Several major site updates have been installed over the past few days. Most are behind-the-scenes improvements to the administration tools, making the site easier to maintain without changing how you use it.

One change you may notice is extra protection for Classifieds enquiries. Each sender’s email address is now limited to five enquiries in any rolling 60-minute period, helping prevent spammers and scammers from contacting large numbers of advertisers.

This should leave plenty of scope for genuine enquiries while making mass messaging more difficult. We’ve only seen this type of activity twice this year, involving around forty emails, but even occasional incidents are a concern.

If you reach the limit, you can send your next enquiry once the oldest of your five enquiries is more than 60 minutes old. We’ll monitor how the restriction works and adjust the limit if needed. Identified scammers will also be blacklisted to prevent further enquiries.

We’ve also added protection against accidentally sending duplicate enquiries when using the back button. If an enquiry has already been sent, you’ll see an “Already sent” message. To send another message, return to the advert and start a fresh enquiry.

Everything appears to be working well, but if you experience any problems or spot anything unusual, please get in touch.