Spam!!

Can't see any spam now, thanks to Peter1945

Take another look..........the latest bit of crap is just extracting the urine......!

Ive just had a thought. Google "tramp" and you dont find a lot about the outdoors. These guys dont seem to speak english so possibly think they are posting on a completely different type of forum. Doesnt help much though

Now this crap is just getting more and more obscene and in English (still gibberish).........surely something must be done about it soon............? Matthew are you getting all these "Report innapropriate content" messages coz I'm sick of sending them....? Feedback and update is what we need Matthew......please...!

Thats foul and a keyword search by an isp could see the whole site blocked because of it. That sort of spam can literally kill the site by causing it to be banned. We have to have a second person able to delete this stuff and now its urgent If nothing else a block on overseas registrations will temporarily reduce this I dont mean a permanent ban just until we get on top of this

I've emailed Matthew asking for an update. Lets just hope he's working on it.........but would certainly appreciate some news either way.

Hi guys, OK here are some things you need to know. 1) I have a full time job. 2) I have a life, and there have been significant changes for me this year (I have moved house and I have a new partner). 3) I do not make any significant money from this site. 4) The Christchurch Earthquake has meant I have spent time without power, living away from home, looking after friends, dealing with claims, and generally just living in difficult circumstances. Everything in Christchurch takes longer at the moment. 5) This is for me a spare time project and when I run out of spare time it suffers. Basically I haven't had any time at all over the past few weeks to deal with anything. However, the positive news is that I am committed to it and I do have a solution near completion. It's almost 2am now and if I stayed up until 5am I would have it done. Unfortunately I have to go sleep before work. But I think I should be able to give it to you by Easter. Basically what you will see is a solution where instead of "reporting" offensive content, you will flag it. Once flagged, it will hide for you and hide for others once it has received enough votes. Longstanding members will have more votes than new members -- so if one longstanding member flags something, it will disappear for everybody. If several new members flag something then it will also disappear. This will not stop spam, but it will mean that members can actively remove it rather than simply reporting it. There are already two mitigation measures in place (CAPTCHA on sign up and hidden random key fields to stop bots submitting posts) and this should be the third and final element. Sorry it's taken so long. I promise it is coming though. Matthew

Matthew, I understand that this is a spare time project for you. As I believe everyone else does. Your committment to it is very much appreciated. As evidenced by the number of people for which this site plays an important part in their outdoor activities. I for one visit daily. When in recent times there has been the odd hiccup and outage it leaves a hole in my daily reading. Something I found somewhat disconcerting. I believe there are many like myself who think the site is of significance and a vital contribution for all those that enjoy tramping and the outdoors. It is also obvious that it is a vital site for visitors to our country. Many of whom log on to gain information and plan their trips. I am sure that this has led to the establishment of many friendships also. Matthew, your contribution to tramping community through this website is a very significant one and I appreciate it. I also appreciate that for you it is a not for profit one. Perhaps it is possible that you under value the significance of your contribution and how the users of this site view it. I think you should give consideration to a facility for users like myself to make contributions so that we might assist in supporting the site. I wouldn't expect that in making a contribution that it would give any sort of right to expect more from your efforts. But it just might make your life a little easier. This is just a note to express my appreciation and thanks for all that you do and my sympathies for all that you and the people of Christchurch have had to contend with and continue to contend with.. Thank you very much. Frank

I second that Frank. Matthew we all really appreciate your efforts. As has been sid before there are those amongst us that value this site to the point where a contribution would be seen as a positive move rather than a negative one, and I for one would see it that way. I think all your plans for the site are a giant step in the right direction and will certainly pay dividends with both current members returning and new members joining safe in the knowledge that it is indeed a site that is dedicated to the great outdoors and not an outlet for the Russian mafia. Like Frank I too log in every day and although my contributions may not be up there with the likes of some, I nonetheless take great pleasure reading the threads and learning from others. I would also like to echo Franks last comments in relation to your particular circumstances and those of others who have suffered in the disaster of the Christchurch earthquake, our thoughts and sympathies are indeed with you all.

I also second the comments made by Frank and Norm. I think we all realised the earthquake would have had an impact on your life but didn't realise you had other personal impacts, yeah a difficult time. What really amazes me is that the site kept going after the earthquake. This and another site based in Chch have kept going without a hiccup right through these events. That is impressive and has led me thinking that if we can protect computers from these sort of events, why can't we protect people. It is all very well making building survivable, and there is no doubt that NZ building codes saved hundreds of lives, but we forget that building and infrastructure needs to carry on providing services that they normally do after these sort of events. Hospitals, computer centres and civil defence bunkers are designed that way, why not the rest of our infrastructure... but I digress. Anyway, conratulations on keeping the site going at all. The spam is the only problem at the moment and anything that any of us can do to help keep this site being as wonderful as it is, we are more than willing to do.