This post describes how our simple anti-spam measures work.
These restrictions only apply to new users. They are removed automatically after your account meets certain criteria. Normal users will never be effected by these restrictions.
How does it work?
New user accounts are slightly restricted to deny spammers a place to put a link.
These restrictions only apply to new users. They are removed automatically after your account meets certain criteria. Normal users will never be effected by these restrictions.
- New users receive an error if they use off-site links in posts or signatures. New users can still link to web pages on this site.
- New users receive an error if they use certain forbidden words in posts or signatures. The error reports the trigger word to help you find and remove it.
- New users receive an error if they enter non-English characters (like Cyrillic).
- New users can't save a personal profile. Spammers like to put a URL in the personal profile.
- Accounts that don't post within 24 hours of registration are automatically disabled and then purged.
The above restrictions only apply to new users. We are constantly tweaking the definition of a new user to stop spam while not annoying real people. These restrictions currently apply to users who:
- Have less than 1 post
- Registered in the last 24 hours
Help, I'm stuck
We apologize if you get caught in the filter. We'll keep tweaking it to find a good balance of usability.