Spam

"I wish there was some way Ray could filter comments that have nothing to do with the Katy before these peabrains got them online."


I agree, and actually you'd be amazed (and disgusted) by the amount of junk that does get filtered out without ever getting to the forum - on most days, anywhere from 5 to 20 spam messages never get there. Porn, gambling, mail order drugs, messages written in Russian or Chinese - the usual stuff.


If the current filtering system proves inadequate, the alternatives are (1) to start making people sign up for accounts with passwords before they can post, (2) start using "capcha" - where you have to decipher and type in a hard-to-read string of letters to submit a post, or (3) having me review every message before it gets posted, which would result in long delays during the times when I am not online.


I really dislike all of those options, since they discourage people from posting and would cut down on the important and useful conversations, besides filtering out the spam.


So for now there will be some that get through the filter, but I will keep an eye on the forum and try not to let them sit out there for too long.


Thank you to all the "real people" who do post useful messages - you make this forum valuable and informative.

Ray, thanks for all the tremendous work you do on this website!!! I know it must be a pain dealing with the spam. If it comes to it, option (2) you mentioned -- the "capcha" -- would be my choice. I don't think it would discourage postings much at all -- people should be used to dealing with capcha on lots of other sites. Thanks again for everything!

By all means, please keep the forum. It is a valuable resource. To help assure the comments posted are human, humane, and valid, I vote for implementing both (1) and (2).

Thanks for all you do Ray, I would have no problem with option 1 or 2. This forum has helped my friends and I with numerous weekend outings and also planning our trip next year.