only get worse unless some spammers are executed, "pour encourage les autres", or however you spell it, Don... My BWS box gets between 100 to 200 spams a day. My spam checker is pretty good, and a few get through, but I've tweaked it pretty well to avoid false positives. And I don't think I've lost any stories since I reset the filters.

The signal to noise ratio for spam to legit emails is too dang high. And now... If I understand this correctly, a spammer will be allowed to PAY the powers that be at AOL for the privilege to spam the AOL community? Say it ain't so, Joe! Although it's what you get for belonging to AOL.

Well, I have to get up at 3:30 in the AM for my trip to New York, which will include a visit to Don. Looking forward to it, considerably!