What constitutes spam and how best to avoid it

[Upgrade00]

As a member of BT, you would most likely have come across discussions on spam and ways to curb it. As a newbie you would have to understand what constitutes spam in order to best avoid it.

What is Spam?
Conventionally, it is used to refer to unsolicited messages sent out electronically and in bulk. Example would be emails in your spam folder which you did not request or authorize.
Here on the forum spam could be used interchangeably with low value content, poorly constructed replies/post, repetition of a particular idea, it could also be the use of a crude means to convert a text into a different language to post on a particular board. In essence, spam are contents which adds no value, reason why they are deleted by moderators on sight.

There are other consequences of spam, besides getting your posts deleted:
- Spam reduces the quality of your post history. Having a good post history is vital in growing an account. If an account repeatedly posts low value content, any post of value would be viewed with reservations by some members and some would be prompted to check for possible plagiarism.

- Repeated spam contents could get you on the ignore list of other forum members (and merit sources) reducing your chances of ranking up.

- Newbie accounts with less than 30 activities could get nuked for low value contents, and all posts deleted.

- In extreme cases, it could get you a temporary or even a permanent ban:

Campaign Participants:

Staff do not want to hand out bans for unconstructive posts but if we feel that you as a user are continually making very poor or unsubstantial posts due to your paid signature the following bans will be issued:

First offence: 7 days
Second offence: 14 days
Third offence: 30 days
Fourth: Permanent ban

How to know if you are spamming?

Spamming is NOT heavily dependent on the length of your posts or replies, a one line which contains relevant points to the specific discussion is more important than a long, rambling post which may be off topic and offer zero value to the discussion.

If you reply to threads without going through the previous discussion with the sole aim of making a post to count in a bounty requirement or to boost your activity, then you very likely would be spamming or posting similar replies to what has already been posted.

If you reply to threads without actual understanding of the topic being discussed, then you very likely are spamming.

If you post in a language you don't have a fair command of (to be at the very least understandable), or use translators then you are spamming.

If you make posts/replies with the sole aim of increasing your post count. That would count as spam.

Accounts created to advertise for a website with links and repeated contents also constitutes spam.

Ways to avoid spam?

The most effective way to avoid spam is to read before you post: This could be previous discussions or external articles related to the discussion. It's best to read more than you post.

Use the SEARCH option before starting a topic. This way you know how your idea has been posted previously (if at all it has been) and how best to present your post in a new and relevant form.

Do not post in topics or boards you're not familiar with: the forum has numerous boards and also local sections to allow everyone to find a niche where they can be more helpful to the entire community. Find the sections that best suits you and stick to it.

Read the requirements of any bounty if you wish to join: almost all bounties has rules and regulations, ranging from how many posts to make in a specific period and what sections you should and should not post in. Only take up bounties which you can comfortably manage without the value of your content dropping significantly..

Avoid using multiple accounts: alt accounts are allowed on the forum for a variety of reasons, one of which is to alienate yourself (on one account) from an idea you might have and post it on another account. Using it for financial reasons could reduce the quality of your content and also increases the risk of your posting similar content on different accounts which could constitute plagiarism.


Do not make posts with the sole aim of agreeing or commending a previous post, with contents like: 'I agree' or 'Nice one'. That is the reason merits were implemented.
If you do not have any smerits at the time you could bookmark the post for later or suggest it on any of the forums merit giveaway threads, such as;
Merit for Crypto (and other) Knowledge (no guide threads)
Merits holding you back? Am giving them to most qualitative Newbie / Jr / Member

In addition to improving the quality of your posts, you can also help curb spam by reporting low value contents. Look up this thread:
[Guide] Reporting effectively

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[DdmrDdmr]

Just to illustrate your point here, I read an interesting post created today by a Global Moderator (@hilariousandco), which goes to show the degree of reports that are created reporting spam, and how that can lead to saturating the report queue due to the sheer amount of reports of this nature:

<…> I have asked theymos for two report queues: one for important/urgent reports and another for sig spam or less important stuff because the report queue is getting filled with reports on sig spammers and it buries all the others so mods have to scroll through dozens and sometimes hundreds of reports just to find something that isn't sig spam related. There could either be two report buttons or a drop down menu with the most common rule infractions and that sorts them into importance somehow.

[Upgrade00]

...

That would greatly improve the forum; sorting reports according to priority. Reports on phishing links, fake sites and malicious malwares should take precedence over sig spam that way it doesn't stay unhandled for too long. I will think this would need a proper orientation as some members spam reports (maybe to earn a badge if it does get implemented). And it could get complicated for others and dissuade them from reporting to mods.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

Since this is related to spam, and as signature is one of the main contributor, hope you won't mind me highlighting this thread I did sometime ago {Facts} Disadvantage of promoting signature campaigns that encourages spamming. As this thread also highlight reasons why you should avoid spamming.

There isn't any benefit in spamming neither is there a benefit in operating alts if it'll only turn you into a spammer. The campaign managers aren't also helping the situation especially as they don't punish participants caught spamming instead they encourage them by employing them into future campaigns (speaking of ICO relate campaigns). If we're to tackle spam properly without eliminating signature campaigns, we as a community need to moderator signature campaign somehow especially in the way they're been managed. Just like the community is doing to bitcoin paid campaigns.

The Bitcoin paid signature campaign has improved to some extent as obvious spammers are unlikely to get accepted by reputed managers, we need to extend that success to the altcoin related campaign. Only then will the spam level reduce drastically.

[o_e_l_e_o]

The most effective way to avoid spam is to read before you post: This could be previous discussions or external articles related to the discussion. It's best to read more than you post.

Half the time it doesn't even need to be external articles or other discussions; if the user in question just read the other replies in the thread they were posting in, they would realize the content of their post had already been said before. Most spammers read the OP's post only (or sometime only the thread title), ignore all other discussion that follows, and chime in with their opinion which has either been said 10+ times before or already proven wrong.

There was a recent thread which I answered the OP's question factually in the second or third reply. The OP,  myself, and a few others continued the discussion from here, but I had to report many posts from users showing up and (incorrectly) answering OP's original question, despite the conversation having long moved on. If these users had just read the replies, they would have no reason to post.

The problem is these users have no desire to read. They don't get paid for reading. They get paid for spamming. The quote you gave from hilarious would be a great system, but unfortunately it is barely enforced.

[nakamura12]

Do not make posts with the sole aim of agreeing or commending a previous post, with contents like: 'I agree' or 'Nice one'. That is the reason merits were implemented.

Spamming the forum is the reason why theymos implemented the merit system to reduce shitpost and spam in the forum which it really works and also prevent shitposter/spammers from ranking up their account just to spam, shitpost and doing bounty campaigns.

[tranthidung]

The most effective way to avoid spam is to read before you post

I have good points to add for your thread.

(2) Spending most of your time to read and learn
Only start composing your posts when you have something extremely constructive to discussions, topics.
Reasons:
- You are noobs, newbies (lack of knowledge, and experience), so what you think are constructive most likely unconstructive in reality.
- When you actually have reasons to start composing your posts, after finishing it, please re-read again and again to check that your posts are good in grammar, vocabularies, and good enough to express most of your ideas. I wrote most of your ideas because sometimes it is difficult for non-native English speakers to write down and completely express ideas by words. It's a challenge for non-native English speakers, who don't have English as their mother tongue.

(6) Spend your time to improve your English, especially Reading and Writing skills
Reasons:
- If you can not read posts or topic in English well, can not get ideas of posts' / topics' authors, it means that you have nothing to do in the forum.
Remember that you have to get their ideas well enough to not misunderstand their core ideas.
- Next, after reading good enough to catch authors' ideas, it is time for you to express your own ideas in case you have something to ask for help, something to discuss, or something meaningful to help others. This is the time you need to have good enough Writing skill.
This is why I mentioned you should improve your English skills, step by step, from Reading to Writing. Of course, you can improve both skills simultaneously.
The forum is the place almost solely for discussions via Reading and Writing.
You can find available sources for English learning in the References at the end of this OP.

Do not post in topics or boards you're not familiar with

More than that, if someone don't have good English enough to write good posts in English, they should stick with their local boards. However, English is an international language, and is a prerequisite to have effective communitcations, not only in the forum, but outside. So, keep practicing and sharpening your English (reading & writing skills). Beyond the forum, Speaking and Listening skills are important too, but in the forum, users need Reading and Writing skills first.

Next, don't try to expand your posts as long as possible, because post length is not a guarentee for your post quality

(7) Don't pay your attention on post-lenghth  (Ideas that I took from theymos' Writing a welcome message)

If you make ten thousand posts in a week, your activity will be capped and you will still be a Newbie. If you make ten thousand useless posts over any period of time, you will gain zero merit and you will still be a Newbie. You can rank up only by making good posts consistently. It's quality over quantity.

When trying to write quality posts, a lot of people act as though they're writing a book report for school: putting facts that we already know into their own words. Nobody wants to read that, and you will not get merit for it. Moreover, the length of your post and the quality of your English are only minor factors. In trying to write a quality post worthy of merit, you should offer new ideas, personal experiences, or perspectives that other forum users will actually find new and interesting.

[Upgrade00]

<>
theymos' Writing a welcome message[/b])

If you make ten thousand posts in a week, your activity will be capped and you will still be a Newbie. If you make ten thousand useless posts over any period of time, you will gain zero merit and you will still be a Newbie. You can rank up only by making good posts consistently. It's quality over quantity.

When trying to write quality posts, a lot of people act as though they're writing a book report for school: putting facts that we already know into their own words. Nobody wants to read that, and you will not get merit for it. Moreover, the length of your post and the quality of your English are only minor factors. In trying to write a quality post worthy of merit, you should offer new ideas, personal experiences, or perspectives that other forum users will actually find new and interesting.

I edited the OP in reference to this quote, to a fair command rather than a good command of English. We are all learning and improving and non-native speakers are at a disadvantage. So if their post is at best understandable despite some flaws and errors, it could be overlooked. And as they say practice makes perfect, so with trials and correction (you can do this through pm to avoid clogging threads) they would improve their command of the language.

[BitBustah]

I think OPs guide is actually spam.  You know spam when you see it, we don't need a  guide this long on something that is common sense, looks like your just fishing for some merit buddy.

Use your brain mate

[Upgrade00]

<>

It took me time to adjust to posting in a forum as opposed to doing that in a regular social media space.
I think effort is the most essential tool, put in effort to improve what you give out (research). And try to stay relevant too. In addition to offering helpful contributions, you equally improve your knowledge base and abilities.

Posts are mostly deleted cause of very poor grammar, or ot was off topic. Have a basic understanding of a thread before replying.

[mersal]

<>

It took me time to adjust to posting in a forum as opposed to doing that in a regular social media space.
I think effort is the most essential tool, put in effort to improve what you give out (research). And try to stay relevant too. In addition to offering helpful contributions, you equally improve your knowledge base and abilities.

Posts are mostly deleted cause of very poor grammar, or ot was off topic. Have a basic understanding of a thread before replying.

I am posting mostly only after some research about it but when replying to the generic threads not giving much attention that is why I need to change now I guess.Started to ignore mega threads and also will avoid the shitcoin section from here on which make me look like a spammer.

Grammar is also one of the thing but its readable I guess but I am not making much longer posts intentionally which is also spam IMO.

[o_e_l_e_o]

Started to ignore mega threads and also will avoid the shitcoin section from here on which make me look like a spammer.

There is no good reason to post in a spam mega-thread. Nobody is reading spam mega-threads for information, and even the people who post in it are not reading the previous replies. There is never any discussion, and whatever someone posts has almost certainly been said before multiple times. Posts in these threads are probably only going to be read by the person who reports it as spam, if at all.

If the majority of a user's posts are in spam mega-thread, it's usually a fairly solid indication that said user is a spammer.

The altcoin section is another matter. It is horrendously overrun with spam, and many senior users don't even venture there. I wouldn't say posting in the altcoin section automatically means you are a spammer, but an awful lot of spammers do post mainly in the altcoin section. I am firmly of the opinion that the majority of altcoins are trash, but that doesn't mean the altcoin section should be filled with trash. It would be great to be able to have some serious technical discussion about some altcoins without the usual flood of "Great project I will hold for long time".

[DdmrDdmr]

<…> Started to ignore mega threads and also will avoid the shitcoin section from here on which make me look like a spammer <…>

I personally ignore megathreads in general, and on boards such as Bitcoin Discussion, I normally only take a look at those threads that catch my eye and have few responses (i.e. no more than three pages). Beyond that point (and even before), answers are repetitive, and normally do not add value to the conversation on the Bitcoin Discussion board.

One does not really need to ignore a specific section because it can make one look like a spammer though. It should be the content of your posts that bear weight on defining your persona here, and not specifically which boards or threads you post on, although arguably some sections and threads such as Altcoins do have a general well earned general perception.

[mersal]

Started to ignore mega threads and also will avoid the shitcoin section from here on which make me look like a spammer.

There is no good reason to post in a spam mega-thread. Nobody is reading spam mega-threads for information, and even the people who post in it are not reading the previous replies. There is never any discussion, and whatever someone posts has almost certainly been said before multiple times. Posts in these threads are probably only going to be read by the person who reports it as spam, if at all.

If the majority of a user's posts are in spam mega-thread, it's usually a fairly solid indication that said user is a spammer.

Replying to OP in a mega thread is spam but what about for replying to the recent comment on it which might includes some reason to discuss about it,but it also looks like a spam to the reporters.Anyway I need to learn technically more about the cryptos from now on.

<…> Started to ignore mega threads and also will avoid the shitcoin section from here on which make me look like a spammer <…>

I personally ignore megathreads in general, and on boards such as Bitcoin Discussion, I normally only take a look at those threads that catch my eye and have few responses (i.e. no more than three pages). Beyond that point (and even before), answers are repetitive, and normally do not add value to the conversation on the Bitcoin Discussion board.

One does not really need to ignore a specific section because it can make one look like a spammer though. It should be the content of your posts that bear weight on defining your persona here, and not specifically which boards or threads you post on, although arguably some sections and threads such as Altcoins do have a general well earned general perception.

But we can't expect everyone to be an expert in crypto currencies so they are just contributing in the way they can but making useless oneliner need to be reported.Altcoin boards need to have few more child board for serious discussion because if there is any informative thread in altcoin main board it will buried under spam threads in minutes which made altcoin threads to be more worse.

[hd49728]

I personally ignore megathreads in general, and on boards such as Bitcoin Discussion

For bitcoin discussion, I only visit the WO thread. Rest threads discuss about bitcoin price (not technical development issues, I meant) are mostly shit ones. They are place for spammers, and I don't want to waste my time to visit those thread and read. It is impossible to thoroughly get ideas flow in those bitcoin discussion threads. People keep posting, without reading previous posts, and don't care that their ideas presented by others above or not.

[Upgrade00]

But we can't expect everyone to be an expert in crypto currencies so they are just contributing in the way they can

Everyone is still in the learning phase and the industry is constantly evolving, so there's no shame in not being knowledgeable on specific topics.
This forum is a great learning tool and it's a gradual process. Always be on the growth path, stay relevant when posting, read up as much as possible.

Altcoin boards need to have few more child board for serious discussion

It would be giving spammers more boards to work with. And would increase the workload on moderators.
Admins do not want to take any extreme measures to reduce spam, so for now just report those irrelevant posts.

[o_e_l_e_o]

Replying to OP in a mega thread is spam but what about for replying to the recent comment on it which might includes some reason to discuss about it,but it also looks like a spam to the reporters.

Certainly trying to respond to the way the topic is moving and trying to spark an actual discussion, rather than just pages and pages of the same reply to OP, is less spammy. However, the person you are replying to is unlikely to ever read your reply. Once a spammer has posted in a spam mega-thread, they simply move on to the next one for the next mindless post. They aren't interested in reading your reply or starting a discussion. That takes far too long when all they are interested in is churning out as many posts as they can as quickly as possible.

Also, if the post you have quoted and replied to is deleted for spam, then your reply is also likely to be deleted since it is now replying to a post which no longer exists.

But we can't expect everyone to be an expert in crypto currencies so they are just contributing in the way they can but making useless oneliner need to be reported.

No one is expecting everyone to be an expert, but there is a massive difference both in attitude and in post quality between a newbie who is genuinely interested in bitcoin and eager to learn more and one who is just here to spam for some worthless bounty campaign.

[Theb]

If you make posts/replies with the sole aim of increasing your post count. That would count as spam.

You should expound this more to:

Code:

 - Repeating answers (including paraphrasing it) that already have been said in past posts without adding more value can also be labeled as spam

Sometimes newbies also wonder why their lengthy posts that is on-topic is also deleted by the mods, well they don't put it into consideration that even posting repeated answers makes their post irrelevant to the topic and cannot be considered as helpful for the thread which makes them a target for members reporting it to the mods. Not only reading the OP isn't enough anymore you must also consider what others have been contributing to the thread and must know what you will add new to it next.

[hd49728]

Sometimes newbies also wonder why their lengthy posts that is on-topic is also deleted by the mods, well they don't put it into consideration that even posting repeated answers makes their post irrelevant to the topic and cannot be considered as helpful for the thread which makes them a target for members reporting it to the mods. Not only reading the OP isn't enough anymore you must also consider what others have been contributing to the thread and must know what you will add new to it next.

In some boards, people simply visit, and write anything they think of, in their perspective, and don't care about what already discussed in above/ previous posts. Somehow their posts are off-topic, and off-context.
Admin mentioned about role of length of post in good posts. It is just one of minor factors and itself is not enough to build up a good post.

oreover, the length of your post and the quality of your English are only minor factors. In trying to write a quality post worthy of merit, you should offer new ideas, personal experiences, or perspectives that other forum users will actually find new and interesting.

[Theb]

Sometimes newbies also wonder why their lengthy posts that is on-topic is also deleted by the mods, well they don't put it into consideration that even posting repeated answers makes their post irrelevant to the topic and cannot be considered as helpful for the thread which makes them a target for members reporting it to the mods. Not only reading the OP isn't enough anymore you must also consider what others have been contributing to the thread and must know what you will add new to it next.

In some boards, people simply visit, and write anything they think of, in their perspective, and don't care about what already discussed in above/ previous posts. Somehow their posts are off-topic, and off-context.
Admin mentioned about role of length of post in good posts. It is just one of minor factors and itself is not enough to build up a good post.

oreover, the length of your post and the quality of your English are only minor factors. In trying to write a quality post worthy of merit, you should offer new ideas, personal experiences, or perspectives that other forum users will actually find new and interesting.

That's why simply reading the title or even just the OP won't cut it anymore. You cannot really be relevant if you haven't seen the previous posts before yours, especially if you are just only entering the topic when the thread is already on its 6th or 7th page expect that what you will post without reading any previous has already been answered. I don't even know why newbies try so hard creating their own post that way, because I really find it much easier to compose my reply after I have read what other have been saying. It makes me feel part of the conversation more compared to randomly posting an answer which you don't know if someone has answered it already.