Hai mate, i need some advice regarding reporting spammers to moderators

[_BlackStar]

In the last few days I have come across quite a number of poster spammers in the altcoins board whose posts are completely useless for the forum as I can read them as repeated posts and they are just shitposts. I managed to report some of their posts ^{[faster after LoyceV add me to whitelist]} to the moderators for deletion on the grounds that users posted only to increase the number of posts ^{[without any contribution]} in an effort to meet their weekly quota.

The question is, when I manage to identify a user with such a category, should I report the user to a moderator or should I report all his posts for review before deletion?

I expect a few things from you, and appreciate any answer that helps me.

By the way, this's the results of my report in two day.

[TheBeardedBaby]

In the last few days I have come across quite a number of poster spammers in the altcoins board whose posts are completely useless for the forum as I can read them as repeated posts and they are just shitposts. I managed to report some of their posts ^{[faster after LoyceV add me to whitelist]} to the moderators for deletion on the grounds that users posted only to increase the number of posts ^{[without any contribution]} in an effort to meet their weekly quota.

The question is, when I manage to identify a user with such a category, should I report the user to a moderator or should I report all his posts for review before deletion?

I expect a few things from you, and appreciate any answer that helps me.

You can just write to in one of the reports that the Mods should check the account for multiple low effort/ spam posts.
If they see that the account is not worth it, they'll just ban/nuke it.
If you after stats, like many do you can report the posts one by one but it takes time.

BTW there's a good script you can use to make things very easy and fast.
I'll post a link soon. Here's the link

That's a good stats for two days. I stopped reporting last year so I haven't moved much since.

[_BlackStar]

You can just write to in one of the reports that the Mods should check the account for multiple low effort/ spam posts.
If they see that the account is not worth it, they'll just ban/nuke it.

I found a good point here and it's really worth a try and a temporary ban make them realize their mistake. Thanks

If you after stats, like many do you can report the posts one by one but it takes time.

No, I'm not chasing stats, but I'm sure it will help a lot. I have to learn it soon.

That's a good stats for two days. I stopped reporting last year so I haven't moved much since.
https://i.imgur.com/r5eNAy5.png

Don't make me to break my spirit, man. I just started

[TheBeardedBaby]

Just try to reach 300 good reports, then you'll have access to the stats and see what you've been reporting. It's very convenient.

Don't make me to break my spirit, man. I just started

No, I do the opposite. You have 111 for 2 days.. I have 5000 for 4 years (soon) so. You'll go over my stats in less than
4 months. Lol

[The Sceptical Chymist]

That's a good stats for two days. I stopped reporting last year so I haven't moved much since.
https://i.imgur.com/r5eNAy5.png

Don't make me to break my spirit, man. I just started

I'm not trying to break your spirit either, but I also stopped reporting shitposts after a while, because there are just so many of them from so many accounts that you could spend 18 hours a day in Altcoin Discussion alone reporting shitposts and go to bed not having reported even 60% of them--that's how bad the situation is.

Having said that, don't give up!  The moderators depend on members reporting garbage.  Hilariousandco once suggested to me (IIRC) that if you find a member who's consistently making shitposts, you can just report one or two of them with a note in the report that the member is making zero-value posts nonstop.  So you don't have to go through a member's post history and report them one by one (unless you want to).

The altcoin sections are the worst of the worst in terms of forum post quality, by the way.  You may have figured that out already, but that's where all the bounty hunters go to meet their post quota.

I have 5000 for 4 years (soon)

Yeah, I've got just under 5000 in over 6 years.  I stopped reporting as much as I used to right after the merit system was introduced, as the problem seemed to have gotten better--which it did, but obviously the merit system didn't eliminate it altogether.

[_BlackStar]

I know that looking for quality posters on an altcoin board is like looking for rice in a barn ^{[difficult but there is]}. I also know that reporting spammers on an altcoin board is also like reporting a ^[endless] newbie rank bounty cheater. But when many people ignore them then bad things will definitely happen to this forum such as losing its identity as a bitcoin discussion forum.

I wouldn't blame you ^{[old members]} for wanting to take a break from those activities and give us a chance to do more. Here's what I was able to do for the forum as part of my common sense function here while learning about bitcoin bit by bit. I need support and a lot of lessons, I think that's what I want. Until the time comes, I too will probably think the same as you now and give the other members that chance.

[worldofcoins]

Those 5717 Posts with 100% accuracy? that's insane but how's that possible? After that "100% accuracy" it's saying (60 unhandled) then how's it 100% accurate.
Does it mean that 60 unhandled are in progress and in review?

In any case, this is mine "You have reported 15 posts with 86% accuracy. Do not worry about your accuracy too much; one accurate report is worth many inaccurate reports."

I'm used to ignoring the posts and adding those people who post nonsense to my Ignore list.

[decodx]

The question is, when I manage to identify a user with such a category, should I report the user to a moderator or should I report all his posts for review before deletion?

Yes, please report him and his posts if you believe they are spam, etc.

The following two threads have been created by Welsh and tranthidung with guidelines for reporting; have a look at them here:
[Unofficial Guide] Reporting effectively
Do you often use report button? There are guides to more effectively report

[Upgrade00]

Those 5717 Posts with 100% accuracy? that's insane but how's that possible? After that "100% accuracy" it's saying (60 unhandled) then how's it 100% accurate.
Does it mean that that 60 unhandled are in progress and in review?

Most likely that. The unhandled reports does not yet count on either side and doesn't affect the overall percentage until the mods take an action. If you do remove those figures, the good and bad reports would be at s ratio of 99.12/0.88$, without rounding up that would result in percentage of 100%.

[actmyname]

Most likely that. The unhandled reports does not yet count on either side and doesn't affect the overall percentage until the mods take an action. If you do remove those figures, the good and bad reports would be at s ratio of 99.12/0.88$, without rounding up that would result in percentage of 100%.

Reporting percentages are a ceil function.

ceil(good / [good + bad])

[JayDDee]

The altcoin sections are the worst of the worst in terms of forum post quality, by the way.  You may have figured that out already, but that's where all the bounty hunters go to meet their post quota.

With all the shitcoin ANN threads shitposts are to be expected. 

The altcoin mining sub-forum is a little more sane, with the possible exceptions of a persistent scammer trying
to peddle infected pirated mining software, and an abundance of newbies jumping on the bandwagon wanting to
get rich quick with their Android phone.

[_BlackStar]

Today I have reported at least 10-15 other profile to the moderators for review because I feel that they are spammers who make posts without any contribution. I hope the moderators will review it and give them a warning. Meanwhile, I'm not going to manually report posts by checking all their post history, I'm just going to report profiles for review. My job is getting lighter now after getting the The Pharmacist's advice.

[ifarted]

I haven't tried reporting spammers yet cause technically i had no idea how.

I'm sorry for not being knowledgeable enough but i was wondering the whole time, how do you report users who violates rules to moderators? I want to know and learn. I would appreciate it so much if someone could tell me how.

Thank you in advance.

[Lucius]

The question is, when I manage to identify a user with such a category, should I report the user to a moderator or should I report all his posts for review before deletion?

I have personally opted for the option to report each problematic post individually, especially if it is a higher rank than a newbie that cannot be nuked. It would be much easier to report one post and add a link to the user post history, but then you actually shift the responsibility to the moderator to review the post history, and in most cases, this will not happen.

Personally, I am not active in Altcoins boards, but I support everyone who tries to bring some order there, and it would be great if you can continue at this pace - there is a lot of garbage that needs to be cleaned, and unfortunately too few who want to do it for free.

[ShowOff]

The question is, when I manage to identify a user with such a category, should I report the user to a moderator or should I report all his posts for review before deletion?

You can do both ways at once but I think it's okay if you just report spam post for deletion to moderator when you find them while your active in the forum. It may take a lot of time if you go through the profile of every user you deem to be a spammer on this forum because you know they will never go away. It's a good idea to post and learn more about bitcoin than you would have to spend most of your time finding spammers and reporting them to moderator, but I support your effort if you don't mind doing so.

[TheBeardedBaby]

I haven't tried reporting spammers yet cause technically i had no idea how.

I'm sorry for not being knowledgeable enough but i was wondering the whole time, how do you report users who violates rules to moderators? I want to know and learn. I would appreciate it so much if someone could tell me how.

Thank you in advance.

There's literally a "report the moderator" link/button on the bottom right part of every post.

THere are some guidelines here : https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4519248.0
and here > https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3831432.0

If you check my second post you'll find also a helpful script with can make the life much easier. Big thanks to @suchmoon and @o_e_l_e_o for at least making my life easier

[_BlackStar]

xxx number of reports not handled. Does this indicate that my report is very bad or has the moderator not reviewed the report?
I came across some other spammers today and have decided to report them to a moderator. I try to report their profile for review as they never stop doing it just to catch up on weekly target. It seems exhausting for anyone to report it all the time because they never stop. I'll change this this time though I'll still continue to report spammers.

[decodx]

xxx number of reports not handled. Does this indicate that my report is very bad or has the moderator not reviewed the report?

No, I don't think your report is very bad if it hasn't been handled yet. Depending on the report, the moderators may not be sure of your reasoning. Spam does not always have to be obvious. Generally, if your report stays unhandled for a long time, you can consider it as soft-bad but that doesn't mean you have to give up reporting.

[RickDeckard]

xxx number of reports not handled. Does this indicate that my report is very bad or has the moderator not reviewed the report?

It may represent two possible outcomes:

• A moderator hasn't got the time to read your report and decide if it's good / bad (most likely)
• The post/thread is in the "grey area" as in the moderators are unsure if it breaks any rules or decided to not take any action regarding your report. When this is the case they eventually leave the report open, and you'll see it represented as "unhandled".

To better understand the "unhandled status, you can read more about it in this Welsh post:

Sometimes your reports will remain unhandled because they have been left for a higher ranked staff member. For example, a dedicated moderator of a section, might leave it to a global mod/admin to deal with because it requires looking into things that the dedicated moderator might not have access too. However, reports can stay unhandled sometimes due to the staff member not marking it good or bad. This could be because they weren't sure whether the report was good/bad. For example, you might report a spam post, and the moderator might agree that it's mostly spam, however it might bring up a point which justifies it being made, and not removed. This situation could be a prime example of when a report might remain unhandled. Don't worry too much about unhandled reports as they have no bearing on your report percentage.

[BITCOIN4X]

xxx number of reports not handled. Does this indicate that my report is very bad or has the moderator not reviewed the report?

I don't think it's a bad report, but the moderator haven't checked your report I guess. I also have some unhandle report but that's fine. As long as you want to help, then do well.

It seems exhausting for anyone to report it all the time because they never stop. I'll change this this time though I'll still continue to report spammers.

Reporting spam post to moderator is also a contribution. Some people probably won't say they're the one reporting thousands of posts because I think they like to work in the dark. It's a little hard to keep report consistent when you're not active in that section and that's one of the reasons why some people stop doing it. It take people like you to report post, but yes, you will do it for free. Just wanted to say, keep it up.

[Rikafip]

xxx number of reports not handled. Does this indicate that my report is very bad or has the moderator not reviewed the report?
I came across some other spammers today and have decided to report them to a moderator. I try to report their profile for review as they never stop doing it just to catch up on weekly target. It seems exhausting for anyone to report it all the time because they never stop. I'll change this this time though I'll still continue to report spammers.

If it's only been a day or two, then maybe mods just didn't have time to deal with your reports. Another thing may cause slight delay is if you report during weekend (at least that was my experience) as mods need some break too. Generally, if you report hasn't been handled in a 4-5 days or so, 99.99% it will stay like that forever, but imho that shouldn't bother you at all.

I try to report their profile for review as they never stop doing it just to catch up on weekly target. It seems exhausting for anyone to report it all the time because they never stop

Yep, all of us that are reporting felt the same, and it's pretty much whack-a-mole game with spammers.

[_BlackStar]

Rikafip, It seems that today the moderators have handled my report fairly quickly and left only 1 digit number unhandled. It looks like there will be a lot of spammers that I will find and immediately report for moderators to handle. Hopefully this can help the forum to reduce the number of spam posts that are present from most of the bounty spammers so far.

[Welsh]

Generally, reports made in sections which are only covered by global moderators will take a little longer, simply because there's less eyes on it, and global moderators are receiving a much larger number of reports than a dedicated moderator, therefore expect a little delay. They should eventually be handled, some may slip through, but generally I would say that most reports are at least reviewed once by staff.

However, there might be a legitimate reason why some reports are left unhandled, and it's not always because it hasn't been reviewed. I've been looking to edit my Reporting Effectively thread about unhandled reports, but haven't got around to it yet.

[The Cryptovator]

I am not sure about others, but for me when I found such users spamming continuously then I write in details on the report. Because it doesn't necessarily report all the posts one by one in case of pure spam. If it doesn't work then I send PM to the moderator directly with the reason why that user's post history should review. I can recall moderators were enough responsive to take action. So most likely you could do the same since you intend to help the forum by reporting spammers.

[_BlackStar]

Generally, reports made in sections which are only covered by global moderators will take a little longer, simply because there's less eyes on it, and global moderators are receiving a much larger number of reports than a dedicated moderator, therefore expect a little delay. They should eventually be handled, some may slip through, but generally I would say that most reports are at least reviewed once by staff.

I don't really care about reports that haven't been handled by moderators because I know they're not robots that can do 7x24 hour reports either. I only report spam posts from every spammer I come across for review ^{[whether to delete/not]} and I can only wait to see if my report stats are good or not. Currently almost 50% of my reports are not handled by moderators, I have plenty of time to wait while increasing the number of spammers I report.

I am not sure about others, but for me when I found such users spamming continuously then I write in details on the report. Because it doesn't necessarily report all the posts one by one in case of pure spam. If it doesn't work then I send PM to the moderator directly with the reason why that user's post history should review. I can recall moderators were enough responsive to take action. So most likely you could do the same since you intend to help the forum by reporting spammers.

When I find a spammer then usually I will report at least 10 of their posts for review and I also don't forget to ask the moderators to review all of that user's post history to at least give them a warning via temporary ban if that user really can't stop spamming the forum. I don't intend to hurt other users on this forum, but someone who only cares about money by carrying signature and spreading spam endlessly should be warned through post deletion and temporary bans. Thanks for your thought.

[Welsh]

Right, I thought you were worried that they were left unhandled. Though, I think TheBeardedBaby answered your question about whether to report all the posts or just one, and hint at it in the report field, and I'll kind of echo their point there; Report user posts only once, or potentially a couple of times, but include in the report field that they're spamming on mass. This usually means the moderator will take a look at their post history.

Though, if there's a user running on mass, and the message in the report field doesn't seem to help, then you can contact a moderator directly. It shouldn't matter what moderator you contact, since they can escalate it if only global moderators can take action.

Honestly, in the Altcoin section you could probably report over a thousand posts a day, and the Altcoin Discussion seems to be the place where signature spammers go to pad their post counts. I do go there, and report some from time to time, though it would be nice to take on a more hands on approach there.

[Stedsm]

I've had been busy with a lot of things lately due to which couldn't do the reporting part, but I feel privileged when I see highly motivated users like you who do the needful. Keep up the great work, and if I get some time, I'll also join you guys in your initiative to make this forum a beautiful place once again.

I believe that local boards should also not be overlooked as there are many who talk nothing of any use but increase their number, so if someone from their (belonged) local boards sees such spammy actions, please report them as well and don't let them go un-handled as well as empty-handed.

[_BlackStar]

Right, I thought you were worried that they were left unhandled. Though, I think TheBeardedBaby answered your question about whether to report all the posts or just one, and hint at it in the report field, and I'll kind of echo their point there; Report user posts only once, or potentially a couple of times, but include in the report field that they're spamming on mass. This usually means the moderator will take a look at their post history.

Though, if there's a user running on mass, and the message in the report field doesn't seem to help, then you can contact a moderator directly. It shouldn't matter what moderator you contact, since they can escalate it if only global moderators can take action.

Honestly, in the Altcoin section you could probably report over a thousand posts a day, and the Altcoin Discussion seems to be the place where signature spammers go to pad their post counts. I do go there, and report some from time to time, though it would be nice to take on a more hands on approach there.

Hi welsh, I will consider your suggestion because I think it looks useful. But I'm sorry that I can't invest most of my time just reporting hundreds of spammers every day because I also want to learn other things that make much more sense to expand my knowledge on this forum. Honestly I'm happy to do it for now and I'm also happy because some of you really appreciate my efforts, it's a fair appreciation for me.

-snip-

Thanks.

[_BlackStar]

I don't understand why this report is tagged bad while the mod combines two posts in a row into one post. Is it because there are double reports or is there some other problem?

If in case it's a double report then I think there should be a notification for other users reporting the same post because I think maintaining good report stats is also fun. Tell me something.

[lovesmayfamilis]

I don't understand why this report is tagged bad while

To be honest, I didn't know that two posts from different users could be valued differently.

I also reported these two posts and got a good report.

But I'm sure there have been parallel reports in the past, and almost always they were rated well.

[Lucius]

I don't understand why this report is tagged bad while the mod combines two posts in a row into one post. Is it because there are double reports or is there some other problem?

Moderators are people who make mistakes, so even if the report is visibly handled as good, its status can be wrongly marked as bad. I don't have a lot of bad reports, but at least a third of them are due to the moderator's mistake when they marked the report as bad, when in fact it was handled positively. Reports of the same post from different users will never result in only the first report being marked as good and the others as bad, but they will all be automatically marked equally.

For a specific case, you can also contact the moderator who is a handled post, because in the case of a merged post, you can see who exactly edited that post. I'm not sure if anyone except admin/global mod can change the status of reports, but recently it happened to me that the report was corrected from bad to good without me asking for any intervention.

[_BlackStar]

To be honest, I didn't know that two posts from different users could be valued differently.

I also reported these two posts and got a good report.

But I'm sure there have been parallel reports in the past, and almost always they were rated well.

In this case I assume you reported it faster than me and that caused the moderator to tag my report as bad because they handled your report first ^{[most likely]} and tag it as good. For me this includes double reporting not actually being notified that the post has been reported by another user before me.

For a specific case, you can also contact the moderator who is a handled post, because in the case of a merged post, you can see who exactly edited that post. I'm not sure if anyone except admin/global mod can change the status of reports, but recently it happened to me that the report was corrected from bad to good without me asking for any intervention.

I don't want to make any intervention in whatever they do, but it would be better if they reject the second report or so on if other users have already reported it first. This will keep the report stats good for any concerned user but I honestly don't have more than 9 bad reports so far although it shouldn't be more than 5 reports.