Trade self-moderated topics with caution – it’s possibly a scam!

[chenille]

You can customize every new topic you create either in the standard version or you can make it self-moderated. Self-moderated means that you can delete posts of other participants to keep your topic clean from spam and off-topic without a moderator.
This feature can’t be used on every board, but on many of them and you can enable it when creating a post:





You have to select + Additional Options, mark the check box and enable self-moderated. If you do so and click on post, you’ll be able to delete replies in the thread. This can be very helpful if you want to remove spam comments or off-topic.

After you have created a topic you can’t change it back from self-moderated to normal. When creating a topic, you should be sure which option you’ll take. You can’t change it later, after the topic is created.


In general, a self-moderation offers some opportunities but also some disadvantages:

Self-moderation can be abused by scammers, like in the Altcoin section (ANN/Bounty) to delete any criticism of their project and also to censor and remove scam warnings. In addition, the positive comments for the project are often wrong, because they are bought. As a result, the scammers want to lure inexperienced customers to deceive them and say the project isn’t a scam to get them doing an investment.
Very important is also marketplace section, self-moderated topics should also be traded with caution if the seller is using it to cheat, like manipulating auctions or similar.


A look at the trust feedback of the profile may help, otherwise just ask a few critical questions and wait if they get deleted. In Scam Accusation, there is also a constantly updated collection of scam projects, if you find it there and the evidence is sufficient that it’s a scam, we can assume that the project is most likely fraud.

Be careful, if you are dealing with a self-moderated post, the current opinion shown there can be very biased, because all critical comments have been deleted and some projects buy positive posts, but these posts were never created by real people as a rating of their experience.
But that doesn’t mean that every self-moderated topic is automatically a scam. It can also be a very useful tool. However, you should take care.

You can recognize self-moderated posts very easily. They have a note in the OP just below the topic name:

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

On the boards where trade should be carried out as provided by the forum you can't create topics with self-moderation option, that's why to stay safe on forum you're advice to follow forum rules don't misuse the boards. If you want to trade, use the right board and you'll be safe. The administrator are fast thinkers, they knew the feature (self-moderation) can be misuse by scammers and provide a solution on time.

Great and quality post OP. I enjoyed reading it.

[chenille]

On the boards where trade should be carried out as provided by the forum you can't create topics with self-moderation option, that's why to stay safe on forum you're advice to follow forum rules don't misuse the boards. If you want to trade, use the right board and you'll be safe. The administrator are fast thinkers, they knew the feature (self-moderation) can be misuse by scammers and provide a solution on time.

Great and quality post OP. I enjoyed reading it.

Hello and thanks for your comment. I did a little bit research where it's possible to create self-moderated topics and have found out that it's indeed possible to create self-moderated threads where trading is normally announced (marketplace section). It's only disabled on a very few numbers of boards like Meta, Serious Discussion and Scam Accusation.

But thanks for your comment anyways, due to it I had the idea to do research and create my table:

Category	Board	Sub-board	Sub-board	self-moderated?	trust visible?
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Bitcoin	Bitcoin Discussion			Yes	No
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Bitcoin	Bitcoin Discussion	Legal		Yes	No
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Bitcoin	Bitcoin Discussion	Press		Yes	No
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Bitcoin	Bitcoin Discussion	Meetups		Yes	No
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Bitcoin	Bitcoin Discussion	Important Announcements		only posts for admins allowed	No
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Bitcoin	Development & Technical Discussion			Yes	No
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Bitcoin	Development & Technical Discussion	Alternative clients		Yes	No
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Bitcoin	Development & Technical Discussion	Alternative clients	Electrum	Yes	No
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Bitcoin	Development & Technical Discussion	Alternative clients	Bitcoin Wallet for Android	Yes	No
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Bitcoin	Development & Technical Discussion	Alternative clients	BitcoinJ	Yes	No
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Bitcoin	Development & Technical Discussion	Alternative clients	Armory	Yes	No
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Bitcoin	Development & Technical Discussion	Alternative clients	Mycelium	Yes	No
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Bitcoin	Mining			Yes	Yes
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Bitcoin	Mining	Mining support		Yes	Yes
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Bitcoin	Mining	Pools		Yes	Yes
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Bitcoin	Mining	Mining software (miners)		Yes	Yes
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Bitcoin	Mining	Hardware		Yes	Yes
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Bitcoin	Mining	Hardware	Group buys	Yes	Yes
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Bitcoin	Mining	Mining speculation		Yes	Yes
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Bitcoin	Bitcoin Technical Support			Yes	No
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Bitcoin	Project Development			Yes	No
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Economy	Economics			Yes	No
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Economy	Economics	Speculation		Yes	No
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Economy	Marketplace			Yes	Yes
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Economy	Marketplace	Goods		Yes	Yes
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Economy	Marketplace	Goods	Computer hardware	Yes	Yes
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Economy	Marketplace	Goods	Digital Goods	Yes	Yes
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Economy	Marketplace	Goods	Collectibles	Yes	Yes
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Economy	Marketplace	Services		Yes	Yes
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Economy	Marketplace	Currency exchange		Yes	Yes
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Economy	Marketplace	Gambling		Yes	Yes
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Economy	Marketplace	Gambling	Games and rounds	Yes	Yes
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Economy	Marketplace	Gambling	Investor-based games	Yes	Yes
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Economy	Marketplace	Gambling	Gambling discussion	Yes	Yes
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Economy	Marketplace	Lending		Yes	Yes
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Economy	Marketplace	Lending	Long-term offers	Yes	Yes
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Economy	Marketplace	Securities		Yes	Yes
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Economy	Marketplace	Auctions		No	Yes
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Economy	Marketplace	Service Announcements		Yes	Yes
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Economy	Marketplace	Service Announcements	Micro Earnings	Yes	Yes
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Economy	Marketplace	Service Discussion		Yes	Yes
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Economy	Marketplace	Service Discussion	Web Wallets	Yes	Yes
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Economy	Marketplace	Service Discussion	Exchanges	Yes	Yes
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Economy	Trading Discussion			Yes	Yes
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Economy	Trading Discussion	Scam Accusations		No	Yes
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Economy	Trading Discussion	Scam Accusations	Investigations	No	Yes
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Economy	Trading Discussion	Reputation		Yes	Yes
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Other	Meta			No	No
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Other	Meta	New forum software		No	No
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Other	Meta	Bitcoin wiki		No	No
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Other	Politics & Society			Yes	No
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Other	Beginners & Help			Yes	No
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Other	Off-topic			Yes	No
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Other	Serious discussion			Yes	No
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Other	Serious discussion	Ivory Tower		Yes	No
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Other	Archival			No	No
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Alternate cryptocurrencies	Altcoin Discussion			Yes	Yes
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Alternate cryptocurrencies	Announcements (Altcoins)			Yes	Yes
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Alternate cryptocurrencies	Announcements (Altcoins)		Tokens (Altcoins)	Yes	Yes
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Alternate cryptocurrencies	Mining (Altcoins)			Yes	Yes
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Alternate cryptocurrencies	Mining (Altcoins)	Pools (Altcoins)		Yes	Yes
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Alternate cryptocurrencies	Marketplace (Altcoins)			Yes	Yes
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Alternate cryptocurrencies	Marketplace (Altcoins)	Service Announcements (Altcoins)		Yes	Yes
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Alternate cryptocurrencies	Marketplace (Altcoins)	Service Discussion (Altcoins)		Yes	Yes
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Alternate cryptocurrencies	Marketplace (Altcoins)	Bounties (Altcoins)		Yes	Yes
________________________	_______________________________	_____________________________	________________________	__________________________	__________
Alternate cryptocurrencies	Speculation (Altcoins)			Yes	Yes

I've also added a part about trust, on which boards trust is visible.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

Like I said earlier,

The administrator are fast thinkers, they knew the feature (self-moderation) can be misuse by scammers and provide a solution on time.

theymos just added another feature which wil serve as a warning to prevent you from making trade on self-moderate topic that has some replies deleted. It goes like this

In the "This is a self-moderated topic" warning, stats will now be printed about how many posts have been deleted if any posts have been deleted. The stats start now, not the beginning of time, and they are cached for quite some time. If any of the deleted posts had any merit before they were deleted, then this whole stat block will be printed in bold.

And in the near future we might be able to see the deleted replies and more solution tackling this issue will be implemented. Until then trade with caution.

[chenille]

And in the near future we might be able to see the deleted replies and more solution tackling this issue will be implemented. Until then trade with caution.

Of course, it's a very good feature. I hope it will be in red letters, when someone is abusing it excessively. Something like a trust rating and when more than 20 replies (or like this) are deleted, the letters switch into red colour. Do you know if some threads are already showing the new feature?

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

Do you know if some threads are already showing the new feature?

Yes it's now showing on all self-moderated topic, LoyceV was the first forum user to indicate he saw the notification on his self-moderated topic. I think he's the user that uses that feature the most so it was fair he was the first to notice it.

          

I'll update here if it shows up.
And there it is:

(1 post by 1 user deleted.)

Thanks theymos!

[Kakmakr]

On the boards where trade should be carried out as provided by the forum you can't create topics with self-moderation option, that's why to stay safe on forum you're advice to follow forum rules don't misuse the boards. If you want to trade, use the right board and you'll be safe. The administrator are fast thinkers, they knew the feature (self-moderation) can be misuse by scammers and provide a solution on time.

Great and quality post OP. I enjoyed reading it.

The thing is, scammers know that there are areas where they can post self-moderated topics and they "design" these post in such a way to fit that specific area. Example : Posting something that advertise their project or service, but changing the content in such a way that it looks like it is a project that are under development.   <Asking feedback and suggestions etc.>  

The latest feature added to show the self-moderation statistics are genius.  

[bitmover]

Good reading


When you are dealing with a select moderated thread you should always take a look at the OP profile to check his trust. Then double check scam accusation board and reputation. There are many active members here that will quickly post any scam possibility there.

[Kopyleft]

Awareness is what should be raised. The target of such scams in newbies to the forum, if they are fully aware of what a 'self moderated topic' is and how it works they are less likely to fall victim.
There is of course a notice above every self moderated topic and now the number of posts which has been deleted. This should serve as deterrent enough.