Launching RLSLOG forum: first details
There have always been a few seemingly unstoppable issues here at rlslog. One is spammers. Nobody likes to skip through 10 meters worth of comments to find that one link they’re looking for. The other problem we’ve had is people who can’t behave like mature and polite individuals. I have to admit I’ve lost it from time to time due to the mere frustration of having to deal with some of these people, and for that I apologize to the rest of you.
So far there have been a few general ideas as to what we could implement to solve this problem:
- Require registrations to comment
- Include division and multiplication in the spam protection
- Banning all IP’s that spam and write off-topic/racist/obscenities etc.
- Create a RLSLOG forum
The first solution has come up several times but never really stuck. If we were to require registrations from everyone to comment we would surely loose comments from many of you who don’t spam, and provide useful information and opinions. Many people just pop in every once in a while and write a line or two and wouldn’t bother registering, therefore this is not ideal.
The second solution wouldn’t really work long term (people would just buy calculators). The third idea has been implemented to various degrees. We have banned some of the major swear words and warned readers that certain things will lead to a permanent ban. Its not hard to get around the swear word ban first of all. Second of all, manually banning IP’s is not something we really have time for, and even if we did, people would still just use some workaround.
The last solution is to create a forum. When I suggested this the other day to Lee, we discussed it for a while and agreed that the following would be ideal: A rlslog forum which is independent from the rlslog site and leaving the current comment system intact. This way, a rlslog community can be built and more serious visitors can enjoy a spamless community. Martin agreed when I proposed we try this out. There’s nothing we can lose – if the whole forum project doesn’t succeed, we can close it at any time.
Martin: There are few technical details I would like to point out before launching this thing. I would be happy to have the forum on a separate domain and server, which would ensure it’s online when our site goes unexpectedly down and vice versa. This will give us another level of flexibility and method of communication with our readers. I was also thinking that we have 200 thousand readers every day, and there must be someone with a webhosting account or company. So, we would like to kindly ask you, if there’s someone who would be able to provide a hosting for this forum, to contact me at my mai.
We prefer offshore location (US laws suck) and that’s basically all. Just a classic hosting with PHP and MySQL able to run Invision Power Board will do the trick, the bandwith or free space will be on a standard level. There won’t be anything illegal at the forum either, just a filesharing talk, so you don’t have to worry about legal issues. As I said, if there’s someone with Reseller account or a stable, working hosting firm willing to provide the space for us, we would be happy to hear from you as soon as possible. Thanks.
Edit: we got enough offers already, thanks everyone who emailed us.
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