I know people say that it's easy to make an account, but there are a lot of messageboards where I didn't consider that worth it to register just to post one reply on a thread that I found from a google search, so I didn't post whatever bit of info I might have been able to offer that community.

Even boards where I lurk I often don't bother making an account, I don't want to have to keep track of another login/password for another site that might not be that important in my life. For a long time i didn't post on I3D because of that. I finally made an account, after a year or two. 

...the latest amount of posts, ummm... 

anyway, seems like a pretty unanimous voice telling me people don't think it's worth all this spam just to let some people post anonymously, so I will look into restricting anonymous posts, maybe to a few threads like suggested above.

However, i did some database queries tonight to get real numbers about the problem, just for future reference:

Out of 2874 total posts from january 1 2019 to today:
230 anonymous spam posts
415 anonymous non-spam posts
97 registered user spam posts
2132 registered user non-spam posts

This means:
70% of all spam posts come from anons (30% from registered users)
16% of all non-spam posts comes from anons (84% from registered users)

36% of all posts from anons are spam posts (64% are not spam)
4% of all posts from registered users are spam posts (96% are not spam)
11% of all posts are spam

So, by blocking anons, we would reduce spam by 70%, and reduce regular activity by 16% -- assuming those people don't create accounts as a result of this change. Some of them probably will.

Also: spam accounts are a thing.

There are 1508 registered users, 80 of them are spammer accounts, or 5%. These are accounts that have been manually flagged by me due to their posting activity being all spam. When I flag them it bans them from posting and they disappear from the "people" page. Problem solved.

But there are also accounts that have never posted and never logged in again, but have a URL. Some of these are probably spam URLs. There are about 200 of these. I don't have a good system for dealing with these because I don't notice them unless I really dig. They also don't annoy users that much so, not as big a problem. 

Well, I've just been silently following the conversation, and I'm in favour of anon posting, due to my history at func.

Of course, it's easy for me to say, since I don't have to moderate the spam, but I started posting here through anon posting, and when I realized I have more here to say than just one or two initial posts, I decided to register. I don't know if I would've registered if it weren't for anon posting, which certainly lowered the bar to register eventually.

So I'm a living example of a (probably rare) case that I think was mentioned during the conversation at one point. So make what you will of that. 

I think that may be one of the reasons I haven't joined the Discord channels either.

Well, the primary reason probably is, because I don't really like online real-time discussion that much, like chats, let alone via voice. I prefer forum-like discussion, where it's less hectic and you have more time to think about what you write.

But the other reason, which is more related to the current topic, is that there's not a public viewing possibility, let alone posting possibility, in the Discord channels without signing up first. 

415 anonymous non-spam posts

Can we get a statistic saying how many of those 415 were actually useful posts, and how many were inflammatory shitposts from a handful of people with a long-time grudge against func? 

you can check in the previous discussions about this topic.

Simply the people in favor have long grown tired of it, turned into lurkers or have been kicked out by the toxic atmosphere.

@onetruepurple That depends on the point of view of each: for example the people that are stoned because not adhering to the current beliefs of the loud parts of Func are being seen by many as spammers or trolls. 

going back to publish the IP but let non registered still post? We had not even half the complainers about anon back then. 

for example the people that are stoned because not adhering to the current beliefs of the loud parts of Func are being seen by many as spammers or trolls.

Examples? 

"Can we get a statistic saying how many of those 415 were actually useful posts, and how many were inflammatory shitposts from a handful of people with a long-time grudge against func? "

And yeah, one might argue that there are some inflammatory shitposts from registered users - 95% of which are from spy of course - BUT as discussed before, registered beefers are accountable and can have their posts put into context, anon trolls can't.

So the stats say that removing anon posting will remove 70% of the spam. Great. Do it. Will be refreshing to come onto func, see some new posts, and not have to mark the whole fucking lot as spam. 

going back to publish the IP but let non registered still post? We had not even half the complainers about anon back then.

I like that idea but only as long as we also post their social security number, bank account details, home address, and mother's maiden name alongside the ip address too.

Oh, and also as long we block EU accounts from being able to use func, because if you display ip addresses you will fall foul of the new EU internet privacy laws. We don't want some eurotrash bureaucrat shutting this precious site down.

Then again, if we still allow spam and non-registered, then we might be able to keep the activity going despite the loss of our EU friends. We'll never have to listen to shambler again, so there is that? Pros and cons my friend.

Simply the people in favor have long grown tired of it, turned into lurkers or have been kicked out by the toxic atmosphere.

Toxic atmosphere? What's wrong you fucking manlet, did some anon poster trigger you? 

Fuck you. Go away forever. 

wow, that was inspired. 

There you go metl. The true value of ""non-spam"" anon posters. 

Delete all accounts and make it anon only website. 

With tronald dump anon post above. It made a point or two. But yeah limit those to beef, etc.

But coming to the site and wasting clicks on anon spam is a drag when it can be remedied.

As far as registered spam accounts. Would be great to at least stop any of those moving forward with some kind of captcha or validation thing. Quakewiki.org has a simple system for posting there. Seems to work but gets less traffic.

All I can say is at some point this place turned a corner and it needs some steering... or whatever. 

I have to say, this anongate stuff, if anything, has breathed a bit of life back into func...

...maybe we should keep it as-is, to keep the beef sizzling ;}

j/k - I think metlslime's stats show a pretty clear case for banning anons just to wipe out 70% of spam. 

 

and make it so spy can only post in that one.

lol, yeah just make it happen 

PLEASE disable anon posting. The spam bumps are really tedious. 

or capcha - or something 

We should not make it more tedious for actual members to post, but we should make it very difficult for spammers. 

Add an extra text field with a friendly name to the form. Hide it using css for humans. If it has data as part of post request, it was an automated spam. Won't eliminate all of it, but should work often enough. 

wow almost 200 spam posts in less than a couple hours all in one thread?

With the second batch containing the title "Stay Vigilant"?

it definitely couldnt be spam from one of the loudest proponents for removing anon posts. thatd just be crazy! 

Congratulations on misreading "Site Help" as "Beef Thread".

And no, it wasn't me. I was busy talking to Terry Cavanagh about the (trigger warning just for you) job!!! (sorry if the sight of this word offends you) I'm doing for his upcoming game, would be rather hard to do that and also keep spamming posts.

Thanks for the consideration though, I'm glad that my arguing against anonymous posting gets recognition in such high circles.