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Do Paid Forums Reduce Spam or Increase a Sense of Entitlement?

by Dan C. Rinnert
6 replies
I've never had a problem with spam on a paid forum, but I haven't had a highly popular forum before either. Currently, I am planning on adding a forum to a popular site of mine and considering my options.

On the WF, spammers are largely kept at bay by user moderation. But, if there were a sole moderator, spammers would probably overrun the place.

So, in the absence of a base of user moderators, how would you keep the spammers at bay? Requiring registration to leave a comment/post is not a hindrance. Spammers can easily sign up and confirm by eMail, go through CAPTCHAs, etc.

But, what if there were a registration fee or an annual membership fee? Would that cut down on the spammers? I would think that would cut out a good portion of them. But, some would no doubt see value in backlinks and such and pay a fee if it were reasonable. (The way I would have the forum set up is that anyone can read; only members can post.)

My question would be concerning those that pay the fee. Would they be a bigger problem than the typical spammer in that they may feel they are entitled to spam because they are a paying member? Or, would people paying money to post on a forum be more likely to play by the rules?
#entitlement #forums #increase #paid #reduce #sense #spam
  • Profile picture of the author ArticlePrince
    Just make it clear that there is no spamming paid or not, that way you can remove them no matter how entitled they feel.
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  • Profile picture of the author fitz10
    My sense is that paid forums have less spam because most people who spam forums are not willing to pay for the privilege of doing so. That's just my 2 cents though.
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  • Profile picture of the author DejanM
    Most forums also have settings so you can setup that newbies cannot post links*/send PMs/post to specific forums until they reach X posts. This is always a good idea - most of the spammers won't take time to write 15 or 20 sensible posts.

    Like this:

    To be able to post links or images your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 12 posts.

    Please remove links from your message, then you will be able to submit your post.
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  • Profile picture of the author DogScout
    Other than here I have never paid less than $99 a month to be a paid member of a forum, they are all closed (cannot be seen unless you are a member) and that alone seems to eliminate any spam. Lol.

    Of course, the forum needs to deliver that much in value a month to be able to charge that, the ones I have belonged to easily delivered value 10-20 times that a month.
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    • Profile picture of the author Dan C. Rinnert
      Originally Posted by ArticlePrince View Post

      Just make it clear that there is no spamming paid or not, that way you can remove them no matter how entitled they feel.
      Removing them really isn't the issue; I just want to pare down the amount of people I'll have to remove.

      Originally Posted by DejanM View Post

      Most forums also have settings so you can setup that newbies cannot post links*/send PMs/post to specific forums until they reach X posts. This is always a good idea - most of the spammers won't take time to write 15 or 20 sensible posts.
      I'm coding my own forum, so I can set that up however I like.

      Originally Posted by DogScout View Post

      Other than here I have never paid less than $99 a month to be a paid member of a forum, they are all closed (cannot be seen unless you are a member) and that alone seems to eliminate any spam. Lol.

      Of course, the forum needs to deliver that much in value a month to be able to charge that, the ones I have belonged to easily delivered value 10-20 times that a month.
      I don't think mine would be anything anyone would want to pay $99 a month for. Just not that type of audience or content. I'm thinking maybe in the $30-$40/year range.
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  • Profile picture of the author Odhinn
    I think it would cut down on spam a great deal, but you'd have to have a mighty nice forum to make me want to pay for it, spam-free or not.
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