Since Wolf said he put this thread on watch, here's summation:
1. New system with first post approval not functional. There are 2000 new requests for approval every day, impossible to clean up. It's like number of spammers multiplied tenfolds when system for approval was installed. System doesn't actually intercept all spam, for some reason, some still manage to post on forum.
(I don't know how forum actually looks from non-mod accounts. I'm assuming other users don't see thousands of pre-approved posts all over the forum).
2. Is there any chance admins could look up one of these?:
Aeridus wrote:I've found a couple plugins to be very useful on my own forums for deterring spambots:
http://www.projecthoneypot.org/httpbl_implementations.php
http://www.stopforumspam.com/contributions
I haven't seen any spammers since I instituted those two. The latter one is especially useful because it refers to a central database for IP addresses, usernames, and emails that belong to spammers. Flagged usernames can be potentially okay (anyone can use a particular username) but preventing certain IPs or emails from being able to register is awesome. You can also scan the existing userbase to see who is a spammer according to the database.
I forget if it was the StopForumSpam mod or the new version of SMF, but one of those lets you set registration questions that require plaintext answers (so you can ask math questions or whatever you please).
Please consider using these tools. They are very simple to set up and save a ton of time cleaning up spam.
3. VeryCuddlyCornpone and IVstudios are great candidates for admin duties and also volunteers.
(Terotrous too if that was volunteering)