In the past it was the banner ads that were blamed for the malicious site warnings at MEF. I'd suggest getting rid of the banner ads by having members pledge donations to replace that revenue if they wish (it would be strictly voluntary.) With PayPay subscriptions we could have a specific amount donated to MEF on whatever schedule works for us. One-time donations are nice but are not something that you can count on in a budget. I'm on a fixed income but I could cough up $5 every other month to help support the site.
I don't know if tboy is still running MEF on his own server but with enough revenue coming in he might want to migrate to something else to increase bandwidth and security.
If the malicious links are found within the posts of new members then I think that measures should be taken to prevent that. Here's one idea: why not prevent new members from posting links until they have been vetted by tboy or one of the mods, which would happen only after a waiting period of, say, 30 days.
One of the reason people join the forum is to ask questions about a specific problem in which case there really isn't a need to post a live link. They could still upload pictures to illustrate their problem, or if a link to a site was actually necessary they could spell it out with <dot> replacing the period in a web address.
Speaking of people who join to look for a solution to a specific problem many of them never log on again once they get their answer. If a new member doesn't log on again for something like 6 months perhaps they could be automatically sent an email asking them to reply if they wish to remain a member.
Just some thoughts going through my mind...
Steve Ahola
I don't know if tboy is still running MEF on his own server but with enough revenue coming in he might want to migrate to something else to increase bandwidth and security.
If the malicious links are found within the posts of new members then I think that measures should be taken to prevent that. Here's one idea: why not prevent new members from posting links until they have been vetted by tboy or one of the mods, which would happen only after a waiting period of, say, 30 days.
One of the reason people join the forum is to ask questions about a specific problem in which case there really isn't a need to post a live link. They could still upload pictures to illustrate their problem, or if a link to a site was actually necessary they could spell it out with <dot> replacing the period in a web address.
Speaking of people who join to look for a solution to a specific problem many of them never log on again once they get their answer. If a new member doesn't log on again for something like 6 months perhaps they could be automatically sent an email asking them to reply if they wish to remain a member.
Just some thoughts going through my mind...
Steve Ahola