Step 1 for the new forum should be BAN Totally BAN all known Scammers! Ip Ban
IP bans are pretty worthless, for the most part they only hassle legitimate users. Scammers, spammers, people who abuse multiple accounts, etc, those folks all know how to get around IP bans easily. Innocent people are more likely to be hit by it than the intended recipient.
Step 2 Either eliminate the signature or accept it No in BETWEEN because it's then left up to a Mod as to "Perceive" what is spam or not....if a MOD labels it spam and it causes a ban then the user bitches to the ADMIN who Doesn't answer. If the mod overlooks it as spam people bitch about spam. this is a NO WIN situation remove the sig or keep it.
I don't see how it's a no win situation. People getting banned then bitching isn't really something I'd call a problem. It's the same on any forum, except on other forums the thread in question just gets deleted and the one's questioning mods get banned. Might look better to those who don't know I guess.
Step 3 The Admin should answer Questions or if he is too busy he should hire someone who can....simple as that
I'm sure theymos would love nothing more than for someone else to take over as admin, but it isn't quite that simple. Admins get access to a lot of sensitive information, and there's also potential for abuse. Finding someone trustworthy who also actually wants to do it isn't that simple. Theymos used to do more mod type stuff, now he's purely an admin and we've stepped up. There's very few questions that only he can answer.
Step 4 Mods need to give reason to a ban when they ban or mute this would eliminate many many uneeded threads asking for answers.
Most do have a reason, they just don't like or agree with it and want to argue, or they are playing dumb hoping people won't figure it out. People also love to feel persecuted, makes them feel important. Some bans (permanent bans by global mods) have no way to add a reason to it, that will be fixed with the new forum software hopefully.
most of the spammers here are doing it for the sig ad payments. most the programs pay higher according to activity. this provides an incentive for spammers not to get banned, because if they do, they have start with a new account and make less money. as for scammers, there's no point banning them, because the account is worthless anyways after it's been tagged as scammer.
think of what you're saying though. I can accept a sig campaign and essentially spam my way to the minimum posts guaranteeing my payday without worries of getting banned. If i get banned i easily once again create multiple accounts leaving them active to attain the desired ACTIVITY to once again participate in sig campaigns.
They can try I guess. You need 60 activity to make member, at 14 activity points per 2 week period, you are looking at 2 and 1/2 months to get the lowest ranking account they will take. And the risk is pretty high, we are watching, new people are still being banned daily for it, several have been banned again for a month+, etc. Good luck I guess.