Links in Threads and Newbies

[hd49728]

OP, you can save newbies from forum scammers by keeping them from suspicious links, but you can't save them from everything dangerous on the Internet.

Like if there is a security wall, they will try to break through it. If there is an "Internet Fire Wall", they will try to break it too. If there are many scam warnings, they'll try to ignore these warnings.

Warnings against scam, education about scam and how to avoid scam, are enough for newbies. It's up to newbies to read, learn and absorb these available scam-avoiding resources, and apply these advises into their practice, or skip these advises and try to interact with scammers.

Individually some personal things like curiosity, greed, and carelessness are keys to make people falling into scam.

[lovesmayfamilis]

OP, you can save newbies from forum scammers by keeping them from suspicious links, but you can't save them from everything dangerous on the Internet.

Like if there is a security wall, they will try to break through it. If there is an "Internet Fire Wall", they will try to break it too. If there are many scam warnings, they'll try to ignore these warnings.

Warnings against scam, education about scam and how to avoid scam, are enough for newbies. It's up to newbies to read, learn and absorb these available scam-avoiding resources, and apply these advises into their practice, or skip these advises and try to interact with scammers.

Individually some personal things like curiosity, greed, and carelessness are keys to make people falling into scam.

Well, you see, you are looking at everything correctly. If a person is careful, then he should not be afraid of any links. He will either check them correctly or pass by. But it is useless to forbid something to protect someone ready to jump headlong into a hole anyway. He needs to fall himself so that next time he will remember what and how to do so as not to get bumps again.

[pakhitheboss]

I suggest that users below the Junior Member rank should not be allowed to post links on the forum.
This could help prevent similar threads where experienced users might not be misled, but those new to crypto or Bitcoin could be at risk.

Let me know what you think. I'm sure the mod team or @theymos will take this into consideration.  

You are suggesting an idea that I am certain that the admin will never agree to as a lot of new Gambling websites come up with a simple (text based) announcement page, wherein they post the link to their casino using a Brand New account. Later, they bought a Copper Membership when suggested by someone like me who is active on that board. There is a possibility that later on they will use the forum to market their casino through different campaigns.

I am doubtful that your suggestion will be accepted but if someone good like PowerGlove who is known to create patches to the existing version of SMF, he might be able to create a patch to resolve this issue. What I meant was that if a disclaimer comes up while hovering over the link stating that clicking the link or visiting the link can be harmful to the device or yourself. If that is not possible then let it be as the forum does not hold any responsibility for someone visiting any links posted here.

[dkbit98]

I suggest that users below the Junior Member rank should not be allowed to post links on the forum.
This could help prevent similar threads where experienced users might not be misled, but those new to crypto or Bitcoin could be at risk.

They could easily bypass that restrictions and it's not that hard to become a Junior member, if they really want to spam some links in forum.
Even if newbies posts a scam link someone would probably quickly report it to moderators and they would probably get banned.
I think theymos also said that there will be no new jails and restrictions for newbies.

[SquirrelJulietGarden]

I think theymos also said that there will be no new jails and restrictions for newbies.

Newbie jails were applied, then some jails were removed and theymos said, no more newbie jails.
Newbie restrictions (Please discuss forum policy here.)
Newbie restrictions
End of newbie restrictions; ban changes

theymos wants to give us as most freedom as possible and more jails for newbies breaks his vision on freedom.

Right, I don't care about making money from the forum personally. (I've actually thought about getting rid of the forum ads, since it's often a big headache and the forum has enough reserves for a long time, but operating at a significant loss while there's money basically just sitting on the table feels wrong, even if the level of loss is sustainable for quite a while.)

The things on the forum which encourage spam are allowed mainly because it's part of the forum's mission to be as free as possible. Eg. banning bounties would undoubtedly reduce spam, but that'd be destroying an entire economy/population/culture which has been able to develop due to the forum's freedom. I am willing to take this sort of action, but only as an absolute last resort. It's always preferable to handle these problems by reshaping the environment to make them non-problems, rather than removing some freedom.

It's wonderful when someone is able to constructively do something on the forum instead of continuing with whatever they were expected to do under the status quo. Enabling that sort of thing is exactly why Bitcoin and this forum were created. Though bitcointalk.org is not a worldwide welfare organization, and people are not entitled to make money.

Limiting newbie participation is very harmful for a community. Newbie jail will never return: I consider the newbie-jail period to have been extremely damaging to the forum. When barriers to participation are too high, then the best people often just won't go to the trouble of joining, and the people who are willing to jump through the hoops are often people who aren't good for the community: people with nothing better to do, scammers, get-rick-quickers, etc. Having a permanent newbie jail policy would improve things a lot in the short-term, but would end up being a fatal poison to the community.

The low signal-to-noise is a real issue which seriously annoys me and is often on my mind. But as you mention, fixing it non-destructively is difficult.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Actually there are lots of request to do the same like what you said but still nothing was done.
Let me quote this reply of @dzungmobile from the same topic/issue raise for newbie accounts posting links just few months ago.
<snip>

Yep, it doesn't matter much how much the community talks about a suggestion like OP's (which I think is a good one, even if Newbies/Jr. Members would inevitably find a way around any new rule); it matters what Theymos thinks about it--and that's true of everything that's brought up as far as forum changes, not just those related to lower-ranked members.  Regarding the latter, I don't think he's apt to restrict them any more than they already are.

OP, I see your one example, but my question is:  is this a long-standing problem?  I don't visit certain sections, so I might be completely ignorant if there's a trend of newcomers misusing links.  I haven't noticed it in sections like Meta, Economics, and a few others.