Trust Levels: autonomous spam defense
Spam has one favorite target: brand-new accounts. Trust Levels is a new layer of protection that stops spammers cold, while your genuine newcomers barely notice it exists.
Every member climbs a five-step ladder: New, Basic, Member, Regular and Leader. Climbing happens automatically as they participate. Days visited, posts written, reactions received and account age all count toward the next level. No admin work, no approval queues, no moderation overhead.
While an account is still at the bottom of the ladder, the classic spam tools stay locked:
Links: new accounts cannot drop URLs in topics, replies or messages.
Images and attachments: no embedding images or uploading files until trust is earned.
Private messages: DM spam waves from fresh accounts are simply impossible.
Signatures and profile media: no turning a profile into a billboard on day one.
A genuine newcomer unlocks the essentials after just a couple of days of normal participation. A spammer who registers fifty accounts gets fifty accounts that cannot do anything spammy.
Members can follow their own progress on their profile: a trust level card shows where they stand, with a progress bar toward the next level. When they get promoted, a notification tells them exactly what they just unlocked.
And you stay in control. Every level name, every threshold and every unlock is tuneable in the admin panel. You can pin a member to a level, and the top level is yours to grant by hand to the people who have truly earned it.
Trust Levels is off by default. When you switch it on, all your existing members are instantly placed at the level they have already earned, so a three-year veteran will never suddenly find their links blocked.
ForumSpark Support
Cedric
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6 months ago
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53 replies
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2K
And for those who paid attention, you see a glimpse of the new profile page including Status Updates. 😜
