Not really spam but...

[Harvey]

I have a new member who just posted nonsense in 10 posts in 5 minutes.

Not really breaking any rules, but it sure seems intended to disrupt.

Any advice?  Banning seems hard to defend.... I banned you because you posted non-sense?

[GregChapman]

Difficult to make a recommendation without a little more background, but here's my take on it...

Could it be someone who is of the "computer illiterate forum newbie" school who is just clicking buttons almost at random as an experiment without realising the implications, for which gentle off-forum encouragement and explanation would help?

Before a banning I'd be inclined to wait until until a second burst of activity.

If I felt the posts particularly disruptive to the general content of the forum, I might move them to a hidden sub-forum, and await reaction. I tend to be disinclined to delete anything except very obvious spam, so I have the option of either reinstating it or be able to quote the posts accurately later should it be required as "evidence".

[Harvey]

I'm getting overrun now by a group of people just posting mindless drivel in my main forum.  They just have a different idea about what others might think is interesting.

The problem is that thoughtful people post less by nature and the signal to noise ratio is dropping.

I sincerely wish I could delete certain posts without the author being notified.  These guys won't even remember in a day what they posted anyway if they don't get a notification.

[GregChapman]

I am 95% certain that authors are NOT notified if you MOVE a post to a new sub-forum.

Just make the target forum invisible to those in your "anyone", "registered" and "member" groups and it disappears to those that matter, but can remain visible to "admin" (and "moderator" groups, if you have such a thing) should you ever need to restore a post.

[Harvey]

GregChapman wrote

I am 95% certain that authors are NOT notified if you MOVE a post to a new sub-forum.

Just make the target forum invisible to those in your "anyone", "registered" and "member" groups and it disappears to those that matter, but can remain visible to "admin" (and "moderator" groups, if you have such a thing) should you ever need to restore a post.

You're right. I actually have a forum for that. I think I'm supposed to visit it every three months to makes sure it doesn't get deleted.

[Harvey]

Interesting developments.

My forum regulars are really helping me assimilate the new people into the community.  The quality of posts from the new posters is rising, and the level of mutual respect is too.  In addition the new group brings a range of knowledge about one specifc  NY ski mountain that we have been lacking.

A few moments have been tense, but I have only been "moderating" very lightly.

I'm very surprised that things seems to be working out. (so far - knock wood.)