Competition - $200 to be won here every month

[Fergal]

Well done Hooperman. Good for you Clinton, for being so fair and generous with the prizes.

I seem a disturbing pattern here, the person who won is the only person without a number in his name...

Interesting you should say that. I've been taking a hard look at spammers on my business forum recently. One thing they all had in common, was a number in their username. You could be the exception that proves the rule.

[Clinton]

Fergal, here's what I've done that's worked wonders.

1. Give new users little to no privileges. They've got to prove themselves before they become full members.
2. Don't make it easy for them to prove themselves. If they post any content available elsewhere, make posts that don't have any inherent value, or otherwise demonstrate they can't meet the strict forum rules, their posts just don't appear in public / get deleted, and they'll never accumulate enough posts to become full members. They'll give up eventually.
3. Dispense with infractions etc., for any new member posting anything remotely spammy. I was going for bans. Then I made that permanent bans. Now I just delete the full account. At first offence.

But that's all extreme stuff and who am I to give you advice on running forums?!