Wakey wakey mods...

[sgbros1]

I think that people should "sign up" for having the cooldown removed, as a trust system of sorts. If it was just removed, "trolls" could come along and constantly report normal posts.

A better idea is to just blacklist trolls from reporting. We have plenty of other people to report anyway. Trolls could just easily sign up and continue trolling

 

[Pyure]

Just did my morning cleanup, only two posts to fix. Both were profiles.

Sadly I'm not up at 3AM to cleanup the asian stuff

 

[Pyure]

There, busted two more. Get off my case

Seriously though, these guys are like the Borg. Every time we come up with a new defense, they adapt.

 

[Zarkov]

that would hinder people that just made an account to ask for help

Not really hinder them, just delay the help a bit.

 

[lenscas]

Not really hinder them, just delay the help a bit.

Which will annoy them because they want to play the game but can't.

 

[jordsta95]

Just have no links in the first posts then?

 

[Pyure]

Just have no links in the first posts then?

I believe that's done already, but they're getting around it by making a post with no links, and then editing that post.

Spam links in profiles, especially the "homepage", are extremely common as well.

 

[Padfoote]

Just have no links in the first posts then?

As Pyure said, we've confirmed spam bots are posting random gibberish and then editing in the links. Blocking all first posts then backs up the entire mod queue, causing issues.

 

[jordsta95]

Ahh :/

 

[Bickers]

seems more mods are needed from Europe to clean this up i see a ton of spam at around 8AM-12PM GMT seems most spammers like to wait till the US is asleep

 

[Hambeau]

Some other members have been given spam cleanup powers though, like Someone Else.

Sure... It's always Someone Else's problem...

(couldn't help it... the Dr. Donkey just slipped out)

 

[Azzanine]

I think it's a problem we will have to deal with. Expecting unpaid volunteers to compete with spam bots is unreasonable and unfeasible.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

 

[sgbros1]

I think it's a problem we will have to deal with. Expecting unpaid volunteers to compete with spam bots is unreasonable and unfeasible.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

I say we give more people spam cleanup powers, especially those who live in different time zones.

 

[mattp_12]

I say we give more people spam cleanup powers, especially those who live in differ time zones.

I agree.

 

[epidemia78]

I should be a moderator. A tyrannical overlord mwahaha

 

[Someone Else 37]

Some other members have been given spam cleanup powers though, like Someone Else.

Minor problem: I live in the Americas, too. I'm apparently asleep when most of this has been happening, although I have hammered a few of the Chinese bots.

Just have no links in the first posts then?

This is indeed already in place, although it's apparently not entirely reliable, since it can be worked around by posting a link-free post then editing in a link.
When a new user posts a post with a link, it goes into a hidden buffer called the "moderation queue," where the mods can then approve it or see that it's spam and ban the bot. I've heard that captainnana has been working on opening this up to the spam cleaners (such as myself and Pyure) as well, although this doesn't seem to be working yet- at least, I haven't seen the queue pop up when I'm logged in.

Perhaps a temporary fix could be to adjust the filter so that posts with funky Unicode go in the queue as well. Once again, the post-some-text-then-edit workaround is still there, but I assume that'll be fixed by applying the filter to edits as well.

Perhaps, step 1 should be a class of poster who can report without a cool down.
Step 2, more spam hunter level people, pick from those in the previous step who did a good job reporting.

I've taken to reporting the entire profile when it's a new spambot

I like this idea. Maybe there could be a point system, where users gain points by reporting posts that later get spam-cleanered, and after reporting enough spambots this way, the cooldown starts to decrease. I *think* that the best way to get the mods to notice that you're good at reporting spambots is to report lots and lots of spambots, which people don't want to do because the cooldown is obnoxious. Removing it entirely opens the door for people to spam-report stuff, which is a pain for the moderators (actual mods, that is- I don't have access to reports). However, reducing the cooldown for more trusted users would start to break down that barrier.

 

[Zarkov]

Maybe allow some more users to manually place posts (and users) in the moderation queue? Only reporting posts will still keep them visible.

The users wouldn't be able to delete posts, only hide them, so the permission could perhaps be given out more freely.

Put some sort of cap on the number of posts that can be moved to the queue per day and user, and if someone is abusing it (hiding valid posts), just remove the permission.

 

[TheOramgebananna]

what is this recent one? says something about russian escorts.

 

[Pyure]

Dunno, didn't read it. Soon as you mentioned it here, I ran and nuked it.

 

[Lethosos]

We've gotten the occasional Indian "black magic love" mass spam on Technic. It's now replaced the old meme about where Cheap gets his cheap Ugg boots.

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