Allow all site "trusted users" based on their activity, reputation, activity on site ... the possibility to put spam in a waiting pattern, invisible on the forum, for staff to verify and kill completely, or release when it isn't spam.

I don't know if I qualify as 'trusted user' but they gave me a "gun" so now I am happily blasting away at all the spammers I find.
Anyone who detects a suspicious post can/should report it in one of the specialised discussion threads and then one of the moderators will kill it as soon as we see the report.
We also kill spam on our own initiative.
/ Robin

Our older 'bot detector' on the signup page had been keeping most of the automated signups to a minimum until recently. However a week or more ago someone who could bypass it's bot checking images clearly was as we had a lot of signups and resulting spam. Spam that they can only do mind you after also getting an email and verifying their account via link, etc.

So as a result of this I did update our captcha system to the newest and more secure Google ReCaptcha available. Hopefully that will stop the flow of fake accounts.

Drab is right though. It has long been my wish to have a better spam reporting system for the forums. I am just a bit torn right now over whether I should be working on a new version of the site as a whole (more features, newer code working with latest versions of PHP, Apache, etc) or patching this existing codebase/site. Decisions, descions...

Cheers,
Jim

And Robin... pew pew.

Hai Jim,

I added this request to be taken on board for the re-design of the site, not to be done as superurgent new feature.

In my humble opinion, "re-vamping the whole site" may be the priority as this has become an important issue for the site.

A better spam detector is a useful feature but one that can probably dealt with as "evolutive maintenance". The same for other specific detailed issues.

First re-construct the site, and afterwards one can look what still needs to be improved.

The issue of course is to have the discipline to list the tiny issues and deal with them on a continuous basis BEFORE they grow to become a dealbreaker for the users

Yes, been there, done that

Good luck with the programming