Before I get into this weeks Module Monday post I would like to mention something that is bothering me quite a bit today, and in my opinion very unprofessional. Each year Pligg does a Cyber Monday sale. We generate a coupon code to be used which lets you guys get stuff at a significant discount. Pretty straight forward you think? We’ve been doing it since 2007. You are probably thinking “How come I wasn’t told about it?” I am wondering the same thing too.
So I’ve broken down where the lack of communication has been. Such notifications are handled by another person. Who in this case completely dropped the ball. The following is what is usually done for cyber Monday specials since 2007.
- Email all forum members – Not Done
- Post it on the official Pligg Blog – Not Done
- Post it on Pligg Pro – Not Done
- Post it to Pligg’s Official Facebook page – Not Done
- Post it to Twitter – Was Actually Posted.
So out of the 5 different communication methods we have to notify you of what the coupon code was this year. It was only posted to one place. So-Yes. I call that dropping the ball.
Unfortunately I have no control over the above notification methods. Only one person has control of that. Maybe you should all send him a private message and ask what happened?
What I do have access to is the coupon code it’s self. So I have extended it through Tuesday 1159pm Pacific Time. Use the coupon code CYBER2012 to get 25% off everything in the shop. Ok, now on to the regular Module Monday post.
This week’s Module Monday post were going to be talking about spam and one particular free module that hardly anyone uses the SFS AntiSpam.
The best way to stop spammers is by not allowing the spammers to register in the first place. This module does exactly that, plus provides some in site on your members history around the web.
How does it work? Well what it does is when a person enters their registration details it sends them to a large database of known spammers and checks the registration IP address, Username, and Email address they are using and looks to see if they are a spammer. It uses the database from stopforumspam.com.
The module also puts some notifications to would be spammers in the registration page and on the submit page notifying them that if they are caught spamming on your site that they will be reported. The module allows you to add new spammers into the database provided you have an API Key, from Pliggs user administration area. You can signup and get an API Key from here.
you will also notice that while viewing any user in the Pligg admin, the module will also check against previous users and provide their score. It will tell you how many entries they have in the database (if any).
This module also comes with a Admin widget so you can see the number of spammers blocked from registering on your site, and spammers globally in a nice pie chart.
This is one of those modules where the more people that use it, the more protected everyone else becomes. So I strongly urge all Pligg site owners to use the free module. Right now it’s only used by very few people. In fact more people complain about spam than people who use the module. So it goes to show that even providing the tools to help stop spamming isn’t enough. Educating people and pointing them in the right direction is the only way. (hand holding)
See how you can Help ChuckRoast now and get some cool stuff in return.
Tune in tomorrow
~ ChuckRoast