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MR spammers

Chip NoVaMac

Chip NoVaMac

macrumors G3
Original poster
Dec 25, 2003
8,888
31
Northern Virginia
Sorry if I was too lay to do a search. :)

But why is that threads that are spam are sent to the Wasteland, rather than being deleted totally? Are we not feeding the spammers by allowing their posts to live on?

It is one thing for this post to be sent to Wasteland. But when the result was clear cut, should the message not be available at all? In fact there was a recent thread to this forum (I think) that showed up as thread not found.
 
I'm pretty sure that wasteland posts don't count toward your post total. think of it as a forum of what not to do. allow people to learn my seeing mistakes so they don't get repeated.
 
grapes911 said:
I'm pretty sure that wasteland posts don't count toward your post total. think of it as a forum of what not to do. allow people to learn my seeing mistakes so they don't get repeated.
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yes as far as i know anything in the Wasteland does not count toward your post total, and it is a place to see what should not be done, and its a place to look and laugh at people as well
 
I think the point, though, was that some of the posts contain inappropriate material and shouldn't stay on the site.

However, I'm pretty sure that the mods delete those posts.
 
jsw said:
I think the point, though, was that some of the posts contain inappropriate material and shouldn't stay on the site.

However, I'm pretty sure that the mods delete those posts.
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Thanks, I was not referring to post counts here. It doesn't matter when the poster is banned. I am talking about these spammers being able to get their message across till the software kicks them out of the top 10 threads on the homepage. And even living longer in the forums that they posted in.

The spammers should be banned, and their posts deleted entirely IMO.
 
Chip NoVaMac said:
Thanks, I was not referring to post counts here. It doesn't matter when the poster is banned. I am talking about these spammers being able to get their message across till the software kicks them out of the top 10 threads on the homepage. And even living longer in the forums that they posted in.

The spammers should be banned, and their posts deleted entirely IMO.
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ok well i can agree with that.....their message/ads whatever should be rendered ineffective by having them deleted....makes sense, i wonder why this isnt in practice already though
 
PlaceofDis said:
ok well i can agree with that.....their message/ads whatever should be rendered ineffective by having them deleted....makes sense, i wonder why this isnt in practice already though
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I guess that is why I posted my question. I may not be the best at getting the meat of the matter... sorry.
 
Rower_CPU said:
Most of the time we'll delete the URLs they post, rather than the whole thread. It's a judgment call.
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Can you comment in this particular case? I personally see this all too often. And in most cases it is a newbie posting. I hope that a warning would be in place for the regular contributing members for errors in judgment.
 
Chip NoVaMac said:
Can you comment in this particular case? I personally see this all too often. And in most cases it is a newbie posting. I hope that a warning would be in place for the regular contributing members for errors in judgment.
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I'm not sure what you're getting at.

We wasteland the threads (usually removing any content that would benefit the spammer) so that others can see what not to do. Sort of like putting heads on pikes to say "abandon hope all ye who enter here" or "no trespassing: violators will be shot". ;)
 
Rower_CPU said:
I'm not sure what you're getting at.

We wasteland the threads (usually removing any content that would benefit the spammer) so that others can see what not to do. Sort of like putting heads on pikes to say "abandon hope all ye who enter here" or "no trespassing: violators will be shot". ;)
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Sorry if I was not clearer.

These were the posts that prompted my post here:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/103635/

https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=1196297#post1196297

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/103637/

There are others, and some member informed and posted.

The point being, it all well and good to putting heads on pikes to say "abandon hope all ye who enter here" or "no trespassing: violators will be shot". But if these people are given the light of day, for appearing in the top ten of each category; are we not giving them the "props" they are looking for.

For would we not be better not listing their links, but an edesignuk graphic that said that we don't allow for spammers?

In particular to "newbie" posts? For some latitude could be given to those that are contributing members. It was just a thought.
 
Chip NoVaMac said:
Sorry if I was not clearer . . .

For would we not be better not listing their links, but an edesignuk graphic that said that we don't allow for spammers? . . .
Click to expand...

Did you try clicking on one of those links? Try it, you may like it. :)
 
grapes911 said:
Did you try clicking on one of those links? Try it, you may like it. :)
Click to expand...

When I saw the original post, it lead to the link that spammer wanted.
NMot sure if the "links" were edited by our mods or not.

In the end I think postings like this should be deleted, if reported and found in violation.
 
Chip NoVaMac said:
When I saw the original post, it lead to the link that spammer wanted.
NMot sure if the "links" were edited by our mods or not.

In the end I think postings like this should be deleted, if reported and found in violation.
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The links were edited by the mod who wastelanded the thread (note the Last edited by ... under the message. Like I said we outright remove the URLs or edit them to make it so the spammer gets no benefit from them.
 
Rower_CPU said:
The links were edited by the mod who wastelanded the thread (note the Last edited by ... under the message. Like I said we outright remove the URLs or edit them to make it so the spammer gets no benefit from them.
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I understand your previous post; but why not delete out right those post that go against policy; rather than give them "false hope"?
 
Rower_CPU said:
Not sure I see the false hope in that - and like I said before it serves as a warning/record of the spammer/spam.
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Been here long enough to wonder how many heads you have to hang in the road. Or would it be better to edesignuk to come up with a graphic that you could post for threads that should no have ever been?
 
Chip NoVaMac said:
Been here long enough to wonder how many heads you have to hang in the road. Or would it be better to edesignuk to come up with a graphic that you could post for threads that should no have ever been?
Click to expand...

Thing is, the wasteland gets archived every so often, so leaving a few threads in perpetuity doesn't work.

As for edesign's macros: they're the crowd throwing tomatoes and we mods are the giant hook. ;)
 
Chip NoVaMac said:
The point being, it all well and good to putting heads on pikes to say "abandon hope all ye who enter here" or "no trespassing: violators will be shot". But if these people are given the light of day, for appearing in the top ten of each category; are we not giving them the "props" they are looking for.

For would we not be better not listing their links, but an edesignuk graphic that said that we don't allow for spammers?

In particular to "newbie" posts? For some latitude could be given to those that are contributing members. It was just a thought.
Click to expand...
I think some latitude is generally given to members who have been around awhile, the referrer number is generally edited out and the member isn't usually banned outright.

Like...

How To Make Money Selling Your Photos!

If it was a newbie, he would have probably been killed because it would have looked like an attempt to advertise a site.
 
Cool, the above posts were just a sampling that of what I saw that caused me to write this thread.

I have done moderation in my past life. So I know what it takes. I just don't want spammers to have any better opps to get their message across.
 
We appreciate the concern and feedback. It's good to know other folks care about keeping MR a nice place as much as we do. :)

I think we're pretty satisfied with the way it's working now, but we'll keep your suggestions in mind if it stops being effective.
 
Chip NoVaMac said:
Cool, the above posts were just a sampling that of what I saw that caused me to write this thread.

I have done moderation in my past life. So I know what it takes. I just don't want spammers to have any better opps to get their message across.
Click to expand...

If the url is removed and the post is moved away from the general forum, then how are they getting their message across? Sorry to keep this thread going, but I think we are all missing a point (whether it is right or wrong) that you are trying to convey.
 
grapes911 said:
If the url is removed and the post is moved away from the general forum, then how are they getting their message across? Sorry to keep this thread going, but I think we are all missing a point (whether it is right or wrong) that you are trying to convey.
Click to expand...

It is the timing of things. When I first saw the posts they were still in the "top ten" listing. A few other members had made remarks and referred the thread for action. By then it was waste-landed. i guess I was questioning why these threads would not have been deleted right away. By keeping them in the "top ten" we were just giving them the exposure they wanted. Even in the short term.

When I was mod, these posts would have been deleted and their personal info banned from further posts.
 
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