PM restriction for new accounts is needed

[bitcoin_bagholder]

I get 5-10 PMs a week from newbies / literally just signed up accounts asking legitimate questions or asking for help. These are accounts that more often then not become useful members of the community. You can't paint everyone with the same brush.

Is there a reason why they can post the question publicly?

Personally, I would be suspicious of a "just signed up account" seeking my guidance via PM. Maybe even creeped out.

[1714773192]

1714773192

[1714773192]

1714773192

[Welsh]

Personally, I would be suspicious of a "just signed up account" seeking my guidance via PM. Maybe even creeped out.

I've had newbies ask me questions a few times via PM. I expect likewise for other members which are active. Generally they seem to want to know a particular question which they don't want to ask pblicly because of the fear of embarrassment maybe. I don't like to see restrictions and I don't believe restricting personal messages from newbies has a good thing.

[Madern]

Seems like every day I'm hearing about brand new accounts with names very similar to long-standing trusted accounts who are PM'ing people about offers to buy/sell coins. Examples:

1. sndvb impersonating shdvb
2. Blaizedout419 impersonating Blazedout419
3. deuthedev impersonating devthedev
4. dooqlas impersonating dooglas
5. 0gNazty impersonating OgNasty

The list goes on ad nauseum. They'll PM a new user with an offer that's too good to pass up, dropping a link to the real user's trusted profile. I can't help but think that there are actually people who fall for this.

So can we revisit the idea of putting some sort of time/Activity-based restriction on new users with regard to sending PMs at least?

Great idea will see when will this task executed

[Superhitech]

No, I don't agree with this, as I get business orders from newbies who find my thread from Google search, and some of them don't even know what Bitcoin is. Without PM's, they would have to find another way to communicate with me. I think it is pretty obvious to see imposters, as they don't have the same rank as the real user.

[Syke]

No, I don't agree with this, as I get business orders from newbies who find my thread from Google search, and some of them don't even know what Bitcoin is. Without PM's, they would have to find another way to communicate with me. I think it is pretty obvious to see imposters, as they don't have the same rank as the real user.

Email:   hidden

There's the other way to communicate with you, but you're not taking advantage of it.

[smoothie]

This is a great idea.

I hope theymos implements this.

[Superhitech]

No, I don't agree with this, as I get business orders from newbies who find my thread from Google search, and some of them don't even know what Bitcoin is. Without PM's, they would have to find another way to communicate with me. I think it is pretty obvious to see imposters, as they don't have the same rank as the real user.

Email:   hidden

There's the other way to communicate with you, but you're not taking advantage of it.

Yes, because I don't feel comfortable giving out my email. Even if I create a alt email, I don't check it as often as the forum, making business deals slower.

[siameze]

I have only gotten ponzi PM's, 99% from newbie accounts, I normally just delete messages from people I don't know without opening them. Problem solved.

[Syke]

Yes, because I don't feel comfortable giving out my email. Even if I create a alt email, I don't check it as often as the forum, making business deals slower.

If you use a mail system like gmail, you can setup a seconary email that automatically forwards to your main email, and maintains your private personal email.

[ABitNut]

I don't want to see this implemented. It is a poor solution to the problem. I am not convinced that it will deter spammers. 12 minutes is nothing. They don't have to wait and they wont. They will create x accounts including the mandatory first post, time taken maybe 5 minutes? They will go drink some coffee, tend to some other scam project in their ring or whatever. When idle they come back and shoot of the IM scam attempt, time taken maybe another 5 minutes? And they're done.


While there surely are amateur scammers on here that would take up to 30 more minutes they would do it. The professional scammers will chuckle at this. They may even appreciate it because they target the gullible and the gullible are now more likely to think they're legit cause hey, no scammer would expend the effort to jump through these hoops! Of course then they get scammed. Some upstanding community member decides it's time for action and suggests x to help the gullible out.


Let me help you with suggested measures to suggest after this one failed:
- Detect if there's any wallet address visible in the PM. If so show a warning in large red font.
- If the newbie account made less posts than they sent PMs, show a warning.
- If any newbie sends a PM automatically open a scam accusation for that newbie with the contents of their PM.

[funtotry]

I agree with the restriction. If they can't wait and post enough to remove this restriction, they probably aren't really into this community, we all wen't through the 360 second post limit time.

[dogie]

I agree with the restriction. If they can't wait and post enough to remove this restriction, they probably aren't really into this community, we all wen't through the 360 second post limit time.

And welcome to the ghost town.

[micky123]

Seems like every day I'm hearing about brand new accounts with names very similar to long-standing trusted accounts who are PM'ing people about offers to buy/sell coins. Examples:

1. sndvb impersonating shdvb
2. Blaizedout419 impersonating Blazedout419
3. deuthedev impersonating devthedev
4. dooqlas impersonating dooglas
5. 0gNazty impersonating OgNasty

The list goes on ad nauseum. They'll PM a new user with an offer that's too good to pass up, dropping a link to the real user's trusted profile. I can't help but think that there are actually people who fall for this.

So can we revisit the idea of putting some sort of time/Activity-based restriction on new users with regard to sending PMs at least?

Off-Late, i am noticing a similar trend on the India boards too. I was approached by people who claim to sell BTC for rock bottom rates (warning bells) and claim that they are some well established names on LocalBitcoins. In fact, they are so brazen, they quote the stats of the names they impersonate and one guy even claimed he was from LocalBitcoins! They contact me through whatsapp, which makes them seem legit. The moment such a contact occurs, i use the cellphone number on a simple google search to check if they have been reported for scams earlier. More often than not, they have been reported earlier. I still see so many people falling into the traps these guys set. Everyone should do due diligence when you get an offer that is too good to be true. Last i heard legal action was being planned against those bozos. The legal system sucks and most people cannot even prove they have been hard-done by these crooks due to the lack of technical expertise on the part of the cops. Better be safe than sorry!

[TECSHARE]

Maybe a flashing bright red "NEWBIE" warning on PMs by newbies would be enough to deter impersonators/scammers, while not preventing legitimate new users from asking their questions?

Onkel Paul

Something similar to this seems like a viable solution to me.

[CanaryInTheMine]

Seems like every day I'm hearing about brand new accounts with names very similar to long-standing trusted accounts who are PM'ing people about offers to buy/sell coins. Examples:

1. sndvb impersonating shdvb
2. Blaizedout419 impersonating Blazedout419
3. deuthedev impersonating devthedev
4. dooqlas impersonating dooglas
5. 0gNazty impersonating OgNasty

The list goes on ad nauseum. They'll PM a new user with an offer that's too good to pass up, dropping a link to the real user's trusted profile. I can't help but think that there are actually people who fall for this.

So can we revisit the idea of putting some sort of time/Activity-based restriction on new users with regard to sending PMs at least?

I've raised this issue several times before but nothing has been done about it... It's unlikely something will be done at this point...
Another approach is the use some sort of phonetic matching (eg. soundex algo) and detect if a new user id being created sounds like an existing one... Then you can check if existing id is of some membership level with some trust score etc... etc... If there's a match, apply some restrictions or add some "red" badge to help with scamming...

[dogie]

Seems like every day I'm hearing about brand new accounts with names very similar to long-standing trusted accounts who are PM'ing people about offers to buy/sell coins. Examples:

1. sndvb impersonating shdvb
2. Blaizedout419 impersonating Blazedout419
3. deuthedev impersonating devthedev
4. dooqlas impersonating dooglas
5. 0gNazty impersonating OgNasty

The list goes on ad nauseum. They'll PM a new user with an offer that's too good to pass up, dropping a link to the real user's trusted profile. I can't help but think that there are actually people who fall for this.

So can we revisit the idea of putting some sort of time/Activity-based restriction on new users with regard to sending PMs at least?

I've raised this issue several times before but nothing has been done about it... It's unlikely something will be done at this point...
Another approach is the use some sort of phonetic matching (eg. soundex algo) and detect if a new user id being created sounds like an existing one... Then you can check if existing id is of some membership level with some trust score etc... etc... If there's a match, apply some restrictions or add some "red" badge to help with scamming...

Many of those look like the same person / group of persons trying to run the same scam. They all put a member level in the sig in the same style. Hopefully if he has enough failed attempts in a row he will give up.

[ajareselde]

Seems like every day I'm hearing about brand new accounts with names very similar to long-standing trusted accounts who are PM'ing people about offers to buy/sell coins. Examples:

1. sndvb impersonating shdvb
2. Blaizedout419 impersonating Blazedout419
3. deuthedev impersonating devthedev
4. dooqlas impersonating dooglas
5. 0gNazty impersonating OgNasty

The list goes on ad nauseum. They'll PM a new user with an offer that's too good to pass up, dropping a link to the real user's trusted profile. I can't help but think that there are actually people who fall for this.

So can we revisit the idea of putting some sort of time/Activity-based restriction on new users with regard to sending PMs at least?

I've raised this issue several times before but nothing has been done about it... It's unlikely something will be done at this point...
Another approach is the use some sort of phonetic matching (eg. soundex algo) and detect if a new user id being created sounds like an existing one... Then you can check if existing id is of some membership level with some trust score etc... etc... If there's a match, apply some restrictions or add some "red" badge to help with scamming...

Many of those look like the same person / group of persons trying to run the same scam. They all put a member level in the sig in the same style. Hopefully if he has enough failed attempts in a row he will give up.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=964719.new#new

Just another similar case i had today, its probably the same dumbo, but if hes doing this all the time , i doubt he didnt have some success in his scam.
Im definetly for PM restrictions , if you have some bussiness as a newbie, make a thread or post in the traders thread, so anyone can expose possible scam.

cheers

[Tomatocage]

I don't want to see this implemented. It is a poor solution to the problem. I am not convinced that it will deter spammers. 12 minutes is nothing.

Who is promoting 12 minutes as the solution?

[Quickseller]

I don't want to see this implemented. It is a poor solution to the problem. I am not convinced that it will deter spammers. 12 minutes is nothing.

Who is promoting 12 minutes as the solution?

I am proposing that users have to make at least one post somewhere before they can send a PM. This would make it so if the user '+omatocage' were to post something somewhere then someone would see it and give it negative trust, as opposed to the new account being mostly unnoticed until it sends a PM to someone, and only to the person who received such PM.

The time it would take for someone to register an account, make one post and send one PM is 12 minutes.