: Nick, this spamming is out of control and KILLING the message board.
: Something must be done or manyu folks will migrate to other boards that
: are better moderated. Perhaps allowing a few members whom you trust to
: delete the spam so the rest of us don't have to read it is the answer. I
: dont know.

I agree it is a problem. We already do have several volunteers helping to monitor the spam and delete it. Unfortunately, the spam is produced by automated software so can be generated faster than people can keep up. And we do like to sleep and get off the computer to build boats or paddle on occasion.

One of the problems is the software used to run this BBS is quite old and not very sophisticated with regards to dealing with it. There are several things that can be done that may address the spam problem, but they generally come at the expense of usability for legitimate users. Requiring pre-registration with email verification is one technique, but it means another password to try to remember. Some sort of "Captcha" system may also help, but that means decoding and typing in some sort of non-machine-readable response. This can be as aggravating for posters as the spam.

One reason I stick with the existing BBS script is I like the dialog flow it promotes. I have not found a modern BBS that does it as well or better. The price we pay is having to see some spam. I am not happy with the current situation and am investigating other solutions, but hope people can be patient.