Question on Thread Moderation

[mako]

New user here, and I put together a big first post last night. All about a weber grill conversion project. Full of supporting links. Posted it and it said it'd go through when a moderator looked at it.

It still hasn't, and I'm wondering if there actually is a moderator reading these things. I suspect that's just to keep the spammers out. I guess I should just make 4 more posts and then try to piece my old post back together. Though that makes me feel like I'm actively working against the spam filter.

[Rainwolf]

I did the same thing in "Getting Started" my first big post and its no where to be seen. I even tried to post a question here.

[mako]

Fortunately I had most of it in my cache, so I recreated it after posting my requisite 5 posts. Pestering the moderator didn't get me any response.

(Feel free to respond to me and get to 5 yourself. :-) Can't help you on finding your big post, though.)

[james]

Hi guys,

The first posting is moderated to keep out spam (that's all) -- they are held in a queue until we can sort through what is real and what is spam. We get a large volume of computer generated postings, so it takes some effort to go through them all.

We moderate first time postings Mon-Fri in the morning and after lunch. We currently do not moderate postings on the weekend.

I hope this clears it up a little.
James

[mako]

Thanks, James. I can understand the constant battle with spam -- a friend runs a forum, and he went through 2 or 3 different forum engines trying to find one with good spam-fighting. I don't think he ever succeeded.

If it's not impossible, putting a big boldface note on the compose page when you're subject to that moderation might be a nice help. I know it's my style not to start posting on a forum until I've got something big to say, so my first post's usually a doozy. For people like me, having it disappear into the ether and not show up for days is a little disconcerting. (Blame the internet for making me expect instant gratification.)

[james]

Hi Mako,

I changed the Welcome message on the FB Forum Home Page to explain that first time visitors need to register to be able to post a message, and that your first post will be moderated -- as part of our efforts to keep Spam out of our forum. I think will help.

Thanks for the idea.
James

[mako]

Thanks! ...for everything! Really appreciate the site/forum/whole thing.

[Rainwolf]

Ahh thank you for the explanation! I understand the fight against spam but could not find any information about moderation or delay. Thank you for posting the heads up so others know what is happening. :}

[cleverdick]

Originally Posted by mako

New user here, and I put together a big first post last night. All about a weber grill conversion project. Full of supporting links. Posted it and it said it'd go through when a moderator looked at it.

It still hasn't, and I'm wondering if there actually is a moderator reading these things. I suspect that's just to keep the spammers out. I guess I should just make 4 more posts and then try to piece my old post back together. Though that makes me feel like I'm actively working against the spam filter.

The same thing happened to me - I posted a question about insulation a few days ago and it still hasn't appeared - my previous post was some months ago which showed up without too much delay. I now realise with hindsight that my question was rather a stupid one, to which I could have worked out the answer myself - perhaps it got deleted for that reason. The paranoid part of me wonders if this forum is only open to Freemasons (or suchlike), in which case I'm not eligible! :-0