Awating moderator approval

[steinbil]

This is not to complain, I'm only trying to figure out what caused the automatic call for moderator approval.

I just posted a reply to a thread, like I normally do. I then edited the post to correct the layout of the post. Immediately after editing I saw a blue banner saying the post was awaiting moderator approval and that it was invisible to other readers. What caused this?

- Random?
- Editing the post right after posting?
- Using an external URL in my post (to an InDepth article on gue.com)?
- Other reasons?

I doubt it was reported, as it happened immediately after posting. I also don't think any of my posts have ever been reported or moderated, so I don't think my account should have any restrictions, unless it's because I only have around 20 posts in total.

 

[jborg]

I have no insight in the running of this forum, but I run another online forum. There we have automatic anti-spam measures that will yank posts for moderation based on some criteria: how new the user is, the formatting and contents of the message, whether it contains links, how long it took to write it, etc. I would expect it's something similar here, in which case you have nothing to worry about and it'll be let through.

 

[L13]

It's just a theory, but were you re-animating an old thread?

 

[steinbil]

I have no insight in the running of this forum, but I run another online forum. There we have automatic anti-spam measures that will yank posts for moderation based on some criteria: how new the user is, the formatting and contents of the message, whether it contains links, how long it took to write it, etc. I would expect it's something similar here, in which case you have nothing to worry about and it'll be let through.

That makes a lot of sense. I guess I just got caught in the net somehow, probably because my account is new-ish and I posted a URL. The only other thing that separated it from my other posts was the use of the multi-quote function, but I don't see why that should trigger it, unless it has to do with amount of characters and time to write the post...

It's just a theory, but were you re-animating an old thread?

Nope, a thread from yesterday.

 

[steinbil]

Or maybe it picked up, through tracking cookies, that I copy-pasted text (a quote from the article I linked to)...

 

[jborg]

Copy-pasting text is a pretty strong spam signal, yes. Most people type their posts. Most spammers paste them in. This just based on time spent in the editor compared to amount of text produced.

So new-ish user, pastes text, with links, I can see the system being suspicious.

 

[steinbil]

FWIW, I only copy-pasted a short quote and the rest of the post was typed. But I guess the combination of two "multi-quotes" with my short replies and an external quote with a link was enough in aggregation. Anyways, I guess once a moderator is on, it will be reviewed and approved.

 

[Akimbo]

I just approved this thread. It appears that your IP address has been automatically flagged as suspicious. In nearly all cases, people are assigned a temporary IP address by their Internet Provider using DHCP. It could be that some scammers or spammers have used your provider, resulting in a range of their IP addresses being blocked or flagged.

Ping @Pedro Burrito

 

[Pedro Burrito]

I'm not giving out the secrets about why it was flagged because then, someone else will post how to get around it. The scammers/spammers have already figured out too much.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

I just approved this thread. It appears that your IP address has been automatically flagged as suspicious. In nearly all cases, people are assigned a temporary IP address by their Internet Provider using DHCP. It could be that some scammers or spammers have used your provider, resulting in a range of their IP addresses being blocked or flagged.

Ping @Pedro Burrito

I was just going to ask the same question when I found this thread. Makes sense now.

I did receive an email notification of the comment, but it wasn't posted. I would expect that email notifications wouldn't go out if a comment was from a suspicious IP address.