Post history tracks changes made to forum posts, including edits and deletions. This feature helps monitor for inappropriate edits or attempts to cover up spam or rule violations. Staff can review the history, restore deleted content, or even permanently erase it.
Yes, Composr provides various moderation tools for managing forum content. Moderators can edit or delete posts and topics, move topics between forums, close or open discussions, and validate content submitted by users who require approval. These are done in an actions dropdown on a topic, or through buttons on individual posts.
What is the "black hole" technique and how does it work?
Answer
The "black hole" technique involves adding hidden fields to forms. While invisible to human users, bots often detect and fill these fields, revealing their nature. Composr uses this information to flag and block suspected spam submissions.
You can report spam using the "report this" link or "report" (forum post button) feature. This alerts staff to the issue, allowing them to investigate and take appropriate action, such as deleting the spam, warning the user, or banning them. It also creates a Support Ticket between the reporter and staff in case the staff need further information.
RBLs are third-party lists that track IP addresses associated with spamming activity. Composr can be configured to consult these lists and block or flag requests from suspicious IPs. However, relying solely on RBLs may lead to false positives, as some lists are overly broad.
CAPTCHAs are tests designed to differentiate between human users and bots. Composr's unique CAPTCHA method uses CSS and JavaScript to generate images or audio challenges that are difficult for bots to solve. While effective, some spammers use human workers to bypass CAPTCHAs, leading to the need for additional anti-spam measures.
Composr offers several tools and techniques to combat spam, including:
CAPTCHA: A visual or audio test that humans can easily pass but bots struggle with. This helps prevent automated spam submissions.
Heuristics: If Composr thinks an action is spam based off of configurable criteria, it can either flag the content for validation, block the attempt, or ban the IP address outright.
Public block lists: Composr can utilize the Stop Forum Spam system or other block list systems to identify and block known spammers based on IP addresses, usernames, and email addresses.
Link posting restrictions: Disallowing links in member profiles for users with no posts and adding "nofollow" attributes to links discourages spammers seeking backlinks.
Black hole fields: Hidden form fields that should remain empty. Bots often fill these in, allowing Composr to identify them.
Project Honey Pot integration: A system that places hidden links on pages, attracting and identifying spam bots.
Content/post reporting: Users can report spam, enabling staff to take action.
Guest posting limitations: Restricting guest permissions raises the bar for spammers.
Advanced techniques: Developer addons like "antispam_question" or probation systems provide additional layers of protection.
What is the "Sitemap" in Composr, and how is it used?
Answer
The Sitemap is a hierarchical representation of your website's content, including zones, pages, categories, and entries. Composr generates the Sitemap dynamically and uses it for various purposes:
Generating menus.
Creating the user-facing sitemap page.
Generating the XML Sitemap for search engines.
Providing a visual representation of your website structure in the Sitemap editor and Permissions tree editor.
You can edit the sitemap under Admin Zone > Structure > Sitemap editor.
Can I change the URL scheme after my website is already live?
Answer
Yes, you can enable or change a URL scheme on an existing website. Old URLs will redirect to the new format, ensuring that your SEO isn't negatively impacted. The canonical URL will also be specified in your website's HTML, further protecting your search rankings.
This is an informational website for a Visual Pinball X game in development called "Saving Wallden". The site features the planned game rules, development news, and a download of the game as it is so far.
This is the main website for Composr CMS version 11. It runs the latest build of v11. Currently it is just a placeholder but will soon replace compo.sr when v11 becomes stable.
Easier to set up and use, and does not require knowledge of git
Harder to set up and use unless you are familiar with git; must routinely run the file integrity check, database upgrade tool, and check database schema tools in the upgrader after pulling
More stable, but less frequent updates
Less stable, but more frequent updates (almost daily!)
Only contains core code and addons unless you manually install non-bundled addons; non-bundled addons must be manually updated
Contains all core code and non-bundled addons; non-bundled addons are updated with pulls (though you will need to check file/database integrity often and check blocks/modules for available upgrades)
Ability to test the upgrader / upgrading between new v11 versions
Not able to effectively test the upgrader because git pull might load in and update new code early before the release is available
Always contains the latest files.bin and db_meta.bin because these are compiled with every release
Does not always contain the latest files.bin and db_meta.bin. Therefore, file and database integrity may report false-positives.
Intended for general user testing
Intended for developers / developer testing:
* special run-time checks are enabled for extra debugging (if the .git directory exists in the install)
* contains the automated test suite for running tests
Can I switch a v11 install from git over to using the releases from composr.app?
Answer
It is not recommended you do this because you may run into issues. For example, some changes were made in crypto_master.php and data/upgrader2.php prior to the first v11 alpha. These changes will result in a broken upgrade unless you already pulled these changes from git. Similar situations could happen in the future as well.
It is recommended you either discard the git install and use a fresh install from the Downloads, or to maintain a git install and a bleeding-edge release install separately. Do not combine the two.
