Possible Solution For ICO Inbox Spam

[Joel_Jantsen]

Pretty sure I'm not the only one who gets such messages in their inbox by newbie throwaway accounts/bots (received two today)

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Hey, crypto enthusiast! We want to offer you a real opportunity to participate in the development of an innovative project that is a continuation of a current project called Uremont.com who connects car owners with auto service centers, number 1 auto service aggregator in eastern europe. Our idea has already been tested in the real sector. We got a strong team of developers (more than 25 IT specialists), trustworthy and successful advisors such as William Shor (Managing Partner of Caspian VC (CVC), Uber investor), Joseph Borg (Legal Advisor, Senior Advisor to WH Partners), Alexander Borodich (CeO Universa.io, Shapeshift, Unocoin and BitAccess investor), evgeny Malkin (a legendary hockey player and a two-time world champion) and many others. Our ICO has been launched with a 20% bonus for the first week!
Any questions?
Bitcointalk ANN: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2432730
Telegram: https://t.me/userviceico
Website: https://usrv.io
Whitepaper: https://usrv.io/en-US/uservice.pdf

This is certainly annoying and carried out by the companies who own the ICO's or use services which promote their ICO.What we can do is,find their thread on bitcointalk and lock it or negative tag the accounts involving the ICO teams.

For instance,the message 1 I received has their thread here : https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2426759.0
No doubt they're spamming the inbox by sending unsolicited pm's.The only way to stop them from doing so is by taking a strict action against their ICO.

[hilariousetc]

Yeah, we're getting spammed by these bots by the hundreds. Most ICOs are run by pure get rich quick scumbags who will do anything to promote their scamcoin in whatever scummy way they can and utilising these spam campaigns is just another way they do this. I tag them if I ever get spam emails from them because I know they've purchased a hacked forum database from somewhere, but if there's good evidence that they're utilising these spam services they should face punishment, but mprep made a point that somebody could fake the purchase to try get their thread removed etc though I'm not sure how many people would buy these services just to get their threads trashed because they aren't exactly cheap. I still think we should charge a fee for ICOs to even list here and they should definitely face punishments if they run a spam campaign because it's these ICOs that are causing 99% of the spam and headaches right now.

[Joel_Jantsen]

Yeah, we're getting spammed by these bots by the hundreds. Most ICOs are run by pure get rich quick scumbags who will do anything to promote their scamcoin in whatever scummy way they can and utilising these spam campaigns is just another way they do this. I tag them if I ever get spam emails from them because I know they've purchased a hacked forum database from somewhere, but if there's good evidence that they're utilising these spam services they should face punishment, but mprep made a point that somebody could fake the purchase to try get their thread removed etc though I'm not sure how many people would buy these services just to get their threads trashed because they aren't exactly cheap. I still think we should charge a fee for ICOs to even list here and they should definitely face punishments if they run a spam campaign because it's these ICOs that are causing 99% of the spam and headaches right now.

I shit you not the ICO owners I talk to,get crazy messages like 'We will promote your ICO to x number of forum members with y number conversion rates'.The thread pumping service is another business which is carried out on a larger scale now.I see a thread with 2 pages for a week and suddenly pumped to 8 pages in another,quite obvious they have pumped it.I agree with you,ICO's should be put on restrictions.They have huge amounts for spamming services anyway so they wouldn't mind paying something to get listed here.

[Racey]

!!! WARNING: This user is a newbie. If you are expecting a message from a more veteran member, then this is an imposter !!!
Hey, crypto enthusiast! We want to offer you a real opportunity to participate in the development of an innovative project that is a continuation of a current project called Uremont.com who connects car owners with auto service centers, number 1 auto service aggregator in eastern europe. Our idea has already been tested in the real sector. We got a strong team of developers (more than 25 IT specialists), trustworthy and successful advisors such as William Shor (Managing Partner of Caspian VC (CVC), Uber investor), Joseph Borg (Legal Advisor, Senior Advisor to WH Partners), Alexander Borodich (CeO Universa.io, Shapeshift, Unocoin and BitAccess investor), evgeny Malkin (a legendary hockey player and a two-time world champion) and many others. Our ICO has been launched with a 20% bonus for the first week!
Any questions?
Bitcointalk ANN: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2432730
Telegram: https://t.me/userviceico
Website: https://usrv.io
Whitepaper: https://usrv.io/en-US/uservice.pdf

Profile https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1513455

[shoreno]

No your not alone. I've been also receiving those ico invitations lately and here is the latest one that  I received.

Hey, crypto enthusiast! We want to offer you a real opportunity to participate in the development of an innovative project that is a continuation of a current project called Uremont.com who connects car owners with auto service centers, number 1 auto service aggregator in eastern europe. Our idea has already been tested in the real sector. We got a strong team of developers (more than 25 IT specialists), trustworthy and successful advisors such as William Shor (Managing Partner of Caspian VC (CVC), Uber investor), Joseph Borg (Legal Advisor, Senior Advisor to WH Partners), Alexander Borodich (CeO Universa.io, Shapeshift, Unocoin and BitAccess investor), evgeny Malkin (a legendary hockey player and a two-time world champion) and many others. Our ICO has been launched with a 20% bonus for the first week!
Any questions?
Bitcointalk ANN: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2432730
Telegram: https://t.me/userviceico
Website: https://usrv.io
Whitepaper: https://usrv.io/en-US/uservice.pdf

[Quickseller]

What we can do is,find their thread on bitcointalk and lock it or negative tag the accounts involving the ICO teams.

Would it be possible for a competitor to spam the inbox of users of a particular ICO in order to damage that ICO's reputation and get their thread locked?

[hilariousetc]

No your not alone. I've been also receiving those ico invitations lately and here is the latest one that  I received.

Hey, crypto enthusiast! We want to offer you a real opportunity to participate in the development of an innovative project that is a continuation of a current project called Uremont.com who connects car owners with auto service centers, number 1 auto service aggregator in eastern europe. Our idea has already been tested in the real sector. We got a strong team of developers (more than 25 IT specialists), trustworthy and successful advisors such as William Shor (Managing Partner of Caspian VC (CVC), Uber investor), Joseph Borg (Legal Advisor, Senior Advisor to WH Partners), Alexander Borodich (CeO Universa.io, Shapeshift, Unocoin and BitAccess investor), evgeny Malkin (a legendary hockey player and a two-time world champion) and many others. Our ICO has been launched with a 20% bonus for the first week!
Any questions?
Bitcointalk ANN: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2432730
Telegram: https://t.me/userviceico
Website: https://usrv.io
Whitepaper: https://usrv.io/en-US/uservice.pdf

!!! WARNING: This user is a newbie. If you are expecting a message from a more veteran member, then this is an imposter !!!
Hey, crypto enthusiast! We want to offer you a real opportunity to participate in the development of an innovative project that is a continuation of a current project called Uremont.com who connects car owners with auto service centers, number 1 auto service aggregator in eastern europe. Our idea has already been tested in the real sector. We got a strong team of developers (more than 25 IT specialists), trustworthy and successful advisors such as William Shor (Managing Partner of Caspian VC (CVC), Uber investor), Joseph Borg (Legal Advisor, Senior Advisor to WH Partners), Alexander Borodich (CeO Universa.io, Shapeshift, Unocoin and BitAccess investor), evgeny Malkin (a legendary hockey player and a two-time world champion) and many others. Our ICO has been launched with a 20% bonus for the first week!
Any questions?
Bitcointalk ANN: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2432730
Telegram: https://t.me/userviceico
Website: https://usrv.io
Whitepaper: https://usrv.io/en-US/uservice.pdf

Profile https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1513455

Please report these messages and they'll be banned

What we can do is,find their thread on bitcointalk and lock it or negative tag the accounts involving the ICO teams.

Would it be possible for a competitor to spam the inbox of users of a particular ICO in order to damage that ICO's reputation and get their thread locked?

I've touched on this above. Whilst it's certainly possible, I would guess the number of people that would even try it to be extremely low, whereas the number of ICOs utilising these spam services are very high, but something needs to be done about these services as I'm getting about 50 reported messages a day regarding them. Sadly, I'm not even sure if the admin's are looking into the accounts because I'm sure lots of them could be stopped before they even start as I doubt they're using different IPs for each bot account.

One solution may be to prohibit Newbies or lower ranked members from posting in ICO threads. If we make it so Juniors or Members can only do so they probably wont bother getting the accounts up to that member-level. At the moment it is far too easy to create an unlimited amount of accounts and bot any thread you want and this needs to be curbed somehow. To remove this restriction it could be included in one of the paid premium memberships like Copper/Silver/Gold etc.

[djangocoin]

I get them sometimes, but not all that often if i'm honest.

One solution would be to have it so you need to reach a certain level before you are able to send a PM.

[LTU_btc]

I'm not getting ICO's advertising PM's, but I'm more annoyed by "ICO's promotion services" spam sent by bots. I'm getting such messages almost daily.
Oh, I checked my inbox now, and I can't find these messages, despite that I didn't deleted it. Well, maybe mods did their job by banning them and deleting all stuff that they sent.

[greeklogos]

I get them sometimes, but not all that often if i'm honest.

One solution would be to have it so you need to reach a certain level before you are able to send a PM.

Which level it should be? A Sr. Member maybe? I think this option will not stop spenders from their activity here on the forum, cause they simply can buy an account. I have heard there is a practice of sell-buy accounts.

[Quickseller]

What we can do is,find their thread on bitcointalk and lock it or negative tag the accounts involving the ICO teams.

Would it be possible for a competitor to spam the inbox of users of a particular ICO in order to damage that ICO's reputation and get their thread locked?

I've touched on this above. Whilst it's certainly possible, I would guess the number of people that would even try it to be extremely low, whereas the number of ICOs utilising these spam services are very high, but something needs to be done about these services as I'm getting about 50 reported messages a day regarding them. Sadly, I'm not even sure if the admin's are looking into the accounts because I'm sure lots of them could be stopped before they even start as I doubt they're using different IPs for each bot account.

They might not be doing this now because there is ~0 consequence to advertising ICOs via PM today, but if advertising an ICO via PM meant the ICO thread gets locked, I would think some would engage in moderate advertising via PM for their competitors.

There seems to be a lot nowadays that the admins are not looking into that they probably should. There is a fairly decent amount of admin related work that cannot be automated. I believe theymos recently said that he is the only one handling the coding behind the forum so he might have been busy with that recently.

One solution may be to prohibit Newbies or lower ranked members from posting in ICO threads. If we make it so Juniors or Members can only do so they probably wont bother getting the accounts up to that member-level. At the moment it is far too easy to create an unlimited amount of accounts and bot any thread you want and this needs to be curbed somehow. To remove this restriction it could be included in one of the paid premium memberships like Copper/Silver/Gold etc.

Im confused. I thought the problem was that a bunch of newbies have been sending unsolicited PMs to users who are not interested, nor have given any indication they are interested in any ICOs.

I do suspect that a decent number of people might get involved in crypto because they heard about and invested in an ICO, so prohibiting these people from posting in ICO threads might result in these people bringing their insight and conversation elsewhere.

[Vod]

They might not be doing this now because there is ~0 consequence to advertising ICOs via PM today, but if advertising an ICO via PM meant the ICO thread gets locked, I would think some would engage in moderate advertising via PM for their competitors.

And how would you know the person sending the SPAM had the PO's permission?   Are you suggesting that and your massive scam army can shut down any ICO just by sending people PMs promoting it?   

[Quickseller]

They might not be doing this now because there is ~0 consequence to advertising ICOs via PM today, but if advertising an ICO via PM meant the ICO thread gets locked, I would think some would engage in moderate advertising via PM for their competitors.

And how would you know the person sending the SPAM had the PO's permission?   Are you suggesting that and your massive scam army can shut down any ICO just by sending people PMs promoting it?   

I am not exactly sure what you are trying to say (drunk?).

The OP is suggesting that if anyone advertises an ICO via PM spam then the relevant ICO thread gets locked. I am saying if this were to get implemented, a competitor could advise a competitor of theirs via PM to get their competitors thread locked.

[Vod]

I am not exactly sure what you are trying to say (drunk?)

Sober up?

You want to close an ICO - you take your many alt accounts and send PMs with a referral link to prominent forum members, hoping they complain and get the ICO shut down.

[civilufo]

Yes, these shit ICO private messages are annoying, any solution to limit their access?

Basically, those are newbie account. Maybe restrict newbie from private message?

[hilariousetc]

Im confused. I thought the problem was that a bunch of newbies have been sending unsolicited PMs to users who are not interested, nor have given any indication they are interested in any ICOs.

Yes. There are parties offering two spam services. One to send unsolicited PM spam and another to make essentially bump spam feigning interest etc:

Thought I could keep a thread dedicated for reporting accounts which could be banned for shit-posting.I often come across such accounts and usually ignore them or keep procrastinating the 'report to mod' click.By keeping it in one thread it would be easier for me to keep a track and also make it easier for the mods to ban them.I believe these accounts are created to pump ICO threads and or spam threads in any way possible.Most of them are one line posters pumping threads ,definitely don't need them on the forum.

There seems to be a lot nowadays that the admins are not looking into that they probably should. There is a fairly decent amount of admin related work that cannot be automated.

We probably need at least one more active admin to be honest. Essential things just aren't getting looked into. It's pointless even banning people at this point when they can and do just evade their ban on their 2/20/200 alt accounts and nobody ever looks into them. It's also unacceptable that people are waiting several months and even indefinitely in some cases to have their accounts restored even with a signed message already verified by others.

I believe theymos recently said that he is the only one handling the coding behind the forum so he might have been busy with that recently.

Where did he say this?

Basically, those are newbie account. Maybe restrict newbie from private message?

They've already been limited to one per hour I believe. It probably doesn't even matter though when you can easily just automatically create hundreds of accounts and have a bot do all the work for you.

[Quickseller]

There seems to be a lot nowadays that the admins are not looking into that they probably should. There is a fairly decent amount of admin related work that cannot be automated.

We probably need at least one more active admin to be honest. Essential things just aren't getting looked into. It's pointless even banning people at this point when they can and do just evade their ban on their 2/20/200 alt accounts and nobody ever looks into them. It's also unacceptable that people are waiting several months and even indefinitely in some cases to have their accounts restored even with a signed message already verified by others.

One problem is that theymos needs people who can be broadly trusted because admins can potentially do a lot of damage that would be difficult to undue.

One potential solution would be to give a small number of people real-only access to certain information that admins are usually able to access, and then handle the research necessary to do things like password resets so that an admin can have the necessary information to make a decision presented in a way that is easy/quick to verify. 

I am also unsure how comfortable cyrus is at publicly saying that x is an alt of y. This is generally more complex than simply looking at IP addresses. From what I can tell, theymos doesn't really like doing this either, however BadBear was rather good at this, and was generally accurate in his research. 

I believe theymos recently said that he is the only one handling the coding behind the forum so he might have been busy with that recently.

Where did he say this?

November 29, 2017, 08:07:39 PM GMT

[...]with me as the only sysadmin and current-software developer[...]

[hilariousetc]

One problem is that theymos needs people who can be broadly trusted because admins can potentially do a lot of damage that would be difficult to undue.

I'm well aware of that but if there's nobody else currently trusted then he needs to find someone. I told him years ago that he should offer BadBear a raise to entice him back out of hibernation and he said it could be a good idea but not sure whether he ever did or not. Currently admins don't really get any more pay than Globals and it's silly because being an admin is obviously much more work. I've suggested theymos also pay himself a reasonable wage to do admin duties full time but if he's doing the coding on the new forum then that's probably out of the question.

[criptix]

One problem is that theymos needs people who can be broadly trusted because admins can potentially do a lot of damage that would be difficult to undue.

I'm well aware of that but if there's nobody else currently trusted then he needs to find someone. I told him years ago that he should offer BadBear a raise to entice him back out of hibernation and he said it could be a good idea but not sure whether he ever did or not. Currently admins don't really get any more pay than Globals and it's silly because being an admin is obviously much more work. I've suggested theymos also pay himself a reasonable wage to do admin duties full time but if he's doing the coding on the new forum then that's probably out of the question.

Inb4 we again keep talking in circles for 2 years without anything happening.

[OgNasty]

It's also unacceptable that people are waiting several months and even indefinitely in some cases to have their accounts restored even with a signed message already verified by others.

Maybe an account recovery fee would help speed things up a bit?