What to do with these aggressive FUDers? Requesting help from mods

[Nimiq]

Dear Bitcointalk Moderators

I contribute as community manager of the crypto project Nimiq, a project inspired by Bitcoin that uses different technologies (Merkle Tries, Mini Blockchain Scheme, NiPoPoWs) to create a compact Blockchain with nodes that can run inside of a Browser. You can to test our tech by visiting https://getsome.nimiq.com.

Nimiq was launched on June 06, 2017. Since then we have used Bitcointalk as one of the informative channels to keep Nimiq supporters updated. At the beginning of January, a group of users was created on Bitcointalk with the sole purpose of discrediting the project, spreading FUD that can be (and have been) easily proven wrong

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2518322
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2518773
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2520461
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2520497
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2520547
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2521848

Recently, these users were created with exactly the same behavior since their first post.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2545890
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2545886

These users’ entire history in Bitcointalk is formed by aggressive partially racist insults, non-factual statements and outright lies. Nimiq has always being known by its supporters because of its transparency. During these users’ attempt to damage the reputation of the project, a Reddit AMA was held without any participation of these users. A serious effort was made to clear any doubts of Bitcointalk readers about the claims from these users. It is clear that they only want to spam the thread, making it impossible for anybody to participate in a normal way.

We think the behaviour of these users goes against the very purpose of Bitcointalk (or any forum). Checking our thread it is easy to see that Nimiq has always answered all questions, keeping honesty and transparency in high value. We ask for help to keep the thread civilized, allowing Bitcointalk readers to be able to read it.  

[suchmoon]

I have to ask:

How many times did you report their posts and how many of those reports are "good"?

[Vod]

Create a new self moderated thread, post the link in your existing thread and lock it.

You don't need the mods for this.  

[Nimiq]

I have to ask:

How many times did you report their posts and how many of those reports are "good"?

So far:

Code:

You have reported 28 posts with 15% accuracy.

I still wanted to bring this topic here since reporting to moderator seems not to help

[suchmoon]

So far:

Code:

You have reported 28 posts with 15% accuracy.

I still wanted to bring this topic here since reporting to moderator seems not to help

Well, you seem to have your answer right there - 15%. And you haven't provided any specific examples of how those users are breaking forum rules so I doubt this thread will change anything. Vod's advice is probably the best course of action.

[JeromeTash]

Vod pretty much nailed it... a new self moderated thread is the way to go.

[Nimiq]

Create a new self moderated thread, post the link in your existing thread and lock it.

You don't need the mods for this.  

I thought of a self moderated thread but I think it could be seen as a biased channel and would not help with the actual problem.
I wanted to bring the topic here since it is very easy for moderators to see that the aggressive behavior I commented is specific to the group of users I included before and goes against basic civilized discussion.

Still appreciate the suggestion, but would love to solve it without creating a self moderated thread though

[Vod]

Still appreciate the suggestion, but would love to solve it without creating a self moderated thread though

I think your 15% report rate shows your views of harassment do not equal those of the moderators. 

You'll have to act on this yourself. 

[suchmoon]

I thought of a self moderated thread but I think it could be seen as a biased channel and would not help with the actual problem.
I wanted to bring the topic here since it is very easy for moderators to see that the aggressive behavior I commented is specific to the group of users I included before and goes against basic civilized discussion.

Still appreciate the suggestion, but would love to solve it without creating a self moderated thread though

The things that you mentioned - insults, aggressive behavior, etc - are not moderated. You can report the users for actual rule violations, such as multi-posting and low-value posts, but you are also multi-posting yourself so I would suggest to read the rules first.

[Nimiq]

I thought of a self moderated thread but I think it could be seen as a biased channel and would not help with the actual problem.
I wanted to bring the topic here since it is very easy for moderators to see that the aggressive behavior I commented is specific to the group of users I included before and goes against basic civilized discussion.

Still appreciate the suggestion, but would love to solve it without creating a self moderated thread though

The things that you mentioned - insults, aggressive behavior, etc - are not moderated. You can report the users for actual rule violations, such as multi-posting and low-value posts, but you are also multi-posting yourself so I would suggest to read the rules first.

I don't see how that is multi posting, it was just trying to engage in a discussion with one of these users. Not copying content, just having a discussion.

If you don't think accounts with only these types of messages concern the moderators of the forum then there is nothing more I can do. I thought I should bring this to your attention to get to a proper solution (I don't think a self moderated thread is it).

I still believe these types of users should be disabled by moderators, I don't see any reason not to do so.

Thanks for the swift help. I guess have no option but to create a self moderated thread 

[Vod]

Thanks for the swift help. I guess have no option but to create a self moderated thread 

Just explain why you are making the thread self moderated.  Be fair in your moderation and your valid users will appreciate your keeping the thread clean.

Good luck!

[suchmoon]

I don't see how that is multi posting, it was just trying to engage in a discussion with one of these users. Not copying content, just having a discussion.

Multiple posts in a row are not allowed.

I still believe these types of users should be disabled by moderators, I don't see any reason not to do so.

The reason is that moderators won't "disable" users unless they break the rules, which you really should read.

[Pmalek]

I don't see how that is multi posting, it was just trying to engage in a discussion with one of these users. Not copying content, just having a discussion.

Multi posting and copy/pasting are different things. What suchmoon tried to say is that you posted multiple posts, one after the other but you should have edited your previous post with the content of the new post.

Like in the example here:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1952324.msg49514523#msg49514523
Posted on January 31, 2019, 11:54:43 AM
Just a few minutes after that you make another post at January 31, 2019, 12:03:52 PM

According to forum rules:

32. Posting multiple posts in a row (excluding bumps and reserved posts by the thread starter) is not allowed.

You can read about the rules here:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=703657.0

[nutildah]

We think the behaviour of these users goes against the very purpose of Bitcointalk (or any forum). Checking our thread it is easy to see that Nimiq has always answered all questions, keeping honesty and transparency in high value. We ask for help to keep the thread civilized, allowing Bitcointalk readers to be able to read it.  

I previously took an in-depth look at your project and I have to say the problem you're mostly suffering from is a bunch of genuinely angry investors. They feel cheated. Sounds like there hasn't been much development as of late and if you (or the Nimiq team) wants to quell them you should give them some reason for hope.

[LoyceV]

Still appreciate the suggestion, but would love to solve it without creating a self moderated thread though

Set local rules, in which you specify that from this moment onwards, certain users are no longer allowed to post in the thread. If they continue, report the posts and point out to the Mods that they break local rules.

Or:
Hire an independent user to manage a self-moderated thread.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2518322
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2518773
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2520461
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2520497
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2520547
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2521848

Recently, these users were created with exactly the same behavior since their first post.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2545890
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2545886

It does look suspicious that they all registered recently.
These users have posted in https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1952324.0:
    1. 171x Nimiq (3 Merit earned) (BPIP)
    2. 121x rngkll (BPIP)
    3. 109x nimiqshitcoin (BPIP)
    4. 102x F2b (161 Merit earned) (BPIP)
    5. 88x CryptoNeed (3 Merit earned) (BPIP)
.........
.........
See the full list here. Use this list to find and report offenders.

[nutildah]

Also, they're not FUDders. They're genuinely pissed off about the lack of progress being made. "FUD" implies they are attempting to discredit the project so its coin will fall in value and they can buy it for cheaper. That's not the case with what you have going on in your thread.

[friends1980]

I guess you'll have to live with it. Many are playing their game in an attempt to lower prices and buy lower.

Others are really trying to warn other members because let's be honest: in 95% of the cases, these projects really are scams and shitcoins. So in general, we're lucky enough to have this freedom of expression.

I've not been on the Altcoin Discussion threads for quite some time, so I completely forgot about the FUDers.

[nutildah]

I guess you'll have to live with it. Many are playing their game in an attempt to lower prices and buy lower.

Others are really trying to warn other members because let's be honest: in 95% of the cases, these projects really are scams and shitcoins. So in general, we're lucky enough to have this freedom of expression.

I've not been on the Altcoin Discussion threads for quite some time, so I completely forgot about the FUDers.

1. The thread isn't in Altcoin Discussion, its in Announcements.

2. Did you not read the post immediately above yours which was written by somebody who has actual knowledge of the situation?

[Harlot]

I thought of a self moderated thread but I think it could be seen as a biased channel and would not help with the actual problem.
I wanted to bring the topic here since it is very easy for moderators to see that the aggressive behavior I commented is specific to the group of users I included before and goes against basic civilized discussion.

Still appreciate the suggestion, but would love to solve it without creating a self moderated thread though

Just explain why you created your ANN thread self-moderated. Saying that there is a group of members here saying non-factual statements against your thread and the only reason why you created it so that you can delete the FUD they are creating to damage your project. I know it may look bad but its your only alternative as there is no guarantee that mods will be deleting their posts on your ANN thread.

[F2b]

At the beginning of January, a group of users was created on Bitcointalk with the sole purpose of discrediting the project
+links

I would like to add yuluxugi32132, nimiq-shitcoin, wentian.cn and robin.nimiq, that weren't mentioned in your post.

Also, they're not FUDders. They're genuinely pissed off about the lack of progress being made. "FUD" implies they are attempting to discredit the project so its coin will fall in value and they can buy it for cheaper. That's not the case with what you have going on in your thread.

The term "FUDers" is maybe not the best to qualify this, but these users still want to discredit the project. I can't be 100% since I don't have many proofs, but we are suspecting them to be supporters of a competitor of Nimiq, called Webdollar.

There are even open source projects that have more work committed. One example is the nimiq's biggest competitor, namely WebDollar. According to its github repository, WEBD devs had over  3,000+ commits in a year with no funding or ICO shit. I guess nimiq devs need pocket money to buy cannabis

But even if it's nor FUD according to your definition, in fact it's exactly like FUD : discredit a projet to earn more (not by buying cheaper, but make the price of another project rise).


By the way, I would also like to point out one thing:
Most of these accounts registered at near dates (by groups: coinfanatic registered 6 minutes after nimiq-shitcoin; andrewjaxx, john.btc and sasha.new registered during the same morning; robin.nimiq registered one hour after wentian.cn; finally Scamiq2 registered 8 minutes after matthewgpu). And they use the same codes: big bold red posts (with caps lock), saying always the same things, repeating some words (ex: "bad bad" "dead dead"), making always the same language errors... So they are most likely the same person. To be honest, I read all of their posts, I just have the feeling that I'm reading one only person talking to himself.
I know multi-account is allowed, but here it is clearly abused to spam the thread. And generally, known multi-accounts deserve a red tag (besides, they seem to like red ).