Could This Help To Reduce Spam?

[Igebotz]

I came across this proposal below in my thread List]Gambling Board Spammers; Concerns, Solutions & Suggestions

I've proposed some solutions to at least reduce the rate of spam in the gambling section in the past, but this proposal may be useful to the entire forum.


Could this reduce the amount of spam? Yes, because most Mega threads are a haven for spammers, some go so far as to use them to gain activity. The only issue this could present is multiple threads, as we are likely to see a lot of new threads, but as long as it reduces some level of spam, I do not see a problem.

What do you think.

1. Thread with 1000 pages no longer display a signature.

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[Upgrade00]

I had to quickly head over to the gambling section to check how many threads will fall under this category.

For the Main Gambling board;
I found just one thread in the first page which goes beyond 1000 pages.

On the Gambling discussion child board;
I identified 6 of such threads in the first and second page on the board.

The way I see it, not counting signatures in this threads anymore would just push spammers to post on other threads and the cycle continues till those ones gets above 1k pages. Rinse and repeat again.I'm "not sure" if this would be effective.

[JollyGood]

As you added a poll, you should also add an option for "No" too  

Yes
Maybe, yes
Not sure

I would probably be inclined to say that it will not work. That is just my opinion but even if the masses agreed with that proposal, trying to get admin to make the change would not be easy.

I came across this proposal below in my thread List]Gambling Board Spammers; Concerns, Solutions & Suggestions

I've proposed some solutions to at least reduce the rate of spam in the gambling section in the past, but this proposal may be useful to the entire forum.


Could this reduce the amount of spam? Yes, because most Mega threads are a haven for spammers, some go so far as to use them to gain activity. The only issue this could present is multiple threads, as we are likely to see a lot of new threads, but as long as it reduces some level of spam, I do not see a problem.

What do you think.

1. Thread with 1000 pages no longer display a signature.

[NeuroticFish]

What do you think.

People can make continuation threads if they want.
Also people spam easily in smaller threads too.
So I don't think that this will be of any help.
So I'd vote No, but you've missed that option.

[Igebotz]

I had to quickly head over to the gambling section to check how many threads will fall under this category.
On the Gambling discussion child board;
I identified 6 of such threads in the first and second page on the board.

The way I see it, not counting signatures in this threads anymore would just push spammers to post on other threads and the cycle continues till those ones gets above 1k pages. Rinse and repeat again.I'm "not sure" if this would be effective.

At the very least, they would find it difficult to begin spamming in a thread with quality posters, as their posts would be easily detected and reported. The mega thread gives them a lot of freedom to operate, and it makes tracking and reporting difficult because the pages move in the blink of an eye. Another option was to make all threads self-moderated, allowing the OP to clean and dry.

As you added a poll, you should also add an option for "No" too 

So I'd vote No, but you've missed that option.

I'm not sure i missed that

[dkbit98]

@igehhh Why creating a voting Poll without giving option to vote No?

I don't think limiting number of pages to 1000 to show signatures would benefit anyone, simply because bounty managers who are counting posts may disregard this rule.
Than you would only have people creating many more duplicate topics with less pages, so there would be five or more topics about Premier League, three or four for Champions League or World Cup.
Instead of having one Mega thread you would have more Mini threads with the same or very similar content, so nothing would be solved.

[Stalker22]

This is a really complex issue, and I am not sure I can draw any conclusions from it. However, I do believe that the decision to let these threads exist as they are is a good one; most mega threads are harmless and aren't just for of spammers. They contain long discussions on various topics, and people usually update them regularly with new information as well. On top of this, deleting signatures in these threads would probably just drive any discussion that does take place into other threads on the forum, which would defeat the whole purpose. So for now at least, I think we should keep mega threads intact.

[kawetsriyanto]

I have a basic question, please make it clear.
Why do you specifically refer "spam" to a mega thread?
Do you think every person who posts on the mega threads is a spammer?

As far as I understand, spam is everywhere, it is not specifically located in mega threads only.
Please don't mislead people to judge "spam" is always related to mega threads.

If you really want to eliminate spam in this forum, you need to monitor all the boards, not specifically target the gambling boards only. Unless, if your target is to decrease the number of gambling signature participants. If it is your goal, it makes sense that the focus on the gambling board only.


Regarding your vote, limiting the page number won't impact anything to spammers.
As I said above, spam is everywhere, it is not specifically on the mega thread only.
It is a false assumption to think spam is always related to mega threads.

CMIIW

[PX-Z]

Than you would only have people creating many more duplicate topics with less pages, so there would be five or more topics about Premier League, three or four for Champions League or World Cup.
Instead of having one Mega thread you would have more Mini threads with the same or very similar content, so nothing would be solved.

That won't happen though, mods will delete duplicate threads as it is against the rules.

I actually made a suggestion on one of those threads, e.g. the NBA thread. Since it is discussed per season, lock it after the end season then create a new one for the new season. But the regular posters don't agree on it.

[Sandra_hakeem]

Somehow, yes.
This is actually promising. For the first time I have managed to accept an appraisal, not because he's Igehh but for the fact that I've realised a kinda - hidden logic - in that alot of users are afraid of JG and his recent development, AFAIK - they don't wanna get that fine-red paint on their profile, that'll be expressing who they really are and the shit in their ass- queekin' goo. So if every mega-thread is nutured in the same 'modus operandi', then they'll have no choice that to go 'hard' or go 'home'.
But, on the other perspective of thinking, mega-threads are essential in here as several questions will be asked Incessantly without 'em. Threads like the FAQ (yeah, even in gambling sections, there are.) Shouldn't be tempered with or sometimes, mega football prediction threads too. The whole thing is confusing ASF. My opinion is: if anything be done, then let it be: designating peeps to make 'em self-moderated, that's it. Deletion will do much harm than killing their guts

Sandra 💇

[tranthidung]

Why do you specifically refer "spam" to a mega thread?
Do you think every person who posts on the mega threads is a spammer?

As far as I understand, spam is everywhere, it is not specifically located in mega threads only.
Please don't mislead people to judge "spam" is always related to mega threads.

There are good and bad posts in any good or bad topic.

The biggest problem with Mega thread is there are abundant posts in it and a lot of new posts will be published after one or few hours. It makes it hard to follow discussion as well as to filter posts and find good ones.

People can make continuation threads if they want.
Also people spam easily in smaller threads too.

It is true. It is easy to create new threads after locking past mega threads and spam will be continued. Spam in new and smaller threads are not better in quality than spam in Mega threads.

If people can make repeated topics to hunt merit, it is not a minor issue for them to create new threads to get post quota whilst post quality would be the same (low).

You can extrapolate it to ChipMixer campaign. In gambling, most of posters are spammers but there are a few posters chosen to join ChipMixer gang. Their posts have good opinion and quality so that DarkStar_ have reasons to pick them.

Generally, it depends on managers to set up rules for their campaigns and criteria to count eligible posts and it is a complex combination of many factors

[lovesmayfamilis]

I am generally surprised at the ability of spammers to repeat the same post in their own words. I tried to check their posts for plagiarism, and surprisingly, the posts show uniqueness, but the idea and meaning of everything said are repeated in many posts.
Perhaps it was worthwhile to establish a rule that any post whose meaning is no longer new should be deleted. If we complain about positions that are similar in essence and the moderators delete them, it will probably create a task for spammers to think about what they write.

[Rikafip]

Nope, I don't think that solution would reduce spam. I just wish you put that option in the poll so I can actually vote. Take for example NBA topic that is going on since 2015 and has more than 2k pages; I don't see how there would be less spam if someone creates a new topic for each season as the same people would write in them.

That won't happen though, mods will delete duplicate threads as it is against the rules.

They would? Somehow I am not sure as there are at least 3 different threads ( I probably missed a few, this was just a quick search) for the FIFA World Cup 2022 and all in the same child board: FIFA World Cup 2022 Group Stage Highlights, FIFA World Cup 2022: Tournament Discussion Thread for Qatar 2022 and FIFA 2022 world cup. Btw, its not any better in other parts of the forum as the moment there is some big news, bunch of duplicate topics pop up, and they rarely get deleted/merged (I don't know if latter ever happens).

[Apocollapse]

I agree with @NeuroticFish, spam isn't only define because of how many pages or posts has been posted on the thread, but it's mostly because of the post quality. The judgement to know how high the quality is from both campaign managers (if the user join a signature campaign) and the moderators (which they has a power to delete someone post). As long as the campaign managers count his post and the moderators didn't delete his post, this mean his post has decent quality and not a spammer.

[Igebotz]

I agree with @NeuroticFish, spam isn't only define because of how many pages or posts has been posted on the thread, but it's mostly because of the post quality. The judgement to know how high the quality is from both campaign managers (if the user join a signature campaign) and the moderators (which they has a power to delete someone post). As long as the campaign managers count his post and the moderators didn't delete his post, this mean his post has decent quality and not a spammer.

Just because the manager counts a post and the moderator doesn't delete it doesn't mean the post is actually good. Most of the time, our reports go unhandled because there are so many of them. Additionally, some managers use Ninjasty.space to count posts without properly evaluating the posts' quality as long as the user met the weekly post requirement.

Why do you specifically refer "spam" to a mega thread?

No, but home to spammers

Do you think every person who posts on the mega threads is a spammer?

Not all, but most are.

As far as I understand, spam is everywhere, it is not specifically located in mega threads only.
Please don't mislead people to judge "spam" is always related to mega threads.

I'm not misleading anyone but most mega thread contains a lot of spam, compared to smaller ones.

[NeuroticFish]

Just because the manager counts a post and the moderator doesn't delete it doesn't mean the post is actually good. Most of the time, our reports go unhandled because there are so many of them. Additionally, some managers use Ninjasty.space to count posts without properly evaluating the posts' quality as long as the user met the weekly post requirement.

Some of the best campaigns simply don't pay for the posts made after a certain page of a megathread. Of course, it depends also on what's the thread about and the quality of the post.
Also, of course that in many cases the campaign/bounty managers could do better if they would care about the forum. On the other hand, the advertiser wants visibility and some don't care where that visibility is, so the managers will also just do the counting and that's all.

Of course, in altcoin announcements I've often seen threads very long and filled with spam. In some cases they were even paying for that spam to keep their topic look alive. But I still feel like restricting topics' length will do nothing good.
For now I still think that the only solution is to report the spam.

I'm not sure i missed that

Sorry, but then I don't think that the poll holds any value. It will only tell whether there are people somewhat sharing your view, but no information at all about the rest.
I see you've updated the poll. Great! I voted.

[Rikafip]

I'm not misleading anyone but most mega thread contains a lot of spam, compared to smaller ones.

If you lock those megathreads, where do you think those spammers will write? Do you think that they would stop posting or suddenly increase their post quality because of that measures? Of course not, they would just share their nonsense in other threads so I don't really see how what's proposed in your first post would help the forum.

Additionally, some managers use Ninjasty.space to count posts without properly evaluating the posts' quality as long as the user met the weekly post requirement.

Its true, managers could do more to control their signature campaign members, but the problem is that there are far more spots in signature campaigns that there are quality members so if they kick someone (unless its one of the best paid campaigns), they won't be able to replace with anyone better so they just let it slide as they have to fill their campaign somehow.

[Igebotz]

Just because the manager counts a post and the moderator doesn't delete it doesn't mean the post is actually good. Most of the time, our reports go unhandled because there are so many of them. Additionally, some managers use Ninjasty.space to count posts without properly evaluating the posts' quality as long as the user met the weekly post requirement.

Of course, in altcoin announcements I've often seen threads very long and filled with spam. In some cases they were even paying for that spam to keep their topic look alive. But I still feel like restricting topics' length will do nothing good.
For now I still think that the only solution is to report the spam.

The gambling "report to moderator" function is less effective than it is on the Meta and, of course, on the economy child boards. There are a lot of unhandled reports on gambling discussions, so I personally prefer to have a list of all the spammers so that managers can evaluate their posts before accepting or counting them.

I'm not sure i missed that

Sorry, but then I don't think that the poll holds any value. It will only tell whether there are people somewhat sharing your view, but no information at all about the rest.

i didn't think it was necessary since it was a kind of probability question that needed a probability answers too. but well, I've added the No option.

I'm not misleading anyone but most mega thread contains a lot of spam, compared to smaller ones.

If you lock those megathreads, where do you think those spammers will write? Do you think that they would stop posting or suddenly increase their post quality because of that measures? Of course not, they would just share their nonsense in other threads so I don't really see how what's proposed in your first post would help the forum.

Don't lock, only disable signature from the 1000th pages onwards. It would filter signature spammers from posting shit.

[hugeblack]

What if someone creates a self-moderated topic and then deletes the posts before the 1000th reply? Or moved that topic to another board and bring it back again?

Solving the spam is not partially. I suggest that there should be a minimum level to show the signature in all forums, such as 1 merit per month or 20 per month in some spam boards, if you do not get those merits, the signature will disappear.

[FatFork]

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Generally, it depends on managers to set up rules for their campaigns and criteria to count eligible posts and it is a complex combination of many factors

I agree with this one. Signature campaigns provide a good way for members to generate some income, and to help support a community. It's easy to look at them as a bad thing, but they really can be both negative and positive. Managing campaigns can be time-consuming, especially if you are running multiple campaigns. This is not always a problem, but when hundreds of members signup on an campaign, it is a challenge for the manager to sort out who is posting quality content, who is posting low quality content, and who is a regular spammer. However, it really is up to them to set the standards for engagement that they expect from their participants. And it is up to us to report spam and low quality content to the moderators and thus help keep the forum clean.

I suggest that there should be a minimum level to show the signature in all forums, such as 1 merit per month or 20 per month in some spam boards, if you do not get those merits, the signature will disappear.

It's an interesting idea. The question is, how do we determine how many merits someone needs to get before a signature appears?