The ads crap

[ism22]

Maybe some tighening of the registration process will prevent bots creating accounts

Yeah bingo. It will just be some dude running a script that hunts down vBulletin forums, registers and then posts.

Annoying that this happens because no admin wants to cripple their forums functionality just to get rid of tossers like this.

Unfortunately, the developing world is desperate enough and tech-savvy enough to bother doing shyte like this. They will use VPNs, but another consideration is to block everybody from the offending countries. Other than Bong Kong Rooster, I think it is safe to assume we are all in Australia?

Or... migrate away from vBulletin? Since it is a paid forum solution, it REALLY should be better. Have all the latest security patches been applied...etc? As a user I am a bit worried because maybe this isnt just spam? Maybe the forum has been compromised and somebody has a backend way of creating accounts?

I dont wanna create false alarm and I know that it is a massive effort keeping a forum like this going for so long (while maintaining the character and level of discussion). However, I think the community deserves a chance to play a part in solving ongoing tech issues. For example:
1. SPAM
2. Lack of a proper mobile theme
3. Quotation marks and apostrophes not working
4. vBulletin not delivering a modern, secure CMS... and consequently needing to be replaced long-term
5. Ads taking up the whole screen (and I presume not making more than a few bucks + being blocked by most because they are so obtrusive).
6. Formatting of ads being off on mobile devices, which reduces readability of the first line.

IMO a total refresh rather than ad-hoc fixes could squish a lot of issues with a lot less pain.