Bitcoin Forum

What is forum policy regarding users who are creating topic after topic and are either:

1) copy/pasting random articles
2) spamming links to blog

Can you post some examples here?

Copy-pasting without any attribution is usually plagiarizing.

Spam and off-topic content should also be removed.

I got answer for 1), as for 2)

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;threads;u=838186;sa=showPosts

Translation of last topic is something like "read here about some crypto wallet", other topics are nearly the same, few words about something and users need to go to blog to read full info.

It'd be better if that board had a local mod to decide, I'm not sure if any of the admins or Global mods know Croatian/BCMS.

One topic should be moved to the local altcoin child-board, the other look a bit blogspammy... do Croatian local board users see them as spam or is the linked content any good?

I've noticed and reported a few of these in the last day or so. Some are linking to something vaguely related to crypto with some weedy discourse before the link to the blog, the last one was to an escort agency.

I report it as hawking shite and move on. They seem to be being dealt with.

If you meant people(mostly newbies) who are copy-pasting random articles and adding the source link at the bottom, as far as I know it's legal(which is kinda reasonable). Freakin annoying most of the time though; I'd be completely fine with it if the poster at least gave his/her thoughts concerning the topic. But no, like 90% is just straight-up copy pasting content just in the hopes of earning merit.

it would be OK if those who post these articles actually found them interesting but from what i have seen most of those who are posting a link to a blog or a news site are actually advertising that link and want to redirect some traffic to that place which as far as i can tell is not allowed since most of the times when i report a "link spam" they are removed.

Beyond the reasons to promote their sites, get more traffics, I guess there is another reason. By doing this, they try to do something they self-think as constructive and hope that their contributions (from copy & paste) will result in some awarded merits. Sometimes, I saw some users get some merits from that and maybe the others look at it and try to do the same. Over time, we see another epidemic of copy-paste-for-merit-hunting topics.

Giving merits to such topics depends on each user. If one user sees one topic is helpful for them, it is understandable to see that user send his merit to that OP. Personally, I do it too. However, if I see one user does it too often (from my memory or by checking topic history), and a general below average post quality, I will stop sending merits to that user.

Additionally, such 'spam' contains a kind of risk for us. We don't know there are risks on those sites or not. I advise to not visit them is the best for our safety.

There's quite a lot of crossover between this topic and my topic here: List of advertising shills. Mods please review and ban as appropriate. (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5223412.0)

I didn't get a firm answer from any mods on that thread, unfortunately, but after pushing repeatedly I did finally manage to get some of the worst offenders such as JessicaVL and her alt accounts banned. There are plenty of new accounts doing the exact same thing I have reported many times who are still being allowed to spam, however.

I disagree. As far as I am concerned, it is legalized plagiarism, and these users should be banned. Look at some of theymos' previous posts regarding plagiarism:


I don't think it matters whether you copy and paste somebody else's post and add nothing of your own, or whether you copy and paste somebody else's post and add nothing of your own, but include a link at the bottom. The mindset behind these two things is exactly the same - put in the bare minimum amount of effort in order to earn some worthless tokens/fish for merits/hit a post quota/whatever. Including a link or not doesn't change the fact the user is "here for the wrong reasons" and using the forum as a "dumping ground".

This kind of legalized plagiarism adds nothing of value to the forum and these users deserve to be banned.

The community has repeatedly requested for mod in Croatian board, but so far it has not produced any result. The last attempt also fell somewhat into oblivion, and marlboroza as most respected/trusted member of Croatia board did not comment on whether he would accept the position of moderator of not, suggesting that "I believe mods handled it fast enough". (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5231377.msg54016414#msg54016414)

Asking moderators who do not understand the local language what they think of something will unfortunately not solve the main problem - that there is no local moderator.

I have no clue what other users think about this. As for articles, I usually don't find erc20 passive income automated trading etc schemes interesting and articles are mostly about that. Some stats:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5235439.0 -> 0 replies (1 off topic post)
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5224506.0 -> 0 replies
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5226814.0 -> 7 replies, few off topic posts, OP MIA
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5232106.0 -> 11 replies, 5 off topic
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5229926.0 ->  27 replies, OP MIA

As for creating new topic every time they write new article, how hard can it be to create one topic to promote crypto blog and then update that topic and if someone finds something interesting they can always start discussion about it in separate topic.

---

Thanks for kind words. I didn't comment because I have sent PM to someone long time ago and I don't remember getting any response. As for "mods handling my reports fast" yep, that is correct.
I asked general question for something which happened in Croatian local as well, malevolent asked for example so I gave one. I could have used any other "blog" account from English part and ask the same question. I need information how is this moderated.

I'm only realistic in terms of what the admin wrote about who can be selected as moderator, and you have all the necessary qualifications compared to others. I definitely understand the situation now that you wrote this, because in that case the message was very clear, although times were changing and some decisions could be reconsidered. I also support other members who have expressed their intention to take this responsibility.


I know the situation you're talking about, one new member has obviously not read the rules of the forum, but I think it can be solved in a nice way without too much reporting to the moderators. If you read what o_e_l_e_o posted you will be able to get a realistic picture of what can be achieved if such members are reported - it all depends on which moderator will look at the case. Mostly users will be warned first, then a temporary ban will follow, and then a permanent ban may come, which is again in charge of global modes.

I think Croatian local simply needs "news" section.

Take a look on russian local board "news (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=128.0)". Same situation, 1 account makes a topic with short description and a link to a full article. He even uses hashtags (dont know why). This is done for more than half a year, all the topics receive few views and replays.

We don't need another board for someone to spam their links to blog. Please stay on topic.
I have read that topic and placed some comments but in general, there is no answer from moderator. Most users are guessing. For example, I mentioned account shitcoinoffering, I find their articles very interesting although some other users might see them as "blogspam". Their articles are somehow related to certain "projects" posted in this forum and I just don't see this as a spam, especially because it is scam busting. As for user I mentioned above, I think their topics are not interesting but other users might disagree. I am pretty much biased here, that's why I open this topic and I didn't report this user btw.

What about this user?

mich (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=9645)

All posts have been copy pasted from other websites.
He adds links to posts to not being accused of plagiarism however I just reported 2 posts for plagiarism (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1926895.msg54108034#msg54108034).

Post history (http://archive.is/fNmEl)