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[Hayley Fiasco!]

it's even more complicated than I originally thought - there are website/server concerns that are a bit of a roadblock right now to updating or changing SMF.

For months, maybe even more than a full year (as far as I know first hand), there was an issue with SMF that prevented this forum from being updated - I forget exactly what version we were in at the time - but after months of getting error messages, updating the SMF version was finally successful.

Before we had CGB or Len to help moderate, before anyone even posted links and suggestions to use add ons, I had researched add-ons and spam blockers, not finding anything suitable that was compatible with the forum version we were running at the time. I don't know what the issue specifically was with SMF that wouldn't allow updates, but Sean (the grand master of the internet that he is) was finally able to defeat it and updated the forum to version 1.1.14, the version we now use. Team Amanda is of course aware of the issues with spam and this forum in general and it's not being ignored. Hopefully we can cook up something really nice and kick ass by the time Amanda's new album is out that will take care of all the technical issues we've experienced, and add on some neat new features. However, that's taking time and I understand there is a legitimate need to fix the spam issue before then.

Keep in mind that while we do have some awesome volunteer moderators, they are not the only ones removing the spam content - us admins receive the same spam reports and in addition to deleting the garbage we see as we browse, and the spam that you guys help report, we also try to pre-emptively remove problem users (aka spam bots) even before they post and we try to do this in the BEST way possible that will not affect (or will not potentially affect) current and future forum users from accessing this board. I spend a lot of time reading these forums to make sure that the real legit posts are in appropriate forums, that discussion is heading in constructive ways and helping forum users however i can - even if it means trying to mediate problems they have with other forum users, moderators or admins. Trust me when I say that there *really* are much better uses of time and energy than to delete spam bots - all of us mods/admins don't LOVE to remove russian hair growing links, in a perfect forum world we would not be needed (there is no joy to deleting robots).  I would really like to get to the point where we can find and implement a fix that holds us over until we can fix some of the bigger issues that some of you may be having on or with the forum and add features.

With that being said - please know that I'm all up in the Shadowbox's biznass. I'm on here every day reading everything. I apologize if you guys feel ignored, because you are NOT being ignored. Speaking on my own behalf, I've had some major projects for work that I had to focus a lot of my attention on, and I'm sure you guys can understand that it's tough being spread thin and blah blah blah priorities, but I will revisit my research on add ons, fixes and try some more to get those pre-emptive spam filters/registration blockers integrated into these forums.

[spider jerusalem]

s0x.  :'(

[N.U.]

Tagged a crap ton more of them this morning, one of the spam bots even posted in the spam bot thread. How's that for irony?