Forum Feedback How to combat spam on TE?
- Thread starter Renegade
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Best way to get rid of spammers? How about giving a little bit of importance to regular members who are really helping/educating people? TE had its own share of spammers even before the recent influx of idiots but TE members always stated facts, which always discouraged the spammers/n00bs to stop crapping. We did it before, why not do it again- with a little bit of change.
Give such people a small badge like "Recommended advisor" or "Recommended audiophile adviser" in the same place where mods and admins have their badges being put up. Maybe even give their own colour- like orange or something. This should be easier for novices to consider which advice. IMO this is way better than rep system where people started to beg for rep points or MOTM status. The way I see it, rep system is taken advantage of so honestly it should be dumped.
I am sure the mods and admins can differentiate good advisers from others, so it shouldn't be difficult to know whom to give what kind of badges. Ofcourse its something which shouldn't be given to just any bloke. A standard has to be maintained to earn this badge. If people take advantage of their badge, simply remove it.
Give such people a small badge like "Recommended advisor" or "Recommended audiophile adviser" in the same place where mods and admins have their badges being put up. Maybe even give their own colour- like orange or something. This should be easier for novices to consider which advice. IMO this is way better than rep system where people started to beg for rep points or MOTM status. The way I see it, rep system is taken advantage of so honestly it should be dumped.
I am sure the mods and admins can differentiate good advisers from others, so it shouldn't be difficult to know whom to give what kind of badges. Ofcourse its something which shouldn't be given to just any bloke. A standard has to be maintained to earn this badge. If people take advantage of their badge, simply remove it.
^I second Sorcerer's suggestion.Maybe mods can go through previous threads in different sections and appoint a few regular members with good knowledge as "advisors" for particular section .
1) The problem is when one member provides with sound advise in a particular section , for eg : power supply thread or even a earphone thread. I have seen n00bs or fanbois crapping it with suggestions of completely inferior product and backing it with " It is the best,I have used it " .This misleads the OP who seeks information and it is like "1 good advice against 10-15 people suggesting the crappy product." At this point I just feel like giving up .:|.
If the new members can differentiate between someone who provides good suggestions and advice ,because of the badge ..it would help solve the problem to some extent.
2) One more thing ,I find the most irritating is people posting one liners and sms lingo .It's really a pain to read some of the posts.
I think strict rules should be implemented regarding,
* Use of sms /social networking lingo.
* No one liners. If a member is suggesting something ,he should back it up with facts,figures,reviews if any or even if its a personal experience he should mention it along with other alternatives he has tried for the product he is suggesting.
I love TE,and it hurts to see the current state of the forums .Also I have noticed that due to the above stated problems , lot of senior members have stopped posting .
I try to report irrelevant,spam posts as much as possible and I request all the other members to do the same.
We don't want TE to be like - just another Tech forum.
1) The problem is when one member provides with sound advise in a particular section , for eg : power supply thread or even a earphone thread. I have seen n00bs or fanbois crapping it with suggestions of completely inferior product and backing it with " It is the best,I have used it " .This misleads the OP who seeks information and it is like "1 good advice against 10-15 people suggesting the crappy product." At this point I just feel like giving up .:|.
If the new members can differentiate between someone who provides good suggestions and advice ,because of the badge ..it would help solve the problem to some extent.
2) One more thing ,I find the most irritating is people posting one liners and sms lingo .It's really a pain to read some of the posts.
I think strict rules should be implemented regarding,
* Use of sms /social networking lingo.
* No one liners. If a member is suggesting something ,he should back it up with facts,figures,reviews if any or even if its a personal experience he should mention it along with other alternatives he has tried for the product he is suggesting.
I love TE,and it hurts to see the current state of the forums .Also I have noticed that due to the above stated problems , lot of senior members have stopped posting .
I try to report irrelevant,spam posts as much as possible and I request all the other members to do the same.
We don't want TE to be like - just another Tech forum.
FaH33m said:
Well, in this case, maybe (if possible) the admins can implement a system where a comment can be deleted automatically when and if 2-3 members with this badge report the same post. But then again, if the mods delete them and deem them thread crapping or posting without facts, it should be far effective. Can't provide facts for something which is not proven? delete them.
FaH33m said:
Well, the mods can just directly delete them. If the same member does it again, infraction point or temporary ban. Content of the post should be irrelevant when making such posts. I am sure all are using qwerty board with spellcheck on their browsers, how hard can can it be to do the needful?
Sorcy's suggestion seems workable.
Completely agree and we are absolutely against such posts. SMS lingo is deleted and user is warned or infracted.
And I have always been against those one liners. Just mentioning the product name is not enough, at least put a line or two saying why you recommend it. If you have been using it then you surely like something about it. Mention that. I have already put that thought in this thread, those posts are just like votes and nothing more. We all know how effective voting system is in India. Anyway you can report such posts as well and we will send out a warning.
FaH33m said:
Completely agree and we are absolutely against such posts. SMS lingo is deleted and user is warned or infracted.
And I have always been against those one liners. Just mentioning the product name is not enough, at least put a line or two saying why you recommend it. If you have been using it then you surely like something about it. Mention that. I have already put that thought in this thread, those posts are just like votes and nothing more. We all know how effective voting system is in India. Anyway you can report such posts as well and we will send out a warning.
BIKeINSTEIN
Herald
Renegade said:
Gannu said:Fixed!
What MOTM, that was so Dec2008. :|
You'll made me MOTY- Jan 2009 and still stuck to that tag- thank you, thank you.
Suits my size and/or nature too. :gap:
thetoxicmind said:
Corrected.
Please do not complain if people fail to understand when a mod tries to clarify things impartially yet gets accused of being unreasonable/high-handed just coz they are mods/staff and treat others inferior or something like that. :cool2:
Those different colors and tags are good incentive to build a new breed of forum dwellers.
Yeah rightly said, this can help turn a lot of them in to the contributing kind. However, thats only fixing part of the problem.
The question was, how do we fix spam on TE.
The problem has to be broken down and checked to find a proper solution. Nothing is worse than all the wasted effort and no results. The question to ask here is who is spamming? Is it a ) the new members, or 2) older members. Since its not the older members for the most part, its the new members.
New members for the most part are ignorant and we need to fix that. How do you treat ignorance? By educating. So corrections here and there, a couple of reminders and a person should be well set. If its till happens, then its more of a willingness issue, so you would need some reward/penalty mechanism here. Rewards can be something like user titles and stuff, though a strong penalty is desirable in case of spam, which would be set as examples and help fashion their behavior in a way which is beneficial to the forum.
Yeah rightly said, this can help turn a lot of them in to the contributing kind. However, thats only fixing part of the problem.
The question was, how do we fix spam on TE.
The problem has to be broken down and checked to find a proper solution. Nothing is worse than all the wasted effort and no results. The question to ask here is who is spamming? Is it a ) the new members, or 2) older members. Since its not the older members for the most part, its the new members.
New members for the most part are ignorant and we need to fix that. How do you treat ignorance? By educating. So corrections here and there, a couple of reminders and a person should be well set. If its till happens, then its more of a willingness issue, so you would need some reward/penalty mechanism here. Rewards can be something like user titles and stuff, though a strong penalty is desirable in case of spam, which would be set as examples and help fashion their behavior in a way which is beneficial to the forum.
Let's remove the "minimum post needed to post in market section" rule then. People are saying any shit to fulfill the minimum post criteria to post in the market section.
greenhorn said:
Wouldn't that increase rep beggars? They will say "I posted this so I want rep" or heck PM you if you dont. Heck we might see people begging for rep in p2p section. This might increase plagiarism, people will take content from websites or magazines, change some words here and there and publishing whatever- review, preview, guides, its just a matter of minutes before people start giving reps to him. By the time mods react to it (if someone reports to it), he would have already created a F.S. thread.
Let's face it, we're in a country where majority of the people who lack mental discipline so we can't use the same tactics as international forums do to combat spam.
Now we have people like this guy (his post count is 16 when I made this post):
http://www.techenclave.com/graphic-cards/suggest-psu-will-feed-hd-5970-a-156728.html#post1381626
The uncle says he's going to buy 5970 so he wants equivalent but decided after so many posts that he will go for 5850, calling it "its really good for the price".
Some people will say he's dumb. Some people will say he's stretching it to increase his post counts. In such scenarios, how will the mods decide whether his confusion is for real or he's just post pumping?
If shutting down trade section is impossible, removing the minimum post count is the only solution. Keep a section being crapped rather than the entire forums being crapped.
The Sorcerer said:
Dude, that was with reference to my first post.
I'm sure you are making a difference. :cool2:
The Sorcerer said:
There's nothing wrong with his post or him changing his mind. Everyday, there are people who walk into a store after having researched and decided what they want and walk out with something else.
Avoid looking at every newbie with the myopic view that they're an idiot/"post pumper". All of us have started on that level.
blr_p
Quasar
I think a badge is only cosmetic. However if the answers given are detailed explaining one's pov then it cuts down on misunderstandings and effectively blows arguments away. Yeah, this takes work but in the end it pays. If one can make such an argument then nothing cosmetic is required.FaH33m said:
I suspect badges make ppl lazy and could cause more misunderstandings than without.
Reporting is best here.FaH33m said:
I think what you described happens anytime there is an influx of new members. If the site is to grow then this has to be endured until the new members integrate. A low post count is usually a good indicator.FaH33m said:I love TE,and it hurts to see the current state of the forums .Also I have noticed that due to the above stated problems , lot of senior members have stopped posting .
I try to report irrelevant,spam posts as much as possible and I request all the other members to do the same.
We don't want TE to be like - just another Tech forum.
I'm not sure how you cut this down apart from being vigilant and reporting like you say. This means warnings by mods. It will cut down on quantity and keep quality at the risk of becoming a less friendly place. I doubt there is a middle way. You pick one or the other.
badge wont work as effective in practice.
most people learn from each other, in forum, people advice as per their experience and expres their opinion, it is possible that they might be incorrect..but most of the times it is due to misconception.. misconception should not make them incapable towards debating..it will only make them entitled to their opinion.
there will be too much clashing of egos ... just my opinion...
and there have been cases where the brightest minds were incorrect.. a badge is only going to give them a right to try less to justify their point..thereby making the new comers stress more on putting forward their ideas,opinions,wondering-ments (like that's a word)
i think the rep system is well serving the necessity of a badge.
we can just enable +ve or -ve to a post...then things can be made clear without having to explain same things regarding concepts over and over again..
for example... there is atleast 2-3 topics every month regarding cm extremepower Vs corsair vx450 ...
if people can just add +ve or -ve .. then new comers and those who are unaware can just try to use search engine/google to know as to why suggestion of that 600W against 450W was weighted negative.. people can do this basic research on their own this way...without member having to explain same thing over and over again..
incase of injustice...members can always report posts to get mod attention on the case..
and mods won't even have to delete the posts with -ve response.. this way it serves as a good FAQ cache.
most people learn from each other, in forum, people advice as per their experience and expres their opinion, it is possible that they might be incorrect..but most of the times it is due to misconception.. misconception should not make them incapable towards debating..it will only make them entitled to their opinion.
there will be too much clashing of egos ... just my opinion...
and there have been cases where the brightest minds were incorrect.. a badge is only going to give them a right to try less to justify their point..thereby making the new comers stress more on putting forward their ideas,opinions,wondering-ments (like that's a word)
i think the rep system is well serving the necessity of a badge.
we can just enable +ve or -ve to a post...then things can be made clear without having to explain same things regarding concepts over and over again..
for example... there is atleast 2-3 topics every month regarding cm extremepower Vs corsair vx450 ...
if people can just add +ve or -ve .. then new comers and those who are unaware can just try to use search engine/google to know as to why suggestion of that 600W against 450W was weighted negative.. people can do this basic research on their own this way...without member having to explain same thing over and over again..
incase of injustice...members can always report posts to get mod attention on the case..
and mods won't even have to delete the posts with -ve response.. this way it serves as a good FAQ cache.
BIKeINSTEIN
Herald
Crazy_Eddy said:
I still am how i had started- an idiot and a post pumper.
Lucky for me that the mods here are lenient.
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