Spam thread - anything we can do to fight it?

[Possum577]

Moderators and Admins,

Once a week or so I notice a string of spam threads, usually is some foreign characters. What can be done to fight these spammers? What can we do to help? I'm familiar with "report to moderator" features on other sites but I don't believe it exists on the Forum

Is there anything we can do to help fight these wasteful and pointless threads?

Keep fighting the good fight, we appreciate it!

[mjglqw]

maybe require a certain amount of post count (10?) before they are allowed to post threads. idk.

also, limit the creation of threads by one thread every 15 mins or so. just to slow them down by a good amount of time.

Also, may be SMS validations?

[Decoded]

maybe require a certain amount of post count (10?) before they are allowed to post threads. idk.

also, limit the creation of threads by one thread every 15 mins or so. just to slow them down by a good amount of time.

Also, may be SMS validations?

This forum is all about freedom of speech and the ability to do what you want without being censored. Requiring SMS and putting further activity restrictions goes against this philosophy.

There is a report button, but not for spam. I just flag a post, label it as other and type in "spam". The spam posts then disappear within the next couple of minutes .

[Possum577]

maybe require a certain amount of post count (10?) before they are allowed to post threads.

This is a pretty good idea. It doesn't censor any comments, just requires accounts to get slightly established before they can start new threads. And this is where these spam threads could be beaten, they're all newbie accounts, no?

[mjglqw]

maybe require a certain amount of post count (10?) before they are allowed to post threads. idk.

also, limit the creation of threads by one thread every 15 mins or so. just to slow them down by a good amount of time.

Also, may be SMS validations?

This forum is all about freedom of speech and the ability to do what you want without being censored. Requiring SMS and putting further activity restrictions goes against this philosophy.

There is a report button, but not for spam. I just flag a post, label it as other and type in "spam". The spam posts then disappear within the next couple of minutes .

I completely get what you mean. It's just kind of a 'desperation' option.

Yes the spam posts do disappear within the next couple of minutes. But in those couple of minutes a new user is probably planning on joining the forums but saw those pesky spam. A post or two of spam might be normal, but the spam usually takes 3-5 pages of the Recent Topics section.

maybe require a certain amount of post count (10?) before they are allowed to post threads.

This is a pretty good idea. It doesn't censor any comments, just requires accounts to get slightly established before they can start new threads. And this is where these spam threads could be beaten, they're all newbie accounts, no?

Indeed. Probably 99% of them are newbie accounts yea.

[Decoded]

maybe require a certain amount of post count (10?) before they are allowed to post threads. idk.

also, limit the creation of threads by one thread every 15 mins or so. just to slow them down by a good amount of time.

Also, may be SMS validations?

This forum is all about freedom of speech and the ability to do what you want without being censored. Requiring SMS and putting further activity restrictions goes against this philosophy.

There is a report button, but not for spam. I just flag a post, label it as other and type in "spam". The spam posts then disappear within the next couple of minutes .

I completely get what you mean. It's just kind of a 'desperation' option.

Yes the spam posts do disappear within the next couple of minutes. But in those couple of minutes a new user is probably planning on joining the forums but saw those pesky spam. A post or two of spam might be normal, but the spam usually takes 3-5 pages of the Recent Topics section.

maybe require a certain amount of post count (10?) before they are allowed to post threads.

This is a pretty good idea. It doesn't censor any comments, just requires accounts to get slightly established before they can start new threads. And this is where these spam threads could be beaten, they're all newbie accounts, no?

Indeed. Probably 99% of them are newbie accounts yea.

As far as I know, there's no time restriction here for posting. Couldn't these bots just rapidly post 10 times in an existing thread and then start making their own threads? I don't think it makes a difference to them where they're posting.

[Fremont]

As far as I know, there's no time restriction here for posting. Couldn't these bots just rapidly post 10 times in an existing thread and then start making their own threads? I don't think it makes a difference to them where they're posting.

We do have a time limit on posting, but we need to balance the needs of legitimate posters against the need to keep the spam at bay - we're trying a number of different solutions, and will hopefully have a decent system finalised soon.

[bitkilo]

maybe require a certain amount of post count (10?) before they are allowed to post threads.

This is a pretty good idea. It doesn't censor any comments, just requires accounts to get slightly established before they can start new threads. And this is where these spam threads could be beaten, they're all newbie accounts, no?

I think if we were to introduce this then the new members who can't create new threads will just hijack another members thread to post what they want.

Spammers will just spam other people's threads and that makes it harder for us to remove.

[Possum577]

I think if we were to introduce this then the new members who can't create new threads will just hijack another members thread to post what they want.

Spammers will just spam other people's threads and that makes it harder for us to remove.

Ultimately I agree with this. When starting this thread I wasn't aware of the "report to mods" option and once I have enough rep I'll be able to down vote the posts (although this will have less impact on a spammer's account)

Thanks all.

[bitkilo]

I think if we were to introduce this then the new members who can't create new threads will just hijack another members thread to post what they want.

Spammers will just spam other people's threads and that makes it harder for us to remove.

Ultimately I agree with this. When starting this thread I wasn't aware of the "report to mods" option and once I have enough rep I'll be able to down vote the posts (although this will have less impact on a spammer's account)

Thanks all.

Yes not much point in downvoting spammers since we just nuke em anyway.
The down vote option is really just to use for posts that you do not agree with.

[Fremont]

Remember guys, giving a post a negative rating isn't the same as 'downvoting' on Reddit, etc. - it simply adds negative reputation - it has no effect on post visibility.