Ah - our secret weapon
There was a time when newbies were approved automatically and the first thing we knew about whether or not they were spammers was when the spam suddenly appeared. More recently, newbies cannot post before being vetted and spammers are, most of the time, easy to spot and eliminate before they get anywhere near the forum.
It means spending a little time vetting as opposed to a lot of time cleaning up the mess.
EDIT: Ah - I see I wasn't up early enough
