How does The Spam Jail identify spam posts?
How is a "new" member defined?
Can a spammer exceed the post review limit by posting a lot of spam?
Can I specify the rules used to check against posts to determine if it is spam?
What happens to posts identified as spam?
Can both posts and signatures be checked for spam?
Can I exclude forums from The Spam Jail?
Can posts from previous spammers be queued for moderator review regardless of the post's content?
Can The Spam Jail automatically ban spammers from my forum?
Can I reverse that a member has been identified as a spammer?
How does The Spam Jail help to manage queued posts?
Can I be notified when posts are queued?
Is there telephone, email, or a help forum support for The Spam Jail?
What percentage of spam posts are typically queued for moderator review?
What types of posts should not appear on the forum but pass The Spam Jail's spam filters?
What percentage of legitimate posts are queued by The Spam Jail for moderator review?
Installing The Spam Jail To top of page
What is required to install The Spam Jail?
What are the steps to installing The Spam Jail?
Why are instructions provided to change IPB pages instead of replacement pages?
The Spam Jail Licensing To top of page
How much does The Spam Jail cost?
Can I put The Spam Jail on my web site for download?
Invision Power Board 2.x To top of page
Does The Spam Jail support IPB 2.x?
Are there any plans for The Spam Jail to support IPB 2.x?
Don't the security features in IPB 2.x prevent spam?
Using The Spam Jail To top of page
How does The Spam Jail identify spam posts?
Post from new members of the forum are scanned for html links, http in text, and other indications that the post is spam (i.e. an unsolicited commercial message).
How is a "new" member defined?
New members are defined by the number of posts made by the member and the number of days since the member joined the forum. Although The Spam Jail has default values for the number of posts and days that define a new member, these values can easily be changed. Once a member passes the number of days and posts that define a new member their posts are not reviewed, unless the member has been identified as a spammer.
Can a spammer exceed the post review limit by posting a lot of spam?
No. Posts that are identified as spam are queued for moderator review. Queued posts do not count towards the member's post count until they actually appear on the forum
Can I specify the rules used to check against posts to determine if it is spam?
Yes. The Spam Jail is very flexible. You can specify the number of posts and how long a member has been a member to determine whether a member's posts should no longer be checked for spam. You can also define the spam checking criteria, such as looking for links, looking for "http", looking for "@", etc.
What happens to posts identified as spam?
Posts identified as spam are queued for moderator review. A queued post does not appear on the forum until a moderator approves the post. The moderator can also delete the post.
Can both posts and signatures be checked for spam?
Yes. Some spammers use the signature area to post their spam. Checking of signatures is optional. Checking of signatures may result in queueing more legitimate posts.
Can I exclude forums from The Spam Jail?
Yes. If you have a forum that legitimately attracts links to external web sites, you may wish to exclude it from The Spam Jail. Posts from previously identified spammers will still be queued, even if the forum is excluded.
Can posts from previous spammers be queued for moderator review regardless of the post's content?
Yes. The Spam Jail can flag the member who posts spam. The member can have their posts queued for review for a specified number of hours, days, or permanently. The Spam Jail has also made available to moderators the controls, that were previously available only to admins, to flag or unflag members for hours, days, or permanently as having their posts queued.
Can The Spam Jail automatically ban spammers from my forum?
No. Banning spammers doesn't seem to prevent them from coming back under a different member name or IP address.
Can I reverse that a member has been identified as a spammer?
Yes. Moderators can remove a member from having their posts queued, if the member has been identified as a spammer. The new member rules and rules for identifying spam cannot be changed by moderators.
How does The Spam Jail help to manage queued posts?
The Spam Jail automatically sets radio buttons and drop-down dselections to quickly manage spam. The Spam Jail also correctly sets a moderator link from the IPB forum to take the moderator directly to the queued posts. See The Spam Jail in action for more details.
Can I be notified when posts are queued?
Yes, IPB has a means to send an email when a post is queued. See The Spam Jail in action for more details.
Is there telephone, email, or a help forum support for The Spam Jail?
The Spam Jail is a free product. Support is generally provided by Sizzling Web Design but phone support is only available on a paid basis. Emails and PM will be responded to but posting any questions or problems on the Sizzling Web Design is encouraged.
What percentage of spam posts are typically queued for moderator review?
100%. Your results may differ.
What types of posts should not appear on the forum but pass The Spam Jail's spam filters?
Spam is defined as unsolicited commercial messages. Non-commercial messages such as people talking about politics on a gardening forum are not queued. The Spam Jail does have some facilities to identify problem posts that are not spam but some problem posts do slip through the filters.
What percentage of legitimate posts are queued by The Spam Jail for moderator review?
Because The Spam Jail focuses on new members, very few posts are reviewed for spam. Probably less than 5% of legitimate posts are mistakenly queued, in our experience, but your forum may see a lower or higher percentage.
Installing The Spam Jail To top of page
What is required to install The Spam Jail?
You must have Invision Power Board 1.x installed and working. Version 1.3 Final is recommended. Instructions on how to change IPB 1.3 and new php programs are provided as part of The Spam Jail. A text editor like Notepad or Davor's PHP Editor is required to make the changes to IBP's php files.
What are the steps to installing The Spam Jail?
Instructions on how to change IPB 1.3 and new php programs are provided as part of The Spam Jail. It is just a matter of following the instructions. No changes are made to the IPB database.
Why are instructions provided to change IPB pages instead of replacement pages?
IPS Inc's license agrrement allows for providing instructions on how to change the IPB but prohibits distributing any IPB php files.
The Spam Jail Licensing To top of page
How much does The Spam Jail cost?
Free
Can I put The Spam Jail on my web site for download?
Please do not post The Spam Jail on your web site for download. In order to make sure only the genuine The Spam Jail and that all the latest changes are included, please direct anyone interested to thespamjail.com
Invision Power Board 2.x To top of page
Does The Spam Jail support IPB 2.x?
Not yet.
Are there any plans for The Spam Jail to support IPB 2.x?
It is possible but there are no definite plans yet.
Don't the security features in IPB 2.x prevent spam?
IBP 2.x does try to reduce spam by requiring a security code be entered for new registrations. This does help reduce spam by making automated registrations significantly more difficult. Spammers seem ready to use non-automated means to do registration, so the security code tends not to prevent much spam.