21 Jun SkaDate Features: Spam Filtering
by Zima
And now I don't want to eat either...
There is one thing on the Internet everyone loves to hate. Spam. And scam. So, there are two things everyone loves to hate on the Internet. No matter how understanding and patient we are, seeing spam is like hearing vuvuzelas in the middle of an unplugged concert. They are called musical instruments for some reason, just like spam is sometimes referred to as ‘useful information.’ Look, I think I’ll be perfectly capable of tracking down a physician when I feel that I’m ready. Until then, there is no need to yell about Viagra into my ear every few hours. Luckily, a couple of useful features of the SkaDate Dating Software can spare your clients this pain.
Profile Message Filter is a powerful tool that will protect your members against both scam and spam. Oftentimes scammers join existing networks and sent out bulk mass-mails with an intent to get at least a couple of unsuspected daters into their nets. Not with the SkaDate Package. When the system sees that a message with the same content was sent to more than one member, it will block it and forward to Admin’s Profile Message Filter Inbox for verification. From then on it’s up to the site owner to approve or nix it and then block the spammer for good.
Of course, as virtual scammers become more sophisticated, they might find ways to make all of their messages seem unique. Just for such cases we have a Spam Filter. It allows admins to create their own lists of keywords that will filter all incoming messages. As you could guess, the first keyword I added to my filter was ‘Viagra’. Voila, now no one gets any headaches about it. The second thing I banned was the ‘@’ symbol. This effectively blocked all messages mentioning any email addresses, pending my approval. Easy.
Scammers, though, do not limit their reach to messages, do they? Besides, what if you hate vuvuzelas so much, you don’t want to even see that word appearing anywhere on your network. That’s a bit harsh, sure, but it can be done. The feature is called Badwords (also found under the Management panel). That’s the place where you can finally feel like a Soviet TV executive in charge of deciding what your anchors can and cannot say. (That, only in a good and productive way, of course).
So, let’s take our favorite words like ‘Viagra’ and ‘Vuvuzelas’. Let’s add them to the list of Badwords (because that’s what they are). Now let’s choose what this list will be applied to on our site (anything from comments and blogs to videos and photos). All done – now all instances of our chosen ‘bad words’ will be replaced with ‘censored‘. Needless to say, you can choose any combination of letters to filter; just remember that there should be at least three of them. I’m talking about letters, not pills or that hellish musical creations.
The late Uncle Ben was right, though. With great power comes great responsibility, no matter if we are talking about spider-senses or censorship. What I’m saying is that you should not go overboard with restrictions. Apply common sense, so that in the end your network will feature appropriate content and will still allow members to freely speak their minds, without scammers and spammers shoving ‘useful information’ down their throats.