Forum Feedback How to combat spam on TE?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Yes, post reps would make it easier to see which posts the 'hive' thinks are better. In a way it would also influence the direction a thread takes. And given there is little control over the flow of a thread, a few good posts is all there is.
 
soliciting reps should be obviously not allowed as per the forum rules.

Plagiarism is fairly easy to find out. All these are much easier to determine, and can be disposed off in a fair manner, as opposed to spamming which is much harder to detect, much less prove
 
Crazy_Eddy 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.

I second this,

I think there are people here who need to get a life, let the sound judgement of the OP be his guide instead of wrestling here cause some noob managed to convince the op better than you...Else there will be no difference between you and a salesman..

@The Sorcerer:- Stop being so full of your self, I see many noobs giving better and more sound advice than you, it would have been all fine if you werent the one complaining..:rofl:

TE is not the place to get 100% precise advice, these are techies helping fellow techies, if someone wants 100% precision and accountability, better go to some professional.
 
Party Monger said:
, I see many noobs giving better and more sound advice than you.

And I see grandpas doing much better trollposts than you :ohyeah:.

The point that I made was to the mods and admins to consider. You guys don't like- well I wouldn't say anything. We can make a debate all day long just like cm600 vs vx450 and gtx 260 vs 4870. There's always pros and cons of every anti-spam steps being taken. Even a rep system is fantastic, but only if its not abused. We see great people saying "I have masters on xyz and therefore I know better than you" and "I work in an xyz company so I know better than you", soon- and maybe its happening somewhere on the forums- the magic words "I have 50 reps so i know better than you". Badges? Well if they are abused, mods can strip the badge. Badges shouldn't be just given to anyone. It should be given to people who really know what they are saying. If there is someone who isn't good enough in a field- software or hardware- gaming or open source- don't give it.
 
the sole issue i find with badge is that it pre-defines the quality of any post that the concerned member would make in that section.. the actually quality of his posts will never be determined..

(just like people complained about misuse of mod power...as in, whatever a mod says need not be always correct)

in a similar way..

if a member is making senseless posts at present...does not mean he will always be making senseless posts.. people tend to get wisdom as their experience increases...and it just so happens that some people on forum pick on them no matter if they are making any sense further. a rep for post system will eliminate the personal issues from getting into middle of what is right and logical.

(example: what happens with techboi generally, now many of the people don't have any 1st hand experience with him..but they still pick on him..he has become santa singh of jokes on TE and whatever he says becomes BS by default even if he is trying to make some sense...)

let the Work be praised and not the Worker is what i mean to say....at least as long as we are humans capable of making errors...
 
soon- and maybe its happening somewhere on the forums- the magic words "I have 50 reps so i know better than you".
The 'post rep' system is suposed to work within a thread alone i thought as opposed to being cummulative. There is already a rep system that is cummulative.

There is a problem with 'post rep' system tho, consider a multi-page thread, the person that might make a convincing argument in the first page will get repped, a page or two later some guy whose rhetoric is not as convincing mght make a short post but lose out. Point is you don't realise at the time whether the first post you liked is the correct one or not. And you cant take back your reps :)

Badges? Well if they are abused, mods can strip the badge. Badges shouldn't be just given to anyone. It should be given to people who really know what they are saying. If there is someone who isn't good enough in a field- software or hardware- gaming or open source- don't give it.
Assumes those with badges are always right, they might be many times but they are only human :)
 
The Sorcerer said:
And I see grandpas doing much better trollposts than you.
Goes to show that im not trolling :dumb:

Unfortunately, i can only demonstrate you what i mean, but then you'l call it trolling..ur attitude is domineering and unacceptable, There will be very few products that people will unanimously say are very bad, most products are different from each other, so calling people dumb just cause they suggested some thing that you wouldn't, is not spam..

Thats it, me is out :)
 
The Sorcerer said:
And I see grandpas doing much better trollposts than you :ohyeah:.
97136404.png

Sorry, but you did kinda walk into that one.
 
What I think is There are 3 type of users I have seen here.

--> enthusiasts/divine techies/extremely resourceful

--> moderated users and somewhat resourceful users/ adaptive users

--> wanna be a hero/High Posts = High repp/idiots/genuine spammers

1) Now there are 2 sections which I have found most attractive to outsiders are

-- P2p and invites

-- Market sections

- MArket section has already restrictions, but P2p has not. But still it's the way of attraction for them.

- Notice that any newbie will come and ask for invites to this and that tracker and so on. Another way of attraction. (and later on proves him/herself idiot by posting his/her first post for invite)

- So you can restrict that section by establishing some set of post count or repp point rules. and that sections should not be accessible without login. Not even thread section. Little less number of idiots.

==> Other then that....

rest of the newbies(non resourcefuls) come and join TE for asking which thing to buy or any other sort of problems that they want to be solved. Now some of them get solution and then stop posting or being active. They just want their problem to be solved, and full stop. That's even OK because enthus and resourceful users here are friendly and are ready to share knowledge with them.

==> Now There are adaptive users, who gain some knowledge and share the same with other in need. but that class of users are very few.

What I would suggest here is

2)

--> You can define a new set of rules for inactivity , say for 1 month or some good duration if user has not posted anything informative, restrict his access to that particular section where he has posted a lot(genuine posts, queries, I am talking about).

--> For example: I am mostly active on laptops thread, I don't post anything other then "good one", "Super idea", "Nice stuff mate"... Blah blah...ON OTHER SECTIONS.

--> So In this case restrict my access to laptop section only. And Once I gain say 1-5 repp points. open gates again.

--> By doing that You are identifying user's knowledge in particular section and stopping him from doing spam in other sections.

--> And give those users RO rights for other sections, so they can see what's going on in tech world, at least.

In front of this,... Mods need to check repp authenticity regularly. More burden also.

3)

--> I dont know what overall inactivity rule apply here, but just add some more strictness in it. Say, shorten the period of over all inactivity to 1-1.5 months.

In front of this,... Mods and other uses need to check post's IMPness, and report if kind of or is spam/unwanted. Little more awareness needed in regular(good) users and little more burden on Mods.
 
http://www.techenclave.com/general-talk/indian-govt-pays-22-5-lakh-157382-6.html

a few years ago, a thread like this would have been closed swiftly. Because TE was not a place to discuss everything under the sun. Right now, anything goes. Granted, i had been the same person who asked for a general talk section when admins decided to shut it down altogether. But do we need this sort of chit chat?

We complain about too much spam. At the same time, we dont see any spam posts specifically. I think its probably because , we as a forum, have lost focus, and generally going offtopic.
 
greenhorn said:
http://www.techenclave.com/general-talk/indian-govt-pays-22-5-lakh-157382-6.html
a few years ago, a thread like this would have been closed swiftly. Because TE was not a place to discuss everything under the sun.

Right now, anything goes. Granted, i had been the same person who asked for a general talk section when admins decided to shut it down altogether. But do we need this sort of chit chat?
Shows the forum has matured don't you think and thanks for suggesting GT. There is a certain surprise factor to it i must admit :D

Why this urge to censor. How do you feel when some movie has bits cut out because someone else thought some other ppl might be offended. You have the choice to enter a thread or not. If what you read troubles you, read up on the subject and offer your counters. I find most ppl pick up some sound byte and go off emotionally, once they get cornered with facts they have no come back which only goes to show how much they understood the topic in the first place.

If you cut it out fewer ppl learn to counter and then these views become more widespread because they went unchallenged. Are techies supposed to concern themselves with nothing else but tech. Not think about stuff beyond their paygrade, kinda reinforces the stereotype that techies are boring.

greenhorn said:
We complain about too much spam. At the same time, we dont see any spam posts specifically. I think its probably because , we as a forum, have lost focus, and generally going offtopic.
New tech posts shows 4 pages of posts in the various non GT fora in the last cpl of hrs which is the normal avg AFAICT. Now had there been nothing else posted i'd have agreed. How often do you hear this or that tech is dying. Mostly hype isn't it.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.