This section is a mess.

[minifrij]

Browsing Meta for the past short while has become nothing but a drove of 'My Account is locked/hacked' and 'How do I rank up?' topics. It doesn't help matters that the majority of the latter topics are several pages of people saying exactly the same thing to spam their ICO campaign signatures.
To show the extent of this, here's a screenshot of the Meta section's first two pages (red relating to a hacked/locked account and blue relating to activity). Out of around 80 topics, 27 are 'My account is locked/hacked' and 12 are 'How do I rank up?' topics. That's just under half of all topics in the first two pages belonging to one of these two types of topic. You can also see that the topics marked in blue usually have several pages, which is all likely spam (as the answer to the questions posted can likely be clearly defined in 2-3 posts).


To fix this, I'd firstly suggest a new sub-board for those with hacked/locked accounts to post in. It's obvious that this is a fairly large problem as of late, and having a single sub-board for it would make life easier for those needing to find these topics in addition to making the Meta section much more interesting to read and take part in.
However, since this requires admin intervention meaning (alongside it being regarding hacked/locked accounts) there's little chance of anything happening, my second suggestion could be carried out by anyone with moderation permissions in the Meta section.
Similarly to how the [General] threads exist in the Beginners/Help section and the section is moderated using these, I'd suggest that threads asking the same questions would be moved to Trashcan and the OP would be directed to an already existing thread answering their question. Whether the threads that people are redirected to currently existing threads or new threads are written is dependent on how the moderation staff feel. This tactic would reduce the threads that are essentially asking the same question repeatedly, would remove an avenue for signature spammers to post in and would allow all questions to be asked in one single place for organization.

Thoughts?

[KWH]

It is a mess but if people would read the friggin stickies before posting..............
Reminds me of the hundreds of "How Do I Mine?" threads we had awhile back.

[minifrij]

It is a mess but if people would read the friggin stickies before posting..............

Precisely. I think the way that Mitchell (and other mods) deals with it in Beginners and Help - by essentially forcing people to read them - is a great way to go forward and should be put into place here (and possibly in other sub-sections should it be necessary).

[minifrij]

Bumping this. I'd like to hear from a moderator/administrator on this matter.

[RedX]

Right. I would suggest that the repetitive threads that will be compiled into only one should be highlighted with colors and big letters. It can be easily notice by new members and I'm sure no one will ever make the same question-same thread again.

[Intensity]

I'm surprise that bitcointalk doesn't have a filter to flag "how do I rank up" threads. If not a flag, an auto reply pointing to one of the many other threads on the topic.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

I'm surprise that bitcointalk doesn't have a filter to flag "how do I rank up" threads. If not a flag, an auto reply pointing to one of the many other threads on the topic.

I absolutely agree with this, and I think if noobs were redirected to a sticky or a comprehensive thread about their question they'd be much less likely to keep asking the same stupid question again and again.  Or answering the question over and over.  I think the solution makes too much sense for this forum--good luck getting such a thing implemented.  

There's really no good reason not to increase the number of sections here.  It does make meta a complete mess, and it's one of the most interesting sections here!  Also, the "how do I rank up" threads should probably be in the beginners & help section anyway, if not the trash can.

Good suggestions, minifrij.

Edit:  "How do I earn bitcoin?" is a question that frequently gets asked, and the answers are always the same standard ones--I won't even write them here.  This should either be a sticky or a redirect, because there have been numerous threads that have exhaustively addressed it.

[dillpicklechips]

I absolutely agree with this, and I think if noobs were redirected to a sticky or a comprehensive thread about their question they'd be much less likely to keep asking the same stupid question again and again.

The suggestion is nice but the real question is "who will do it?" since it is a matter of implementation among the staffs.

There's really no good reason not to increase the number of sections here.  It does make meta a complete mess, and it's one of the most interesting sections here!  Also, the "how do I rank up" threads should probably be in the beginners & help section anyway, if not the trash can.

I just disagree with one thing. "How do I rank up" threads should be put to trash can with a message of the mod redirecting to page that answers its question like minifrij's suggestion.

"How do I earn bitcoin?" is a question that frequently gets asked, and the answers are always the same standard ones--I won't even write them here.  This should either be a sticky or a redirect, because there have been numerous threads that have exhaustively addressed it.

Couldn't agree more. Should also be added together with the "how to rank up" threads to the trash can and a message to redirect them to a thread answering those questions.

[asdlolciterquit_2]

My old account is hacked.

I've read the initail post in sticky and send few pm's...

I've decided to open a thread only because i havent' had any reply

[hilariousetc]

The 'rank up' threads should just be trashed on sight especially since most are just too lazy to read because they're so eager to spam their way through the ranks to start shitposting on a campaign, but moving them to somewhere else isn't going to do anything but just create more work for Staff (most of them are already posted in the wrong sections and are moved to Meta). I wish when you deleted a post or thread it would give a link to the rules/FAQ in the PM notification with a suggestion that they read them to see why their post was deleted. An even better solution to stop these sorts of threads is to remove signatures from activity/rank altogether because then nobody will give a shit about it.

[LeGaulois]

I also agree this section is weird. A lot of stupid questions asked again and again for the 18th time. In 99% fo the time, it is already explained somewhere (in  a previous topic, sticky thread..)

To fix this, I'd firstly suggest a new sub-board for those with hacked/locked accounts to post in. It's obvious that this is a fairly large problem as of late, and having a single sub-board for it would make life easier for those needing to find these topics in addition to making the Meta section much more interesting to read and take part in.

What about to find why those accounts are suddenly compromised. And give rights to a Mod to unlock them.

[minifrij]

The 'rank up' threads should just be trashed on sight especially since most are just too lazy to read because they're so eager to spam their way through the ranks to start shitposting on a campaign, but moving them to somewhere else isn't going to do anything but just create more work for Staff (most of them are already posted in the wrong sections and are moved to Meta).

My suggestion for the rank up threads wasn't to move them, it was to delete them and redirect to a central topic similar to how the [General] threads work in Beginners and Help. I'd be happy to report these threads and write the General thread if needed.
My suggestion for the 'my account is hacked' threads was to move them to another section, to make it easier for both Staff and the people that want to read this section. +1 if signatures were disabled in that section.

What about to find why those accounts are suddenly compromised.

Because the DB is now available publicly for free and people still haven't changed their passwords.

[hilariousetc]

The 'rank up' threads should just be trashed on sight especially since most are just too lazy to read because they're so eager to spam their way through the ranks to start shitposting on a campaign, but moving them to somewhere else isn't going to do anything but just create more work for Staff (most of them are already posted in the wrong sections and are moved to Meta).

My suggestion for the rank up threads wasn't to move them, it was to delete them and redirect to a central topic similar to how the [General] threads work in Beginners and Help. I'd be happy to report these threads and write the General thread if needed.

I've actually already started writing one. I also plan on suggesting to theymos that newbies are also forced to read the rules upon sign up so there's no excuses when they get permabanned for copy and pasting or whatnot.

[phreakk]

Browsing Meta for the past short while has become nothing but a drove of 'My Account is locked/hacked' and 'How do I rank up?' topics. It doesn't help matters that the majority of the latter topics are several pages of people saying exactly the same thing to spam their ICO campaign signatures.
To show the extent of this, here's a screenshot of the Meta section's first two pages (red relating to a hacked/locked account and blue relating to activity). Out of around 80 topics, 27 are 'My account is locked/hacked' and 12 are 'How do I rank up?' topics. That's just under half of all topics in the first two pages belonging to one of these two types of topic. You can also see that the topics marked in blue usually have several pages, which is all likely spam (as the answer to the questions posted can likely be clearly defined in 2-3 posts).


To fix this, I'd firstly suggest a new sub-board for those with hacked/locked accounts to post in. It's obvious that this is a fairly large problem as of late, and having a single sub-board for it would make life easier for those needing to find these topics in addition to making the Meta section much more interesting to read and take part in.
However, since this requires admin intervention meaning (alongside it being regarding hacked/locked accounts) there's little chance of anything happening, my second suggestion could be carried out by anyone with moderation permissions in the Meta section.
Similarly to how the [General] threads exist in the Beginners/Help section and the section is moderated using these, I'd suggest that threads asking the same questions would be moved to Trashcan and the OP would be directed to an already existing thread answering their question. Whether the threads that people are redirected to currently existing threads or new threads are written is dependent on how the moderation staff feel. This tactic would reduce the threads that are essentially asking the same question repeatedly, would remove an avenue for signature spammers to post in and would allow all questions to be asked in one single place for organization.

Thoughts?

Agreed. It's getting annoying that all of these threads are about the same thing and that they've become easy targets for Signature Campaign Spammers. 
A sub-board would help a lot, as long as people actually follow it. I got faith in humanity though, so I assume the average Bitcointalk user is intelligent enough to figure out where to post their hacked thread...

[Jet Cash]

Because the DB is now available publicly for free and people still haven't changed their passwords.

I haven't changed mine because there have been so many threads about password changes causing accounts to be locked.

[minifrij]

I've actually already started writing one. I also plan on suggesting to theymos that newbies are also forced to read the rules upon sign up so there's no excuses when they get permabanned for copy and pasting or whatnot.

Sounds great, thank you.
"how do i post image???" should probably be covered in there too, since that's an annoyingly common topic.

I haven't changed mine because there have been so many threads about password changes causing accounts to be locked.

You joined after the database was known to be compromised. You also don't have anything to worry about in terms of changing your password provided you don't use your Secret Question. Doing so will lock your account.

[LeGaulois]

Because the DB is now available publicly for free and people still haven't changed their passwords.

The incident was in 2015. You can find people losing their account that was registered after 2015...

[LTU_btc]

I agreethat threads about activity should be moved to trashcan. Same like threads where people asking how to add avatar or upload images.
But about hacked accounts, I'm not really sure why Meta isn't a good place for these threads. My account was hacked few weeks ago and I started thread about it after sending PM to Cyrus. It's only for better visibilty. I was afraid that my PM may be missed among many similar messages.
I don't think that sub-board is really needed.

[minifrij]

I've actually already started writing one. I also plan on suggesting to theymos that newbies are also forced to read the rules upon sign up so there's no excuses when they get permabanned for copy and pasting or whatnot.

Is there any update on this? I'd be more than happy to help you write it if you don't want to.

The incident was in 2015. You can find people losing their account that was registered after 2015...

The majority of those people are likely just silly/unobservant. My guess is that they either signed up to some shady website to try and make more ICO tokens and reused their BTCT password there, or got phished.

But about hacked accounts, I'm not really sure why Meta isn't a good place for these threads.

While it's calmed down as of late, it was to a point where nearly every second thread was 'my account is hacked'. I proposed that these threads get moved to a separate sub-board so that:

• The Staff could find them easier,
• The threads wouldn't get buried under other matters that fall under Meta,
• The Meta sub-board wasn't full of 'my account is hacked' threads.

It's only for better visibilty.

And do you not think that a sub-board specifically for hacked accounts would make them more easily visible than them being intertwined with other forum matters?

[Shazam!!!]

While it's calmed down as of late, it was to a point where nearly every second thread was 'my account is hacked'. I proposed that these threads get moved to a separate sub-board so that:

• The Staff could find them easier,
• The threads wouldn't get buried under other matters that fall under Meta,
• The Meta sub-board wasn't full of 'my account is hacked' threads.

This is a Great idea!!! Personally, I think my issues got resolved so quickly, because of being near the top,
and fresh on peoples minds. Admins or Mods NOT having TIME to find them is a BIG part of them going unresolved.
I know that I'm just a nobody, but if there is anything that I can do to Help, Please let me know.

And this is a longshot but:

As far as the spam/crap posts; Most of them seem to be people trying to make money (not cryto currency) off
the ads from campaigns. Maybe implementing some restrictions on these campaign companies, would deter the companies
from giving any permissions to Brand New members and members who DO NOT contribute. It seems that this forum is
turning into a GIANT AD CAMPAIGN. I'm sure there is some sort of kickback from the companies to the forum, but is that
kickback big enough to help the forum from being bogged down the way it is?

 The hacking of accounts directly correlates back to this very issue. Hacking a high seniority account opens up more privileges
 for posting adds and carrying a Pic/Banner. Also, why does the forum allow accounts that have been bought? These are more
than likely accounts that have been hacked. And if they are not, they are bought by add spammers specifically for the privileges.