DJ Setzer
As has been noted over and over again, the increase in phishing spam links is or has gotten out of control. In the following, I propose a practical way in which to address this issue which would seriously curb the issue if not altogether get rid of such an activity.
  1. Create new role abilities.
  2. New abilities would have defined rules for group owner, group moderator(s) or other trusted individuals to be the only allowed individuals to post links in a group.
  3. Sub-classification for members who don't fit the aforementioned roles to be allowed only to post image links from known/well established image sharing sites. (This too should have a on/off toggle to prevent any type of abuse as needed)
  4. Group owners/moderators can have/create an allowed list of URL's that are permitted in their group. Example: Marketplace.secondlife.com Defining permitted URLs allows only those that are an exact match and prevents misspelled and misleading links.
  5. In the event a user attempts to post outside of their role abilities, the post is blocked from being sent and user notified as to why.
In the above proposed solution, spammers would not by default be allowed to post spam links in any group as the default persons of the established "everyone" role would not allow it nor any other default role as defined by the group administration.
In consideration of what to do with groups whose administration has been absent for a period of 6 months or more, by default all link postings should be disabled until such a time (if ever) a group owner logs in and establishes who may post links. While some may see this as an unpopular option, it prevents those groups that some still use from being exploited.
I propose this solution as if there is no ability to post phishing links, then there is less likelihood that users are entering in their credentials and their accounts being compromised as well as serving the great community good of people who just don't want to see this mess as there are other means of advertising for those who are interested.
Regards,
DJ Vicious