New form of shit-posting

[xtraelv]

It appears that when-ever there is a rule someone tries to find a loophole so they can continue to put in minimal effort to farm accounts or meet signature quotas.

Example 1
Example 2

Effectively copy and pasting with an attribution. Then a minimal comment to make the appearance of "discussion".



The purpose is not to start discussion. It is a case of merit and account farming.

The type of CCN.com articles posted to Bitcointalk have little benefit to the form.  As if bitcoin users cannot read cnn themselves.

I doubt that the constant repeated copy and pasting falls within the category of "fair use" when it comes to copyright  - even with attribution to the original article.

I can see this becoming the next level of problem if it is not halted. - Unless others don't see this as a problem.

Perhaps tagging them with negative trust or clarification of whether it constitutes a "low quality post" or "copy and pasting" would be a solution.

NOTE: This is meant to serve as a reference/educational/informational thread, NOT a rock solid list of rules.

1. No zero or low value, pointless or uninteresting posts or threads.

23. When deciding if a user has broken the rules, the staff have the right to follow their interpretation of the rules.
This rule is meant to prevent from users exploiting possible loopholes in the rules or some interpretations that follow the literal meaning of the rule rather than the meaning of what it truly wanted to prevent.

33. Posting plagiarized content is not allowed
This includes both copying parts or the entirety of other users' posts or threads and copying content from external sources (e.g. other websites) and passing it as your own.

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[Flash Cunt]

Don't waste the time of the mods and the members who actully read threads - Just ban the fuckers and stop them coming back.

[Little Mouse]

Just ban the fuckers and stop them coming back.

Is xtraelv a mod?

@OP
If it falls under copy paste, they deserve a clear ban. But tagging by DT will not stop those, IMO.

[DdmrDdmr]

Yes, I’ve seen this to be a somewhat small trend now. It is not open plagiarism, but a very lazy way of approaching the referenced information, giving no analysis whatsoever, no versed opinion, and no effort in trying to summarize the article or whatever is referenced in the first place. Aside from that, these kind of posts look to me like blatant merit traps. Give them enough length, and one will barely notice the reference link at the end.
On a couple of occasions this past week I was interested posts created in such a manner, only to have to waste time in seeing that it was just a simple copy/paste/add reference type of post.

I’ve even seen this on my local board a couple of times recently, and posted in reply to the OPs to try to make them see that there is cero value in what they are doing. What’s more, looking over their history I saw that it was a common practice that, for the most, leads to everyone wasting time. Of course my replies get no answer, so it might not even trigger a thought for change in the OPs of such type of posts.

[xtraelv]

@OP
If it falls under copy paste, they deserve a clear ban. But tagging by DT will not stop those, IMO.

You'll notice that they have just added attribution and a small insignificant comment on the end in attempt to make it "comply" to the rules.

The purpose is clear. To farm for merit and meet bounty signature posting requirements with minimal effort using copy and pasted content.

The Russian forum has a far more extensive explanation:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=994018.0

8. Plagiarism is prohibited, including in the form of copying, or paraphrasing other people's messages or texts from the Internet. If you post copy-paste, be sure to include a link to the source. Publishing news about bitcoin only - in the "News" section; about "alternative cryptocurrencies" - in the appropriate section, in the relevant topics; In other cases, if you copy text from the Internet, in addition to a link to the source, you should share your constructive opinion about it, so if you have nothing to say, then there is no need to publish other people's texts.

[Alex_Sr]

It appears that when-ever there is a rule someone tries to find a loophole so they can continue to put in minimal effort to farm accounts or meet signature quotas.

Example 1
Example 2

Effectively copy and pasting with an attribution. Then a minimal comment to make the appearance of "discussion".

I also wrote about this problem when a similar spam farm worked in the Russian local board:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4837694.msg43639757#msg43639757

Result:

Banned now:

trekmonster7 - banned
beastY - banned
bitwar - banned
brainwashed - banned
AngelineMoore - banned
rothnic - banned
firmaster163 - banned
lightworker - banned
alex.advert2 - banned

Not banned:

DuppyBTC
Barryeinz
Ypser
Hoofprint

All their posts look something like this:

[TheBeardedBaby]

This is happening from last week, I already reported 2 cases and the OPs got banned/nuked for plagiarism.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1926895.msg46639115#msg46639115

@OP
If it falls under copy paste, they deserve a clear ban. But tagging by DT will not stop those, IMO.

You'll notice that they have just added attribution and a small insignificant comment on the end in attempt to make it "comply" to the rules.

There is no source mentioned, the text is not in quotes so it is pure case of plagiarism. Seems like the mods are on the same opinion since I got them both banned

[hilariousetc]

It's not really new. People used to do this in the Press section all the time, but if all their posts are just them posting articles then I used to give them a warning because it's clear they're not really here to contribute anything and had just found a loophole to get paid for copy and pasting. Some of them were even using bots to post the stuff automatically and even in the correct format for the Press section. If their posts are all just article posting then just report them and I'll give them a warning.

[manfredmann]

LOL. I have some fun seeing posts like this. I never knew that this also could be done to increase the posts to comply the number of posts needed to get stakes. This is indeed, a shit-posting activity and the users has a brilliant ideas for making a posts like this. This posts makes her/his job so easy. A copy and paste posts indicated with source will not be tagged as plagiarism.

Users are getting wiser each day!

[LeGaulois]

It isn't something new, unfortunately. Check out the "Press", you will figure some threads starter love it! The economy board is also infested.
When you see one from time to time it isn't much annoying, but when you see a member doing it continuously, it's clear the user has no interest to participate in a conversation with others :/

[Lucius]

It's not really new. People used to do this in the Press section all the time, but if all their posts are just them posting articles then I used to give them a warning because it's clear they're not really here to contribute anything and had just found a loophole to get paid for copy and pasting. Some of them were even using bots to post the stuff automatically and even in the correct format for the Press section. If their posts are all just article posting then just report them and I'll give them a warning.

It isn't something new, unfortunately. Check out the "Press", you will figure some threads starter love it! The economy board is also infested.
When you see one from time to time it isn't much annoying, but when you see a member doing it continuously, it's clear the user has no interest to participate in a conversation with others :/

Press board is for posting links to news in proper format by sticking to the rules in that board. I do not see anything wrong that any BTC related news is posted there, many users (included me) like to visit that section of forum and read most interesting news.

Problem is that we have many threads with identical news, just from other source - and some users regularly publish news which can be a problem if they participate in the signature campaign. It is up to campaign managers and mods to deal with such users.

I can agree that some users use this method to make post on a regular basis and some of them are high ranked members who participate in sig campaigns like ChipMixer. Just one example : https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=68364;sa=showPosts

[The Sceptical Chymist]

You'll notice that they have just added attribution and a small insignificant comment on the end in attempt to make it "comply" to the rules.

I have mixed feelings about this one, mainly because I don't watch the news and don't even look at news sites on the web--not even crypto news.  Most of the news I get about crypto comes from bitcointalk and so I find these snippets useful sometimes.  Hydrogen often makes threads that begin with a quote from an article, but he usually makes pretty substantial comments after the quote.  I've given him merits numerous times for his posts.

But yeah, HappyWhiteHuman does seem to be doing it for a purpose other than sparking discussion--but there's obviously no proof of what his intention is.  I don't think this should be disallowed in general, but in his case it borders on spamming.  The two examples in the OP were only minutes apart, and if he's not adding his own commentary to the news quote then the thread is fairly worthless on its own.

Shouldn't threads like these be in the press section and not Economics?

I can agree that some users use this method to make post on a regular basis and some of them are high ranked members who participate in sig campaigns like ChipMixer. Just one example : https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=68364;sa=showPosts

Ah, that would be Hydrogen.  As I said, he tends to do more than just quote news articles even though most if not all of the threads he starts do include news quotes.  If you look at what he writes after whatever it is he quotes, it's usually pretty good.  I think in his case his intention really is to stimulate discussion.

[sheynlee18]

Those are just people who wan't to earn and farm merits the easy way but they fool themselves because no one will ever give them merits (except for those who just give easily their merits to others)  for post or replies that has been copied or already been discussed or posted in other website. Yes they maybe doing that because they wan't to rank up high and gain more and more profits because that's the main reason why people join this thread but they should respect this forum a little bit more and not make this forum a trashcan of shitpost! Maybe  i'm not an experienced person regarding with cryptocurrency or a legend in this forum but I really find this forum a respective forum and I see many people that is interested in this forum with meaningful & useful discussion. Those people should be banned but its the work of the forum moderator they are the one who decides or make changes ! All i really want is that everyone must respect this forum and cooperate ! =)  Have a good day everyone !

[Thekool1s]

These threads clearly belong to the press section with proper formatting. They are definitely shitposting IMO. If they don't know where these threads belong give them a warning just like hilarious said and if they still continue to post these thread it will become clear that they don't care about their post quality. Just like pharmacist mentioned there are people in press section who actually point out newsworthy stuff, but I have seen *spammers* in the press section too. They don't care to add any of their thoughts and just link up to the articles, making it "Ez" for them to get paid. If you ask me, there should be a rule of sorts that the OP's signature won't appear if they start a thread in the spam infested boards. This should reduce the spam we get from useless new topics.

[o_e_l_e_o]

oksgvardukraine2018 - Topics started
sell100 - Topics started

These two are frequent offenders in Bitcoin Discussion, starting 10-20 new threads a day between them. I've reported them both many times before and had many of their threads deleted, so I'm sure hilariousetc has already given them both warnings in the past, but they just keep coming back. Since they aren't technically breaking the rules, I don't know what the next step is?

Do we just have to put up them? Or can we ban them for being repeat offenders?

[xtraelv]

You'll notice that they have just added attribution and a small insignificant comment on the end in attempt to make it "comply" to the rules.

I have mixed feelings about this one, mainly because I don't watch the news and don't even look at news sites on the web--not even crypto news.  Most of the news I get about crypto comes from bitcointalk and so I find these snippets useful sometimes.  Hydrogen often makes threads that begin with a quote from an article, but he usually makes pretty substantial comments after the quote.  I've given him merits numerous times for his posts.

But yeah, HappyWhiteHuman does seem to be doing it for a purpose other than sparking discussion--but there's obviously no proof of what his intention is.  I don't think this should be disallowed in general, but in his case it borders on spamming.  The two examples in the OP were only minutes apart, and if he's not adding his own commentary to the news quote then the thread is fairly worthless on its own.

Shouldn't threads like these be in the press section and not Economics?

I can agree that some users use this method to make post on a regular basis and some of them are high ranked members who participate in sig campaigns like ChipMixer. Just one example : https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=68364;sa=showPosts

Ah, that would be Hydrogen.  As I said, he tends to do more than just quote news articles even though most if not all of the threads he starts do include news quotes.  If you look at what he writes after whatever it is he quotes, it's usually pretty good.  I think in his case his intention really is to stimulate discussion.

I agree with you that when it is used as intended posting a News story can be a brilliant topic starter. It is also great for referencing history. Some of the important events have been memorialized by the news post and discussion about it on here.

It is quite clear that this is not the motivation with some of the posts due to posting habits.  Posting low quality news stories, posting them 5 minutes apart, not having replies to any of the news stories (others didn't find them interesting) and the poster expressing concern that his "relatives who they taught to post in a similar style" might be mistaken for an alt.

There should be a reasonable amount of effort exerted by the person posting the news story. It is also important to consider the balance between "fair use" and "copyright infringement".

@OP
If it falls under copy paste, they deserve a clear ban. But tagging by DT will not stop those, IMO.

Tagging them will remove the motivation. Tagged accounts are worth less to sell and reduce value for signature spammers.

[r1s2g3]

I know if we report these kind of post that just have copied content and "mentioning the source" the mod will delete the post (As there is increase in my good report and topic also removed.)

The example you provided in OP is really a minimal effort and I think it can be reported.

 But only question is that is our reporting is helping to reduce this behavior?
 I think we need to develop a system that every valid report against you will earn some black points(that can be less or more according to the offence committed and nominal points for posting on wrong section etc.)  and accumulation of certain "X" number points within 3 month  will get you autobanned.

[bitart]

...
 But only question is that is our reporting is helping to reduce this behavior?
 I think we need to develop a system that every valid report against you will earn some black points(that can be less or more according to the offence committed and nominal points for posting on wrong section etc.)  and accumulation of certain "X" number points within 3 month  will get you autobanned.

This is a good idea. I used to report these kind of posts / topics in Bitcoin Discussion and usually suggested to the mods to move those kind of topics/posts to the Press section, but somehow those useless topics were always deleted in the end...
So if we report enough spammer they will give up this behaviour, because if the posts are deleted they won't increase their activity, so their "work" becomes useless...

[Vindon]

I new here so newbie question. What is account farming? And yes, copy paste articles from other places isn't ok.

[bones261]

I new here so newbie question. What is account farming? And yes, copy paste articles from other places isn't ok.

Account farming is where a person creates multiple accounts with the intent to sell them in the future. The higher rank an account is, the more they can sell it for. Before we had the merit system, all the account farmers had to do was post 2 insubstantial posts per day with each account and eventually rank up their accounts. Now, it is a bit more challenging because the account farmers also have to have their farmed accounts earn merit to rank them up. So now the account farmers have to resort to tricks in an attempt to get merit.