If this contiunes, we'll lose the Bitcoin Discussion topic

[pugman]

Yeah, although Altcoin Discussion hasn't been subject to the newbie bot invasion as far as I can see. I would agree with you that in general that place is a mess though. Can't really blame the moderation team on that one as mprep is the only dedicated mod, and has to deal with thousands of posts per day in that section alone never mind the it's child boards.

Maybe its time for bitcointalk to have more mods(rather than just one) for a few sections being filled with spammers. Altcoin section can be a start.

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[digaran]

Yeah, although Altcoin Discussion hasn't been subject to the newbie bot invasion as far as I can see. I would agree with you that in general that place is a mess though. Can't really blame the moderation team on that one as mprep is the only dedicated mod, and has to deal with thousands of posts per day in that section alone never mind the it's child boards.

Maybe its time for bitcointalk to have more mods(rather than just one) for a few sections being filled with spammers. Altcoin section can be a start.

I wonder, who has been reporting a lot on altcoin section? those boards need more than 3 active moderators. I'd suggest people to start reporting more in altcoin section.

Next mod position is upon us, hungry forumiters.
If don hilary spends less time on his alt account, and people start reporting more on his section, we could have a better Bitcoin discussion. though I can't see any real solution other than restricting signature campaigns and bounties, because they are the root of the problem, admin wants free speech, cheaters are giving him free speech by posting nonsense all over the forum. is there anybody else besides me and a few others who'd post here even if they are not getting paid? this is bad. everybody who joins this forum has a paid signature no matter what they are advertising. people are already abusing this freedom. theymos do something. we are dead on the waters here.

[Emilyearl]

The forum as you have rightly stated, is losing its flavor and if we allow it to continue, by this year ending it might be a whole different story and people will now be like: I remember when BTT used to be like this and like that. Spam, merit farming, bounties all are shifting the main purpose of the forum to something else. I'm not trying to say bounties are wrong I'm a beneficiary but things should be done modestly. Strict rules should be made and violators evicted out of the forum I think it will help reshape the forum.

[KingScorpio]

I think we already lost it. Now it's just a festival of redundant posts and opinions that have been said in the thread 50 times.

"Will bitcoin replace fiat?"
Answer: "I think this is possible only in the distant future"
(real example)


That's why none of my last 500 posts (or more) have been made in the Bitcoin Discussions board. It's simple impossible to have any kind of real discussion in there.

Just 50? I rather think 500

[TheUltraElite]

The forum as you have rightly stated, is losing its flavor and if we allow it to continue, by this year ending it might be a whole different story and people will now be like: I remember when BTT used to be like this and like that.

That happened a long time ago. I remember people on other sites talk about bitcointalk to be the ground for trolls and shills brainwashed to spam the fourm for their own need. Either shitposting or ICO shill bumping. Bitcoin Discussion would need stric moderation to keep up with the amount of spam it sees everyday. Feels bad for the mods.

Spam, merit farming, bounties all are shifting the main purpose of the forum to something else.

Dont generalize yourself as the face of the forum. Self proclaimed "Bounty hunters" and "Merit Hunters" are the lowest level of lowlife on this forum.

I'm not trying to say bounties are wrong I'm a beneficiary but things should be done modestly. Strict rules should be made and violators evicted out of the forum I think it will help reshape the forum.

Rules will not have any effect unless there is change in the mentality.

A shitposter once said "Who does not like free money" - this mentality needs to be destroyed.

[digaran]

A shitposter once said "Who does not like free money"

You are generalizing people yourself, indeed who does not like free money? that is common sense not a dream of a shitposter.

[Jet Cash]

Bitcoin Discussion would need stric moderation to keep up with the amount of spam it sees everyday. Feels bad for the mods.

Just restrict posting to members with at least 10 merits, and thread starting to members with at least 50 merits.

[Strufmbae]

I have been reading some informations about crypto and beginners and help section is a lot way more better and informative than bitcoin discussion.

[stompix]

That telegram spam is the tip of the iceberg, the "ladies" are far more problematic and are back with their topics

The naming concept of the newbie was like this: Firstname+numbers, like Annie456 and so on... and they were different users, of course....

Most of the topic opener posts were about bitcoin price speculation, in max. 2-3 lines...

Image loading....


I doubt they are real users , but ....just how old is the material those bots are posting?

A question to everyone: from which sites would you buy ad space for the project? Freetalklive.com would be a good pick if we want to find people with ideological support to the project. Where do we find people who are interested in the idea and are also technically able to utilize it?

In addition to Facebook and Google adwords, AdBrite.com is also an option. There you can choose the page you want to advertise on.

For God's sake, Adbrite went our of business in 2013!!!!!!!

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4268909.0
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4269219.0
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4268843.0
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4268910.0
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4268971.0
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4269503.0
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4269587.0
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4269662.0
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4269061.0

My question to the mods, how to properly report those threads?
"This user might be a bot since there are others with the same nickname style that are posting crap" does't look like a good explanation to me in a report.  

[bitart]

That telegram spam is the tip of the iceberg, the "ladies" are far more problematic and are back with their topics
...
My question to the mods, how to properly report those threads?
"This user might be a bot since there are others with the same nickname style that are posting crap" does't look like a good explanation to me in a report.  

I haven't wrote such a long explanation when I have reported those threads
I just only wrote: "Should go to Speculation" that's all
I haven't checked the speculation thread it they were moved there, but the topics has vanished from the Bitcoin Discussion thread at least...

EDIT:
I have done the review of the Bitcoin Discussion thread again today, it's much better now, it took only half an hour and reported only about 50 topics, but most of them were those poor numbered wenches again...

[Welsh]

My question to the mods, how to properly report those threads?
"This user might be a bot since there are others with the same nickname style that are posting crap" does't look like a good explanation to me in a report.  

I know your looking for a mods explanation, but if we are specifically referring to the 1 post newbie bot invasion I've just been reporting them with "Plagiarism. Original source: <link to original source> Every single one of them I've come across was either using old posts here on the forum or copying from popular news websites. The earliest post I've seen copied was in 2010.

All of them were marked good so should be sufficient.

[pugman]

I wonder, who has been reporting a lot on altcoin section? those boards need more than 3 active moderators. I'd suggest people to start reporting more in altcoin section.

Why not you give it a headstart? You have told members before to report 200 posts and other nonsense in the name of the helping the forum, why don't you do the same. You might get your negative removed, like you said in your trust ratings given to others. 

My question to the mods, how to properly report those threads?
"This user might be a bot since there are others with the same nickname style that are posting crap" does't look like a good explanation to me in a report. 

Like Welsh said, just report it as plagiarism if that's the case. If the bot is posting random stuff in random threads, report it as off topic / possible bot. Different mods have different understandings, so your reports might be marked bad if enough evidence is not available, though that will be a rare case.

[Jet Cash]

So 'we' are asking forum members to report 200 or more posts, and this could result in multiple submissions to the mods. That is a lot of work for all involved. It seems like madness to me, when a simple policy of restricting new members posting facilities would go a long way towards avoiding the problem in the first place. Many other forums do this, and they don't have BT's level of spamming problems.

[krishnapramod]

Bitcoin Discussion usually gathers approximately 7-9 additional pages daily. Most of the new topics are the copy of the spam megathreads or some BS from newbies.

I know that everybody have the right to express himself/herself and to open a new topic

7-9 additional pages daily is insane.

The Mods seem to be scrubbing the shit threads a lot more frequently then they have in previous years, which is a great thing! The other thing we can do is report threads that we see as frivilous or duplicative.

The Bitcoin board also gets a lot of mis-placed threads - announcements, spam, questions, etc...things that correctly belong in other places.

The what if threads, hypothetical questions are the ones that get spammed the most. Threads like is quantum computing a threat to Bitcoin and what happens with my crypto when I die aren't really spam topics, but having them in discussion board and getting piled up with spam responses makes the thread useless for anyone looking to get some educational content from the topic. I think having an educational board or something like that (child board of serious discussion) would be more appropriate for these topics.

And then there are topics like this:

What if someone bought up all the existing bitcoins?

WHAT IF the GOVERNMENT wins over BITCOIN?

Will bitcoin win?

Will bitcoin and crypto kill worlds economy???

if bitcoin grows! will the elite turn off the internet?

Now these topics don't have anything educational to offer, discussions are purely based on hypothesis/speculation/assumptions, too easy for spammers to write anything after yes or no. These topics don't belong to off-topic and locking them will simply lead to duplicate topics. IMO, all the what if and will questions/topics should be reported and removed from Bitcoin discussions board and put under a board where there is no incentive for posting, this will somewhat prevent spammers coming up with duplicate topics.

[Welsh]

So 'we' are asking forum members to report 200 or more posts, and this could result in multiple submissions to the mods. That is a lot of work for all involved. It seems like madness to me, when a simple policy of restricting new members posting facilities would go a long way towards avoiding the problem in the first place. Many other forums do this, and they don't have BT's level of spamming problems.

I'm not asking anyone to report 200 or more reports. One or two is good enough. A few people have already dedicated themselves to reporting more, but it's their choice at the end of the day. If they want a cleaner forum for the time being until restrictions are possibly implemented then the only way to go about it is reporting. I'm not expecting them to go hunting for them either, but if they happen to stumble upon spam within their normal usage of the forum then it doesn't take long at all to report.

[stompix]

I haven't wrote such a long explanation when I have reported those threads
I just only wrote: "Should go to Speculation" that's all
I haven't checked the speculation thread it they were moved there, but the topics has vanished from the Bitcoin Discussion thread at least...

EDIT:
I have done the review of the Bitcoin Discussion thread again today, it's much better now, it took only half an hour and reported only about 50 topics, but most of them were those poor numbered wenches again...

I wanted them nuked for good, not just moved to another board as in my opinion a thread created by a bot or spammer shouldn't be allowed anywhere.
Glad to hear that the board is a bit cleaner now and kudos to the mod that nuked the ladybots.
50 topics reported a day  ....no wonder the number of topics in BD is not growing anymore

I know your looking for a mods explanation, but if we are specifically referring to the 1 post newbie bot invasion I've just been reporting them with "Plagiarism. Original source: <link to original source> Every single one of them I've come across was either using old posts here on the forum or copying from popular news websites. The earliest post I've seen copied was in 2010.

All of them were marked good so should be sufficient.

I'm doing my reporting especially when I'm on the phone and I just browse around, so I can't easily check that it's plagiarism.
What is worse, some of those threads (nuked now) had only one line, a speculation about the price, I can't accuse a post like that of plagiarism...
But, reading pugman's post too it seems members have the same opinion on this, I think I'll go next with this approach.

Oh, and... newbie jail.....where are you ?!!?!!

[Welsh]

I'm doing my reporting especially when I'm on the phone and I just browse around, so I can't easily check that it's plagiarism.
What is worse, some of those threads (nuked now) had only one line, a speculation about the price, I can't accuse a post like that of plagiarism...
But, reading pugman's post too it seems members have the same opinion on this, I think I'll go next with this approach.

Oh, and... newbie jail.....where are you ?!!?!!

Fair enough. I hate reporting on my phone, and only do it with simplistic cases. Obviously, I'm not sure what you are refering too, but if it's not plagiarism then just comment something like: "Wrong section, doesn't belong in Bitcoin Discussion. Move to Speculation".

[Emilyearl]

The forum as you have rightly stated, is losing its flavor and if we allow it to continue, by this year ending it might be a whole different story and people will now be like: I remember when BTT used to be like this and like that.

That happened a long time ago. I remember people on other sites talk about bitcointalk to be the ground for trolls and shills brainwashed to spam the fourm for their own need. Either shitposting or ICO shill bumping. Bitcoin Discussion would need stric moderation to keep up with the amount of spam it sees everyday. Feels bad for the mods.

Seriously that's disheartening. Those people from outside are solely bent on destroying the forum and maybe someday start their own. I think the Mods should come up with a more strict rule to help keep the forum on order.

[bitart]

...
Glad to hear that the board is a bit cleaner now and kudos to the mod that nuked the ladybots.
50 topics reported a day  ....no wonder the number of topics in BD is not growing anymore
...

Oh, and... newbie jail.....where are you ?!!?!!

+1 for newbie jail
would save a hell lot of work for us and for the mods... and if we move some of the mods to the beginner thread (they will have some free time if newbies won't spam the whole forum) and they will be able to handle the beginner's thread, it would be easier to find the quality posts there to merit, to let newbies get out of the jail as soon as possible, if they deserve it... (or they buy copper membership)

Reporting day #3
It seems that the Bitcoin Discussion thread is getting better (I've only done 33 reports today with just a few 'ladybots'), which could have several explanations:
1) Ladybot spam attack has finished
2) Other members also report the spam daily, so by the time I start, most of them are deleted already
3) It's weekend and spamming newbies are in the pub

I've reported more than 300 topics in a few days (started with nearly 0 report count) and it seems that after 300 reports you can have a look at the reports (you get the 'your report history' link) which report was good or bad. Seems useful

[PROTO_Token]

Assuming the subject line of each post conveys the subject (probably doesn't), you could add a filter that alerts any users This Post Exists and provide quick links to the post for review.

This could avoid some of the duplicate subject matter.  The member could still post, but it would act similar to the notice when other posts go live before completing a reply.