Extra security step to post a thread?

I tried to post a new thread in the Games forum yesterday. It was long, and it was copy-and-pasted from another application that I wrote it in. When I tried to submit it, I was taken to a page with some security features. I had to complete a CAPTCHA (or captcha-like) thing with some numbers. There was also a field to “write a message for the forum owner,” so I assume that not only do I need to prove I’m not a bot, but the post has to be approved by Tom. I’ve never seen this before. How long has that been a step in posting? Is it because of the length of the post? Or did my copy-paste include some hidden characters that set something off? It also hasn’t been posted yet, so I’m wondering if it even got to Tom.

Curious to see if posting this thread asks me for the same verification.

EDIT: Nope, didn’t see that security screen. Anyone else ever run into it?

The content of your post tripped anti-spam measures, yes.

So do those posts usually just disappear forever, or are they approved by you or Tom eventually?

Nightgaunt, pretty much everything that gets trapped in the moderation queue has some sort of spam link. I just took a look and didn’t see anything from you in there. I also checked your posting history on the admin page and didn’t see anything that wasn’t approved. So I’m afraid in this instance Cloudflare – that was the security screen you’re describing – ate your post. :( If you post the content here or PM it to me, I’ll gladly take a look to see if I can figure out what might have been the problem.

-Tom

Might it be that copy pasting is what tipped off the anti-spam measures since that seems like something spammers might do?

Thanks, Tom. It’s alright. I was inspired by Bruce’s Starship Week to write about my favorite game about starships, Galaxy Trucker. I realized that it actually would make a good post to my personal little games blog (which is sad and neglected, explaining why I didn’t think of that first), so I tweaked it to fit the format and posted it there. When I have a chance, maybe make a short post with a link to it.