Time to Change Phatmass' Registration Process?

[Luigi]

On this beautiful Fourth Sunday of Easter, at this precise moment, there are 166 pages of spam topics on Phatmass - 145 pages in Open Mic, 12 pages in the Debate Table, and 9 pages in the Vocation Station. Each page lists 10 topics, so that's a total of about 1,660 posts for call girls, abortion pills, voodoo spells, online gambling, and I don't know what all else. 

Compared to other situations on the face of the earth, this is a First World problem. It's not the worst thing that could happen, although it does slow down the process of finding a topic one has been following. 

I respectfully suggest to dUSt and the other administrators that it might be time to change Phatmass' open enrollment process. At the moment, anyone who answers a few questions, about which one can easily lie, can join the phamily. In the past that was enough to fiddler out most trolls.  But technology has changed (bots, AI, whatnot) so that our decent little corner of the interwebz has now been turned into a sleazy neighborhood. 

I'd be willing to e-mail back & forth with new applicants to see if they're really Catholic, or actually interested in debates about religious topics. In most cases, it would be easy enough to spot bad actors because they don't know Catholic terminology; and if one or two bad actors slip through the interview/discussion process, it's easy enough to hit 'em with the ban hammer. 

Waddaya think? 

[little2add]

What do you think about imposing a membership fee?  

For new members only, in order to post on this website.  .  this would be a one-time only charge. 

 it might discourage these spammers or AI from posting, their nonsense.

The charge of one dollar ($1) to five ($5) dollars would also defray the costs of hosting

 

Actually, chipping in one dollar ($1) to cover operating cost from everyone is NOT a terrible idea, either

Edited April 28 by little2add

[dUSt]

Great idea. The first post of all new members must now be approved by a moderator.

[dUSt]

Also, now all new member registrations must be approved by a moderator.