Suggestion Limiting new users to 1 thread, then a cooldown timer. We also need more staff

[The Catboy]

Newbies need to be limited to being only able to make 1 thread then a cooldown. This kind of spam is making the forums a mess

Reporting them isn’t enough to deal with them when it honestly shouldn’t happen in the first place. A new user shouldn’t be allowed to completely spam the forums with nothing slowing them down. My suggestion is that just as the title says, limit them to 1 thread then add a cooldown before they can make another thread. This cooldown could honestly be whatever time the staff feels would be helpful, I think 15-30 minutes is a pretty decent time frame.

I also think there needs to be more staff members. The fact that we often only see 1 to 2 staff online while the forums are being spammed sucks. Maybe add low level staff that only does spam bot clean up? Just something to deal with the fact that the site is constantly being spammed.

Seriously, this is all of the spam being posted during the time of writing this post and after this thread was made

 

[Axido]

I absolutely support this idea (assuming "15-30" means 15-30 minutes). I don't think this will entirely get rid of the problem as they could just be making a lot more accounts, but I guess it might still help somehow.

 

[AmandaRose]

Newbies need to be limited to being only able to make 1 thread then a cooldown. This kind of spam is making the forums a mess
View attachment 432988View attachment 432989View attachment 432990
Reporting them isn’t enough to deal with them when it honestly shouldn’t happen in the first place. A new user shouldn’t be allowed to completely spam the forums with nothing slowing them down. My suggestion is that just as the title says, limit them to 1 thread then add a cooldown before they can make another thread. This cooldown could honestly be whatever time the staff feels would be helpful, I think 15-30 is a pretty decent time frame.

I also think there needs to be more staff members. The fact that we often only see 1 to 2 staff online while the forums are being spammed sucks. Maybe add low level staff that only does spam bot clean up? Just something to deal with the fact that the site is constantly being spammed.

Seriously, this is all of the spam being posted during the time of writing this post and after this thread was made
View attachment 432992

100% agree with your points especially the need for more staff members. Any time shit goes down none of them are ever online.

 

[The Catboy]

I absolutely support this idea (assuming "15-30" means 15-30 minutes). I don't think this will entirely get rid of the problem as they could just be making a lot more accounts, but I guess it might still help somehow.

I did mean 15-30 minutes. Typed this mostly with one hand, so yeah~

 

[Axido]

I did mean 15-30 minutes. Typed this mostly with one hand, so yeah~

I'm just going to accept this without asking any further questions.

 

[KleinesSinchen]

Fully agreed. The usual just report it, let staff deal with it and move on fails addressing this problem. I've lost track of how many reports about spam I made recently.

Some more mods could help increasing chances for quick deletion.

One minor thing though, @The Catboy
I think you shouldn't post screenshots containing spammer's contact numbers. We know how this mess looks like and they don't deserve their garbage to be preserved.

 

[Bladexdsl]

i'll gladly be a spambot crusher no warnings from me they be IP banned on the spot

 

[linuxares]

i'll gladly be a spambot crusher no warnings from me they be IP banned on the spot

You would been banned if we IP banned... since they use the same VPN you use (seen your profile a couple of time when banning bots )

 

[Bladexdsl]

i dont use a vpn you must have me confused with someone else. go ahead look i got nothing to hide

 

[linuxares]

i dont use a vpn you must have me confused with someone else. go ahead look

You used ExpressVPN last year for example?

 

[Chary]

The reason no mod is online for those is because they tend to get posted at 3am cst, which is the death knell timezone for both our American and eurobro mods. I don't really think more mods would help on that front.

I do think a cool down timer might be the most reasonable way to deal with the spam. Clearly something needs to be done. The most important factor is making the forum approachable to new users, and 1 thread every 30 min is pretty reasonable. The question is if the spam would just go into existing threads, then, or into blogs. I'm not sure if the bot behavior would find a workaround, but they seem pesky enough to do that.

 

[Bladexdsl]

You used ExpressVPN last year for example?

oh that used it once when assholes telstra my old IP started blocking pirating sites. only used it for short while before i dumped them and switched to fibre.

 

[p1ngpong]

Spammers are annoying but its not a super urgent thing to deal with in the grand scheme of things. As long as people do not bump their obvious posts, quote them or screencap their telephone numbers and post them in a separate thread for the world to see its cool.

Oh wait....

 

[linuxares]

oh that used it once when assholes telstra my old IP started blocking pirating sites. only used it for short while before i dumped them and switched to fibre.

Ah thats why you pop up

 

[k0walski]

While generally I support the idea of a cool down time, I think it won't generally solve the problem. It will be just stretched in time frame. I'm curious, if it's possible to pass messages through some bayesian filter (e.g., spamassassin or similar)? The concept would be not to allow to post the message at all, if it is being detected as a spam message by the filter. Of course there will be some training needed, but in general it *should* work.

 

[The Catboy]

Spammers are annoying but its not a super urgent thing to deal with in the grand scheme of things. As long as people do not bump their obvious posts, quote them or screencap their telephone numbers and post them in a separate thread for the world to see its cool.

Oh wait....

That doesn’t change anything, there needs to more than just reporting and then watching them spam the shit out of the forums.
I’ve yet to see a convincing argument as to why newbies should be allowed to spam the forums.

 

[SolidSonicTH]

Admittedly when I'm not affected by it seeing that sort of thing is kind of quaint in a stupid way.

As soon as it starts bombarding me in a community I'm actually trying to participate in, though, I flip the switch REAL quick.

 

[sarkwalvein]

Why such a short cooldown?
I think a 1 day cooldown per thread until say 10 threads have been posted by the new user would be very reasonable.
Also a 5 minutes cooldown per post until 20 posts are posted (in general) would be a good idea perhaps.

 

[The Catboy]

Spammers are annoying but its not a super urgent thing to deal with in the grand scheme of things. As long as people do not bump their obvious posts, quote them or screencap their telephone numbers and post them in a separate thread for the world to see its cool.

Oh wait....

I edited out the phone numbers, can we have an actual conversation about this issue?

Post automatically merged: Apr 22, 2024

Why such a short cooldown?
I think a 1 day cooldown per thread until say 10 threads have been posted by the new user would be very reasonable.
Also a 5 minutes cooldown per post until 20 posts are posted (in general) would be a good idea perhaps.

I like the idea of a cool down between posts to help prevent spam posting in open threads
I know this all won’t stop spam, but it sure as well will slow it down. The fact that it becomes this overwhelming is preventable

 

[SylverReZ]

Newbies need to be limited to being only able to make 1 thread then a cooldown. This kind of spam is making the forums a mess
View attachment 433117View attachment 433119View attachment 433118
Reporting them isn’t enough to deal with them when it honestly shouldn’t happen in the first place. A new user shouldn’t be allowed to completely spam the forums with nothing slowing them down. My suggestion is that just as the title says, limit them to 1 thread then add a cooldown before they can make another thread. This cooldown could honestly be whatever time the staff feels would be helpful, I think 15-30 minutes is a pretty decent time frame.

I also think there needs to be more staff members. The fact that we often only see 1 to 2 staff online while the forums are being spammed sucks. Maybe add low level staff that only does spam bot clean up? Just something to deal with the fact that the site is constantly being spammed.

Seriously, this is all of the spam being posted during the time of writing this post and after this thread was made
View attachment 433121

Maybe add sign up verification so that an admin or mod can check to allow these new users in. Or maybe add a cooldown timer so that they can wait a day or 10-15 minutes before making a post.