Reporting very old posts?

[AverageGlabella]

I've have recently started to take reporting very seriously and I think that I have good enough knowledge of the forum to now do this but I'm wondering what the moderators and communities opinion is on reporting all posts. I visit old threads quite often because I enjoy reading the history of the forum and seeing how different view points were back then. I also like to read in depth on the opinion of historic members of the forum and where they are today. I have also done some analytical research on past alternate coins such as litecoin and how the general hype was generated and where they are presently. I enjoy reading about history both in the Bitcoin world and in real life historical archives. What is everyones opinion on reporting spam and off topic replies from a few years ago? My opinion is that it should be reported because it hurts the historical side of the forum but I will admit that reporting on mass could prevent current reports from being handled. I know I'm not the only one to look at historical threads and probably aren't the only one that is sick and tired of the spam cluttering these historical threads. Should I continue reporting these old posts? I'm willing to go through board by board and report as much as possible. 

[jackg]

Go with your conscience. If you want to, report it. There are some users who get banned on here for post made in August 2018/2017 that have been plagiarised and these are quite recent bans so go ahead and report if you like. But I wouldn't make a chore of it.

[Jet Cash]

That's a difficult one - on balance I think that it could be  good idea to report the posts, and that way you leave it up to the mods to decide if they should be removed. The chances are that the programmes being promoted are no longer relevant. That assumes that it is a sig spam post of course.

[AverageGlabella]

That's a difficult one - on balance I think that it could be  good idea to report the posts, and that way you leave it up to the mods to decide if they should be removed. The chances are that the programmes being promoted are no longer relevant. That assumes that it is a sig spam post of course.

The famous Hal thread over in Bitcoin Discussion for an example I had some very old posts deleted and some marked bad although they said the exact same thing. Something like "You're the best Hal" which in the context I think should be deleted as they add no real value to a very historical thread. It's obviously something I care a lot about (history) although I don't want to be a problem to the moderators. So be it if I pick up a few bad reports along the way due to different moderators having a different outlook I don't really care about that 'm looking for a majority answer here hopefully I did report that post again later and it was removed so I'm guessing it was either a few mistakes or a difference in opinion.

Go with your conscience. If you want to, report it. There are some users who get banned on here for post made in August 2018/2017 that have been plagiarised and these are quite recent bans so go ahead and report if you like. But I wouldn't make a chore of it.

That is interesting to know due to there being a lot of copy and pastes in the high replies threads thinking they could just hide their posts within the mass of replies.

[Lafu]

What is everyones opinion on reporting spam and off topic replies from a few years ago?  

I have done that too as i realy started with reporting i just got the Idea too.

I got after a few hours of reporting an PM from a Global Mod  

There's no need to report old threads that haven't been posted in for ages. Threads aren't deleted either just because the op requests them so best just to leave them dead where they are.

Just let the old post there as it is !  

Sometimes some Users looking there for Informations and use them as an Archive !

[suchmoon]

Except plagiarism, I tend to not report posts older than ~1 year, mainly because there is a lot of new garbage being posted every day so I'd prefer moderators to focus on that instead of distracting them with a "nice project" post from 2016. We can always circle back and clean in it up later if we run out of new shitposts.

Having said that, if you're browsing old threads for other purposes, or if you want to clean up a specific "historic" thread then I don't see anything particularly wrong with that. But if you're making it into a job/hobby I'd say that effort would be better spent fighting current issues.

[Lafu]

and clean in it up later if we run out of new shitposts.

You know , and i know that will never happens !  LOL    

[LoyceV]

Ask yourself: does it improve the forum if it's deleted?

I'm just leaving this here:

There's a couple of users who have just started frantically spamming the report queue recently with hundreds of reports a day probably because theymos announced the possibility of merit badges. It's clear some of them are actually just looking for things to report because they're reporting old threads that haven't been posted in for ages just to be 'locked' or spam posts from ages ago. Just saw one report from January on a spam post. Is that really essential? Nobody will see or miss that post whether it's there or not. Do I really need to waste my time deleting hundreds of posts long buried in a bounty thread? All it does is swamp the queue with things that are either going to take a long time to handle or not get handled at all and increases the chances of us missing something important that needs handling urgently.

[jackg]

and clean in it up later if we run out of new shitposts.

You know , and i know that will never happens !  LOL    

Yeah. If Theymos bans everyone for a week then it will.


To add to what loyce says, reporting a post in a locked thread is meaningless as it won't be deleted (unless it's plagiarism probably).

[TheBeardedBaby]

I report old posts only when I see a shitposter wearing signature and posting only "good project".
Then I go to his profile and report all one-two words spam that I find. Normally the oldest ones are just a few months old.

[o_e_l_e_o]

If there's a serious reason to report it - plagiarism, linking to malware, the opening post of a spam mega thread that needs locked, etc - then sure. If it's just for spamming and shitposting, then I generally don't report anything over a week old - the spammers will already have been paid, and any time I spend reporting these older posts could be better spent reporting new ones.

[madnessteat]

If, as you say, it will be useful for users interested in forum history, then this is a good thing. I send a report to the moderator only for new violations, mainly about moving to the desired section, duplicate topic.

[pugman]

Besides reporting posts that are a bannable offense, report the posts of users, that have their profiles more or less active in the last 3 months, otherwise its just a waste of time and effort I reckon.

Don't go too much on reporting old posts, it doesn't really help the forum, but its your decision.

[Thirdspace]

What is everyones opinion on reporting spam and off topic replies from a few years ago? My opinion is that it should be reported because it hurts the historical side of the forum but I will admit that reporting on mass could prevent current reports from being handled.

go ahead and report those posts, that should make threads looked shorter, cleaner and easier to read
I doubt it would add much more work to current admins' report queue
I'm pretty sure the queue is already long and your reports wouldn't make it noticeably longer

Should I continue reporting these old posts? I'm willing to go through board by board and report as much as possible.  

I support you to continue reporting those old spams, and perhaps catch a few plagiators
just don't waste your time solely looking for them as your life's purpose

[TalkStar]

I beleive its better to put your concentration on upcoming posts. Its not going to make any difference by reporting old posts. Everyday where new scammers trying to build their trap at that time its not gonna be a wise decission to report on old one. 

Yeah if Still then you have interest to do it than you can try to trace old scammers current activities. Discover where they are and if they are still active than whats their new trap for bitcointalk users.

[UserU]

I beleive its better to put your concentration on upcoming posts. Its not going to make any difference by reporting old posts. Everyday where new scammers trying to build their trap at that time its not gonna be a wise decission to report on old one. 

Yeah if Still then you have interest to do it than you can try to trace old scammers current activities. Discover where they are and if they are still active than whats their new trap for bitcointalk users.

Sometimes digging out posts has its own perks too. You might never know any recent accounts that might be linked to old offenders.

[SaltySpitoon]

One of the moderator's guidelines is to consider especially carefully before deleting an old post, in other words, unless there is a very good reason to delete it, leave it alone. You probably will be disappointed with your report accuracy score going down. Plagiarism in the way that is against the rules wasn't really something that happened pre signature advertising, so unless you happen across malware or someone posting about selling crack, it'll likely be marked as a bad report.

[Onuohakk]

If you feel good reporting old spam post you can go on but don't let it hinder you from also reporting present spam post.
The amount of spam post now to my knowledge exceed the past spam post.

[joniboini]

A moderator in my local board suggests/request us (who likes to patrol & report spam etc post) to repost older than 1-month-old, so no need to report a post from 2018. It's probably different with other mods (old or not is relative), but I personally agree that there is no need to report a very old post unless it's plagiarism.

[AverageGlabella]

One of the moderator's guidelines is to consider especially carefully before deleting an old post, in other words, unless there is a very good reason to delete it, leave it alone. You probably will be disappointed with your report accuracy score going down. Plagiarism in the way that is against the rules wasn't really something that happened pre signature advertising, so unless you happen across malware or someone posting about selling crack, it'll likely be marked as a bad report.

Thats interesting to know most of my reports have been marked good from reporting some in the Hal thread so I guess I'm on the right track. I'll avoid reporting unless I think its personally reducing the quality of  historical threads or spreading malware/plagiarism. I'm not too bothered about report accuracy and I currently sit at 100% with over 2k reports. As well as if they are still active then reporting them should be beneficial to the community