Policy on users like this guy?

[d.kevin29]

Well, well, well. Cheezcarls.

Just had a bit of free time and done a very quick research about this guy.

After taking a look onto his profile (archived), his Skype username is "bogartkick". Coincidentally (/s), there was an user a few years ago on another forum (cannot archive for some reason, if someone else can do it please archive the page) with the following signature:

"I'm doing manual outreach and guest posting to blogs with real search engine traffic. Click HERE if you need more info regarding my service. POSITIVE reviews included."

On the same profile, the location is set as "Your link for $15 a year". Moreover, his Twitter is "Jeff_Caceres". A quick search on Google results in this (archived) profile of someone named Jeff Caceres. He's related to cryptocurrencies, specifically a PR Marketing man for MetaMorph's ICO.

Here's an article (archived) written on yet another website by Jeff Caceres, where he talks about the way you can use forums as a free traffic for your links.

Now let's do even more research. Bogartkick, right? Here we have a link from 2016 on Bitcointalk, where another member talks about this guy, accusing him of scamming. Here is a post from 1st of December 2019 on one of the links I shared above, where he was posting traffic offers to other members. A quote from his offer: "Since I don't have my own music or entertainment blogs, I have the ability to outreach them, negotiate and would let them publish your own content with links.".


A quick look at his latest posts reveals what he's here for. He has published 13 THREADS within 3 days on this forum, ALL having the same structure. This is clearly spam, and he's doing it to earn money. It's the equal of sh*tposting/burstposting to benefit from a signature campaign, or maybe even worse.

Are the admins going to do anything about it? I mean.. I don't think we want monetized links to become the next BitcoinTalk trend after all the counter-measures the staff has done so far with the merit system and all, do we?

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[o_e_l_e_o]

Great investigative work. It serves to remove any doubt as to this user's motivations - he is a paid shill. As we've seen many times before, if and when beincrypto stop paying him, he will simply hire his services out to someone else. He has no interest in stimulating or taking part in a discussion, and simply does the bare minimum to mean his posts aren't instantly trashed so he can get paid. He breaks rule 1 about low value posts, and he breaks rule 24 about insubstantial advertising.

We wouldn't tolerate this kind of behavior from someone being paid to shill an altcoin, an exchange, etc. Why do we tolerate it for a news site?

[Thekool1s]

We wouldn't tolerate this kind of behavior from someone being paid to shill an altcoin, an exchange, etc. Why do we tolerate it for a news site?

It's only a matter of time before the guy gets nuked I believe... On a lighter note, I guess we need a loyceV domain for checking this guys status I suggest IsCheezCarlsNukedYet.tk?

Update: This guy has the audacity to apply in Chipmixer campaign OMEGALUL!

Archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20200121095519/https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1935179.msg53662515

[d.kevin29]

Great investigative work. It serves to remove any doubt as to this user's motivations - he is a paid shill. As we've seen many times before, if and when beincrypto stop paying him, he will simply hire his services out to someone else. He has no interest in stimulating or taking part in a discussion, and simply does the bare minimum to mean his posts aren't instantly trashed so he can get paid. He breaks rule 1 about low value posts, and he breaks rule 24 about insubstantial advertising.

We wouldn't tolerate this kind of behavior from someone being paid to shill an altcoin, an exchange, etc. Why do we tolerate it for a news site?

Thank you. This is my first investigation and it seems fun to do, so if it serves for the good of this community, I'll continue to do these.

Paid posts and threads should be forbidden here. Haven't checked the Rules page yet to see if what he's doing is directly against the rules, but I believe it is an unhealthy kind of activity for the forum. I'm sure this isn't the first member who posts threads & replies for money, and he won't be the last either. But this has to be prevented before they multiply and this forum becomes a mixture of sh*tposting and paid marketing.

It's only a matter of time before the guy gets nuked I believe... On a lighter note, I guess we need a loyceV domain for checking this guys status I suggest IsCheezCarlsNukedYet.tk?

Update: This guy has the audacity to apply in Chipmixer campaign OMEGALUL!

-snip

The domain idea is good, there could be a list of suspicious accounts with the status of each next to them so we could keep a record. It has to be manually updated though, and that's work to do.

Members will always try their luck before even thinking whether they actually have a chance to join the campaign or not.

EDIT: This guy is ruthless. He just posted another thread about an hour ago. I have a question: am I allowed to give these spammy members a negative trust rating on their profile, or am I only allowed to do so if a trade goes wrong?

[hosseinimr93]

It's only a matter of time before the guy gets nuked I believe...

Only newbies can get nuked. This user will likely be banned. But won't be nuked.
The user hasn't even thought about the reason of ban. He/She should have considered the ban as a warning. But nothing changed and he/she is advertising that website everywhere in the forum again.

[Thekool1s]

Only newbies can get nuked. This user will likely be banned. But won't be nuked.

I stand corrected...

[Lucius]

Great investigative work. It serves to remove any doubt as to this user's motivations - he is a paid shill.

It just confirms everything that has already been written about him, can anyone have any doubts about what this is when it comes to the user in question? Just look at the link he is posting in every thread, it is pay campaign with its initials at the end (Jeff Caceres).

Code:

https://beincrypto.com/cryptocurrency-shines-us-mortgage-debt-exceeds-2008-levels/?utm_campaign=amba&utm_medium=social&utm_source=bitcointalk&utm_content=jc

Are the admins going to do anything about it? I mean.. I don't think we want monetized links to become the next BitcoinTalk trend after all the counter-measures the staff has done so far with the merit system and all, do we?

So far, they have taken nothing in terms of some punishment, except for the temporary ban which has nothing to do with the activity we are discussing. As I wrote before, it's not just him, it's at least 4-5 more people doing the same thing, but hiding in some less-visited parts of the forum. If they perma-ban one user, they need to ban them all.

@Lucius Exactly!, @hilariousandco agrees with us... I dunno if the guy has been warned yet or not cuz He hasn't changed his posting behaviour... Not even once he has bothered to engage in his threads, the guy is just gaming the system as you said...

I don't think he's warned, and even if this is the case I think he can just change his bad habits, he will go to the end no matter what's going to happen to that end.

I am not the person who thinks I should interfere with the merit assignment policy, but I think part of the responsibility for this kind of behavior lies in the encouragement that comes through the merits.

Merit summary for cheezcarls

[o_e_l_e_o]

I have a question: am I allowed to give these spammy members a negative trust rating on their profile, or am I only allowed to do so if a trade goes wrong?

Trust isn't moderated, so you are "allowed" to leave any rating for any reason you so choose. Most users would agree, however, that leaving negative trust for being a spammer is an inappropriate use of the system, which is why he hasn't already been tagged. Being a spammer doesn't necessarily mean he is high risk to trade with. If you were to leave any rating, I would suggest leaving a neutral rating simply stating that he is a paid shill.

He/She should have considered the ban as a warning. But nothing changed and he/she is advertising that website everywhere in the forum again.

Agreed. And since he is ignoring the warning, he should receive a longer ban. I think three warning bans of 7/14/28 days is fair, followed by a permaban.

I am not the person who thinks I should interfere with the merit assignment policy, but I think part of the responsibility for this kind of behavior lies in the encouragement that comes through the merits.

I don't think merit plays any role in his behavior. With zero or a thousand earned merit, as long as he is being paid and we don't intervene, the behavior will continue.

[d.kevin29]

Trust isn't moderated, so you are "allowed" to leave any rating for any reason you so choose. Most users would agree, however, that leaving negative trust for being a spammer is an inappropriate use of the system, which is why he hasn't already been tagged. Being a spammer doesn't necessarily mean he is high risk to trade with. If you were to leave any rating, I would suggest leaving a neutral rating simply stating that he is a paid shill.

Thank you. I will possibly leave a neutral trust then, I'm not sure yet.

I'm thinking right now about creating some kind of a list (thread-based, SMAS-like but the purpose of it being to encourage higher quality posts and less signature campaign-focused ones) in order to help combat low quality users. I believe I'm going off topic right now though, so my post ends here.

Hopefully something is going to be done against this guy.

[d.kevin29]

Just found another account posting threads the same way cheezcarl does. Newbie with 6 posts. 4 threads already, same structure. As I said before, I just hope this doesn't become a forum trend.

By the way, just so I can avoid spamming this thread with these kind of findings, is there any thread where I could post them?

EDIT: I'm not necessarily accusing this new account of spamming & publishing posts to generate free traffic for these websites, although it looks suspicious to have 4 new threads already with the same structure in different boards of the forum as a new account. Just wanted to put this out here on the radar. Will check it periodically to see how the account's posts are developing.

[Thekool1s]

Just found another account posting threads the same way cheezcarl does.

Report the posts, they are of low-quality. The user is definitely spamming. If they wanted to share it for a discussion it would have been acceptable but the posts are basically one-liners except for the text copied from the articles... 

By the way, just so I can avoid spamming this thread with these kind of findings, is there any thread where I could post them?

Try here: [CLUB] The SpamBusters! Busting rule-breakers for more than a year.

[xLays]

I just notice this Legendary account doing the same thing: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=9645;sa=showPosts

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5219674.msg53670104#msg53670104

[hilariousandco]

I'll give Cheezcarls a warning about it. If he continues I'll give him a ban.

[Lucius]

I'll give Cheezcarls a warning about it. If he continues I'll give him a ban.

This is certainly good news, and at least for the time being, the user has stopped their activities. I am not of those who believe in coincidences, so I believe that after someone is warned not to do something, someone else shows up and starts doing the same. We definitely need to pay attention to the user repetecrypto

[d.kevin29]

I just notice this Legendary account doing the same thing: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=9645;sa=showPosts

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5219674.msg53670104#msg53670104

Oh my. Reached his 420th post from most recent and the page is still only filled up with links and quotes.
mich has been doing this for a LONG time now. No merit earned in the last 120 days.

If anyone believes what mich has been doing in the past months is fine for the forum and breaks no rule, please let me know and I will stop posting any link to the profile of an user who only posts links & quotes from articles and is on a streak of it of so many days, is benefiting from a signature campaign and is a Legendary rank too. His 0 earned merit in the past 120 days + his negative trust makes his account worthless though.

I'll give Cheezcarls a warning about it. If he continues I'll give him a ban.

Thanks for taking action!

I am not of those who believe in coincidences, so I believe that after someone is warned not to do something, someone else shows up and starts doing the same. We definitely need to pay attention to the user repetecrypto

Great article, thanks for sharing. Shows how much of an asset these users are to our community. /s

His username fits his posts to be honest Seriously though, this guy's profile is a joke. He literally has a bunch of posts COPY-PASTED from one thread to another. Here are a few examples (I will only post links instead of quotes because I don't want this post to become a wall on this thread):

• This post has been copied here and here.
• This post has been carried as a copy-paste onto this thread.
• This post has been copied to this, this, this and this thread.

I'll stop with the research for this user here. Being copy-pasted posts, counting how many places he's copied them to gives me a big headache. By the way, the bullets above are taken out of his most recent 20 posts.

[Harlot]

I'm not against this actually, as long as the OP is actually involved with the conversation and not just do some cheesy lines after posting the source link I think that is allowable an can't be counted as illegal advertising. It's just like how a normal member will be posting an article they found and actually got curious with some questions and need to find out more about it. However this cheezcarls guy isn't interested into having any conversation, he just wants to post the source link and ask maybe a question or your opinion in that matter but after that you won't see him replying to his thread. This is something commonly done in the Press section buy news promoters and they aren't really contributing anything to BCT, in fact they are just taking advantage of the forum for illegally promoting their website.

[xLays]

I'll give Cheezcarls a warning about it. If he continues I'll give him a ban.

How about this guy? He's doing the same thing https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=9645;sa=showPosts

[Lucius]

Great article, thanks for sharing. Shows how much of an asset these users are to our community. /s

His username fits his posts to be honest Seriously though, this guy's profile is a joke. He literally has a bunch of posts COPY-PASTED from one thread to another. Here are a few examples (I will only post links instead of quotes because I don't want this post to become a wall on this thread):

The site Cheezcarls was promoting doesn't want to give up this forum so easily, they appear to have several alt accounts to continue their promotion. The profile I showed yesterday he also has his twin brother and now they are playing a fake conversation in this thread. If one looks at post history of fridacrypto there is no doubt that it is the same person, or more than one who works together.

I suppose as long as they stay in Alternate cryptocurrencies it won't bother anyone too much.

How about this guy? He's doing the same thing https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=9645;sa=showPosts

He does something similar but does not post links from the same source, and the links are not for the purpose of the campaign. However, it amazes me that with this type of posting and negative DT feedbacks, he is still in the signature campaign or maybe not when I check who is campaign manager. It's amazing that someone pays for this kind of shitposting

[hosseinimr93]

How about this guy? He's doing the same thing https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=9645;sa=showPosts

He does something similar but does not post links from the same source, and the links are not for the purpose of the campaign. However, it amazes me that with this type of posting and negative DT feedbacks, he is still in the signature campaign or maybe not when I check who is campaign manager. It's amazing that someone pays for this kind of shitposting

mich joined Bitcasino signature campaign on January 01, 2019 [Ref.], although he had received a negative feedback before that time on 20 February, 2018.
After joining the campaign he received the second feedback and the third one on February 19, 2019 and 05 November 2019 respectively, but he is still a part of the campaign.

This user is copy-pasting from news websites and add their links to his posts (So not accused of plagiarism) and increases the post count in this way and earns 0.018 BTC per week (0.00072 BTC for each post) without earning a single merit in the last 120 days.
Yesterday (January 22, GMT) he made 10 posts only in 70 minutes. All posts are from other websites (with links to the source off course). Archived (1), Archived (2)
In Bitcasino signature campaign topic, there isn't any rule regarding negative trusts and as this user hasn't been removed from the campaign, seems that the posts this user makes are helpful to Bitcasino.

[mole0815]

This user is copy-pasting from news websites and add their links to his posts (So not accused of plagiarism) and increases the post count in this way and earns 0.018 BTC per week (0.00072 BTC for each post) without earning a single merit in the last 120 days.

this is a very special one.
because the user is moving in the range of what is allowed and a source is given, there is no handling. so a system is simply used that offers these possibilities.



The only thing to accuse here would be if the BM would do something.
That should be noticed and have consequences. in the end it is only zero value posts or a link collection that fills up the threads. as I said, I don't know any rule that is violated here and that's why it works for such a long time