Bitcoin Forum

Well, we all know the recent events regarding the merit for becoming a JR. Member, blabla.

But the most concerning part is all those New-Newbies coming to meta with the only goal of writing whatever they find in their minds with the absurd hope of earning the necessary merit which will provide them with the key to continue with their spamming-activities. Yes, it can be seen as a temporary thing, but when the merit system was implemented, I don't think the people thought that the merit topic will be trending every single day, for months and months (yes, I'm kind of "new" here, but I've been reading the forum from the last December).

Now, there is another kind of invasion, regarding merit -again  ???- on the Meta board. Every single day dozens of new low-quality threads are opened, either about the new system or about whatever nonsense the spammers consider to be "brilliant" and merit deserving. So, what do you think?:
- Do you think this is a temporary thing and, sooner or later, this nightmare will stop?
- Or, on the contrary, do we need to implement some measures in order to protect one of the very last decent boards we used to have?
   - If that's the case, what measures could be implemented? A rank-restriction to meta (members and above, for instance)?
- Or maybe, do you think this is time to report any single new shitty thread made on the meta so this invasion can be stopped?

I've been away more or less a week, and this is sad to come back here and see the Meta Board in such a bad shape. :(

Any ideas?

I think moderators should start deleting crap topics. Not just in meta board. And in many boards same topics are opened over and over and over again. Literally you go back a page or two and you get the same topic discussed 5 times.

It was the same back in January/February when merit was first introduced. It was a complete spam fest for a week or more.

It eventually settled down when the newbies realized that spamming here achieved nothing - the best thing to do is just ignore them. They will return to their ANN threads soon enough.

Maybe. But quadruplicate topics should still be deleted. They drive me nuts.

Report the duplicate, and in the comment box state it is a duplicate and include a link to the topic that already exists. I do this frequently and the mods always act upon it.

No, we are not losing it. We have lost the bitcoin discussion section, but not meta. Actually, it is a bit of a paradox but if all spammers disappeared from the entire forum overnight, I think we would kind of miss them, lol, and the meta section would be as quiet as a cemetery.



I agree but I’m afraid this time will last a little bit more, as back then junior members still had signatures (non-clickable ones).


I don’t think any measure is going to be taken unless this goes on much longer and turns meta into a spamfest like the bitcoin discussion section, that’s how theymos works.


I already reported a couple this morning, so keep going.

By the way, I quite like that you also think in terms of "we" (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5014198.msg45240392#msg45240392).

No way. Meta is the only place where we couldn't put ristrictions. Because it's where people are discussing about the forum itself. So chopping the new ideas from Newbies or even Jr. members wouldn't benefit the forum at all when we looking at the big picture.

I have created a thread by asking why we can't allowed Meta subforum for ban appeals when I felt those appeals become annoying. In some days I have seen that first page is filled mostly with ban appeals and the funny thing is most of the users already know  what they got as an answer. Because  most of the users got banned due to plagarism. But later I realized this is why actually Meta is actually started by theymos at the first place ( I don't think Meta started for just only for ban appeals but to discuss about forum itself even though later ban appeals become the predominant part) - sorry for the going off topic reply, but I felt it's necessary to understand why actually Meta is in place.

If we put the restrictions where people can appeal to reinstate their hacked or banned account?

I don't think theymos will put any ristrictions when it comes to the freedom of speech. Actually I think ball is in the mods hand and they need to locked or delete the redundent threads just asking the dumb questions or starting repeated threads again and again.

Not to mention the alts-section. It is almost impossible to discuss seriously about a certain coin or project with people genuinely interested on it because the topic is quickly used to spam or it disappears among the bumps of the many spam threads. And I guess I am a sinner too sometimes, I wish there were better conditions to make me be more constructive.

I agree, but we could still combine similar topics into one longer thread. This would preserve the diversity of topics on the Meta board. An excess of threads about one topic, however important, reduces the discussions about longer term improvements.

I hope you're right, but, since the merit system was implemented, the merit topic has been the trend, both in meta and the beginner's board. I guess, though, that's a mod task, to delete the repeated topics.


jajajaja I'm afraid you're right!!! At the end of the day, the spammers are another trending topic in the forum, and it is kind of awesome to watch what level they can reach in their weirds mindsets...


Yep, that's how this forum works, as long as I've seen, a problem needs to become really huge in order to changes to be made, but I'm afraid that, when the changes come, it is usually too late.


Thanks for sharing this, I haven't read it and, yep, totally agree. In my case I've spent months reading before even making the very first publication here, I just was curious, but, suddenly, one become "worried" about the forum and the need of engaging comes. Well, a little off-topic, but that's my own experience.

I agree with that, and that's why I did formulate the idea in the shape of a question. I just think that Meta needs a dedicated mod, Loice V, Vod or Jet Cash I think will be able to do a great job.
Now, about the sub-board, well, it has been proposed sometimes, but I kind of agree with the idea of not making the things messier. Maybe, as Silent 26 proposed (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4610463.0), a child-board to account issues (all account issues) could be useful, but, again, maybe just some good mods will do the job of, for instance, locking the ban-appeal threads once they are answered enough.


I guess that the common mindset about the issue is to leave the time pass and see what happens, which I agree. But, being honest, is kind of shocking to leave the forum for a week and come back just to see meta invaded by those nonsense-threads.
I've seen some Boards disappearing, as the Bitcoin Discussion, and that's sad, but I also think that the trend in here is to sit and wait to problems to get so big that they are impossible to fix. I guess this is not going to be the Meta situation -I hope-, but, anyway, maybe this is time to continue reporting every single stupid-thread appearing in there for the mods to be both watchful and actives.
Neither I am a fan of restrictions as a measure of control, and we all can see how the restrictions also create boring situations (we just need to see the Ivory Tower desert state), but maybe there is actually a lack of balance in between "freedom" and "abuse".

I will echo this statement.  I remember how bad Meta was back when the merit system was introduced, and it's kind of funny--the newbie posts we're seeing now trying to beg for merits in what they consider stealth mode are almost exactly the same as the ones in January.

I would encourage members with sMerits to give--and especially merit sources--to ignore most noobie posts in Meta.  By all means, check their post history, and if they've made some really good ones feel free to give merit to those posts.  I just did that recently, but there was no way I was going to give the guy a merit for a Meta post which I felt was a veiled attempt to earn one.

Only when these newbie Meta shitposters realize that their strategy isn't working will they stop their attempts to spam Meta.  We have to do our part in not rewarding them for their garbage.  And yes, it'll eventually die down.  The average bounty hunter could care less about discussing the forum, except if the topic is merits.

I don't want to sound dramatic but, honestly, I'm kind of scare of giving someone the very first merit now. A lot of users, I suspect, are creating new accounts so their shitty-post-history can't be seen and the first merit easy to get. I'm afraid that this is happening too much, so the way back to their scammy-fest will be easier to achieve...
 

Then do what I do:  if they're making a post in meta and you suspect it's just to gain sympathy and maybe a merit, check the rest of that member's post history BEFORE 9/17/18.  If they've made any decent posts, feel free to give them merits.  

Also, I would suggest you don't need to rush to give out your sMerits.  Wait until you see a really good post and then pull the trigger on it.

I agree that the topics in the meta section are mostly of a similar nature. Very much so, "is My account blocked sir please give me account", "I have not broken forum rules but I was blocked sir please explain why" and so on...
- I support the proposal to remove meaningless topics from the section.
- Deprivation of the right to enter the meta section of beginners and Junior members and write messages is not an option, because even from beginners you can see amazing stories and developments.

I have seen many member state "we have lost the Bitcoin discussion thread" 

It's my opinion we should be focusing on that issue.  Bitcoin discussion should be the heart of the forum.  All new members would, I think, go there first.  When they see the spam fest they may just join in at that point.  Does anyone believe that if we pointed all forces to the Bitcoin Discussion section and saved our flagship discussion section we could then stem the tide and maybe turn things around?

Thanks for that piece of advice, you're right, there is no rush.


Sounds kind of utopic, but it would be awesome if we decide to join forces and work together. Another solution can be just to stop counting the activity on that board, though. Serious Discussion is a great example of what happens on the boards when signatures and post counting are disabled: healthy conversations taking place and some good ideas floating around.

I don't think stop counting activity on Meta board works because Newbies mostly come and post there crying about the merit. Spamming on Altcoin Discussion is enough for them, not to mention activity doesn't play a seriously important role to them now.

Having a dedicated child board talking about merit and merit related issues is ideal. Meta is for discussing about the forum and everyone deserves to post there. Theymos had a long time undecisive on imposing the new "1 merit" rule, so he'll no way restrict Newbie from Meta.

I love your thought, lol. There's a saying in my hometown that "There's no fish in the overclean water". In any community, there must be good individuals and bad individuals. If everything is perfect then what do we have to talk about?

We are all human. Even merit sources make mistake meriting other members so don't taking things too seriously. Ignore all the guys flattering or crying about the merit and merit constructive guys with neutral attitude (like me, j/k) or you can give merit to quality posts from prestigious high ranked member. I can see that you're going for the latter option.

We're not loosing anything at all. It's just normal reaction after a change. Everything will be back to the way it was when people get used to it.

Just one clarification: I was talking about the Bitcoin Discussion board, not the Meta one, as an answer to @joerogers8 quote.

I have deja vu feeling - we had same situation back in January. Eventually mostly users realized that spammin in Meta will not help to get Merit. Same will happen again, but it may took some time before Meta will become cleaner.
Alts section was lost long time ago. And as I remember it always been shitty. Before all these ICO's it was full of stupid threas like "Coin ... will replace Bitcoin", "... is a good investment?" and similar. And this boards was full of shills, haters and just random morns.

A tiny suggestion;

Make a thread of users that are shit posting, and add them. Anytime a user makes a thread, bump your thread with their username. Keep their name there until they remove their own threads.


Sorry, please, i not know, i wont again!! remove name please! i deleted all!!

The list would simply be too long and therefore lose it’s purpose. Not that they’d care really …

The idea is to constantly bump the thread to where it's always at the top of meta by constantly adding new names. Eventually, after a few weeks of not being able to figure out why they haven't received any merit, they'll notice their name is on the shit list.

I agree. There are a lot of topics that keep popping up over and over (and I mean new topics being reposted) either in the Bitcoin Discussion board alone, or in another board. Do you think that maybe moderators should start locking a thread to prevent future replies once it hit a certain number of replies, and then, perhaps, ban the future thread if it is only a repost of the previous locked topic?