Hmm. I'm not exactly sure this falls under Website Code, since websites aren't really my area of expertise, but I'll mention it anyway.
Something to help all of this spam that we seem to be getting a lot of would be to, if possible, switch to a Karma system instead of a post count. Karma being, taken from a board that uses it...
Karma is the numerical representation of your board status. Accounts earn Karma at a rate of one per day that the account is logged in, as long as the account has at least one active post on the message boards. If the account is not used to log in within a 24-hour period or has no messages actively posted on the boards, then no Karma is gained for that day.
Karma is lost when an account is used to post messages that are in violation of the TOS; 3 Karma for a "Notification", and 10 Karma for a "Warning". Once karma is lost, it's lost forever, and will not be restored except in very rare circumstances.
As your Karma increases, so does your board level, which grants additional privileges and features on the boards.
Along with the "Board Levels" it mentioned...
-4: Closed: Account closed by user. Closed accounts cannot be re-opened under any circumstances.
-3: Pending Closure: Account marked to be closed by user. Account will be closed in 48 hours, and after that can never be restored under any circumstances.
-2: Banned: User has been banned from posting messages for one or more Terms of Service violations.
-1: Suspended: User's posting privileges have been suspended for one or more Terms of Service violations, pending review by an Administrator.
0: Inactive: User has not yet activated their account using a valid e-mail address. Cannot post messages.
1: Read-Only: User can read most message boards, but cannot post messages.
5: Warned: User on "parole" for one or more major Terms of Service violations. Can only post 3 messages per hour (10 per day), no topics, restored after 48-72 hours.
6: Negative Karma: User has karma of less than zero. User can post a total of one message per day, and any further TOS violations are grounds for banning.
10: Provisional (1): Created with Freemail/AOL/WebTV. Upgraded to New User after 48 hours with positive Karma. Can create 1 topic, 10 messages per day (3 per hour).
11: Provisional (2): Created with regular e-mail. Upgraded to New User after 24 hours with positive Karma. Can create 1 topic, 20 messages per day (5 per hour).
15: New User (1): Can create 5 topics, 30 messages per day. Can delete own messages, close topics.
20: New User (2): Awarded to users with at least 20 Karma. Can create 10 topics, 50 messages per day. Can now mark messages for moderation, use meta-mod.
25: New User (3): Awarded to users with at least 40 Karma. Can create 10 topics, 80 messages per day. Can now view own posting history.
30: Regular User: Awarded to users with at least 75 Karma. No posting restrictions. Can now use topic search.
31: Veteran: Awarded to users with at least 150 Karma. No posting restrictions.
32: Legend: Awarded to users with at least 350 Karma. No posting restrictions.
33: Elite: Awarded to users with at least 700 Karma. No posting restrictions.
34: Icon: Awarded to users with at least 1000 Karma. No posting restrictions.
35: Idol: Awarded to users with at least 1500 Karma. No posting restrictions.
Karma's great for reducing spam. If doable, I vote that we switch.
