Locking topic is a kind of solution for the short term. Unfortunately newbies don't care about existing or non-extisting topics if they need to grow their post count, some of them post wherever they want (even offtopic things or one-liners) but some of them don't mind to open topics for questions that already have existing topic...
Mods usually go on a thread thrashing streak and thrash all the unwanted threads,so the post count would eventually decrease. If you see such threads,and you will,just report the first post and make sure to tell in the report text editor that the thread needs to be thrashed due to unwanted spam,and maybe even PM some mods. Its a hectic task,so yeah. 
Topic: Against newbie topics on the Bitcoin discussion board - again... (Read 311 times)
April 27, 2018, 12:24:50 AM
We did see a lot of topics being locked in the past couple of weeks. So that's a start.
Locking topic is a kind of solution for the short term. Unfortunately newbies don't care about existing or non-extisting topics if they need to grow their post count, some of them post wherever they want (even offtopic things or one-liners) but some of them don't mind to open topics for questions that already have existing topic...But if somehow we can prevent the Boards from newbie spammers, mods will have more time for the other parts of the forum
The only reason why the newbie jail/whatever is not being implemented is that,legitimate users are not able to do much with so many restrictions. A lot of them don't know English and a lot of them don't know that something called bounty campaigns exist. The spam has comparatively reduced. Its not less now,but it has reduced. Reporting should work out just fine.
I have proposed, some weeks ago, a feature to ignore entire threads. So you could simply mark the "spam megathreads" as ignored and will never see them again.
At a first glance, this looks like a feature to fight the symptoms instead of the problem itself. But as signature campaign sponsors want to earn money with their campaigns, they won't like to pay to people posting into threads which aren't read by anyone. So signature campaign managers will have an incentive to establish rules like "no payment for posting in spam megathreads" (like some already do, but unfortunately not all).
There seem to be SMF plugins that implement similar solutions, so it's likely not a too hard technical challenge.
Another idea with a similar goal would be a filter for topics, taking into account the ratio between "views" and "posts". Topics with a low view/post ratio are likely to be spam threads. The view count could be manipulated, but perhaps it could be a nice feature anyway because this manipulation would need some effort and it needs less intervention from "real users" than the "ignore threads" feature.
At a first glance, this looks like a feature to fight the symptoms instead of the problem itself. But as signature campaign sponsors want to earn money with their campaigns, they won't like to pay to people posting into threads which aren't read by anyone. So signature campaign managers will have an incentive to establish rules like "no payment for posting in spam megathreads" (like some already do, but unfortunately not all).
There seem to be SMF plugins that implement similar solutions, so it's likely not a too hard technical challenge.
Another idea with a similar goal would be a filter for topics, taking into account the ratio between "views" and "posts". Topics with a low view/post ratio are likely to be spam threads. The view count could be manipulated, but perhaps it could be a nice feature anyway because this manipulation would need some effort and it needs less intervention from "real users" than the "ignore threads" feature.
To good to be true. Those question are always being raised in the forum repeatedly and most thread creators are newbies. It would be nice if this forum have an option like google where an automatic recommendations of similar questions will be offered on the TITLE BAR. I guess that is one of the most effective way to minimize those tireless questions.
I agree with you, OP. Bitcoin Discussion is where people go to shitpost because ironically they know that nobody is going to read anything they write there, which affords them a measure of safety from having their posts reported as garbage. There's no reason why anyone with half a brain would go there to discuss anything. It's a section for increasing your post count, basically.
We need to do something about the influx of noob shitposters, but I'm not exactly sure what can be done. Mods can't even do much without Theymos's approval, and he's content to leave things how they are. Merit doesn't seem to be helping that section, Economics, or Altcoin Discussion, because you can register an account, rank it up to Jr. Member and enter it into an altcoin bounty as soon as you do.
It'd be so nice if we could just nuke all of these bounties altogether. That would help, at least.
We need to do something about the influx of noob shitposters, but I'm not exactly sure what can be done. Mods can't even do much without Theymos's approval, and he's content to leave things how they are. Merit doesn't seem to be helping that section, Economics, or Altcoin Discussion, because you can register an account, rank it up to Jr. Member and enter it into an altcoin bounty as soon as you do.
It'd be so nice if we could just nuke all of these bounties altogether. That would help, at least.
Any relief would probably be temporary. The root problem isn't the bounty board or the existence of bounties. It's the fact that signatures are monetized at all. If you nuke the bounties board or something similar, the venue for hiring bounty hunters will just move elsewhere. You're not destroying the shitposting incentive.
My impression from Theymos is not that he's "content." Rather, I think he's between a rock and a hard place.
He can disable signatures entirely, or charge for signature (or even posting) privileges. I don't know how effective the latter would be. Disabling them (and avatars as well since they are used to advertise) would obviously work, but that would mean losing extremely basic forum functions. He can ban most campaigns and whitelist others -- but whitelisting doesn't work at scale, and I don't think Theymos likes the idea of controlling the market. I guess I don't, either.
And if he did that, we'd be overwhelmed by complaints. Just look at the merit system. Pretty innocuous, right? Yet lower-ranked members made a billion threads complaining about it, across numerous boards. What a fucking eyesore.
Trade-offs, no matter which way you cut it.
I am totally agree with you, maybe the only solution for this issue is adding new rule and it will be as the following:
Newbie and Jr member cannot make a thread ( especially in the section of Bitcoin Discussion and Trading ). and I think this will help forum in order to reduce the proportion of spammers.
Newbie and Jr member cannot make a thread ( especially in the section of Bitcoin Discussion and Trading ). and I think this will help forum in order to reduce the proportion of spammers.
IMO this is a section where you can just disable thread bumbing by the newbie posts. New threads will immediately drawn to the next pages and at the same times old spam megathreads won't be bumped anymore because mostly only newbies are shitposting there.
This is theway how to make sections like Bitcoin Discussion more clean without harming anyone by bans or any kind of strong moderation.
This is theway how to make sections like Bitcoin Discussion more clean without harming anyone by bans or any kind of strong moderation.
We did see a lot of topics being locked in the past couple of weeks. So that's a start.
But if somehow we can prevent the Boards from newbie spammers, mods will have more time for the other parts of the forum
The only reason why the newbie jail/whatever is not being implemented is that,legitimate users are not able to do much with so many restrictions. A lot of them don't know English and a lot of them don't know that something called bounty campaigns exist. The spam has comparatively reduced. Its not less now,but it has reduced. Reporting should work out just fine. 
Once I stumbled on the Bitcoin discussion board to verify all the accusations against the board. I never gone back to the board again since then LOL
Apply to become a mod I guess
I wish I could answer you.
Is that true that we can do nothing else but reporting the posts one by one?
Apply to become a mod I guess
I wish I could answer you. 
I agree with you, OP. Bitcoin Discussion is where people go to shitpost because ironically they know that nobody is going to read anything they write there, which affords them a measure of safety from having their posts reported as garbage. There's no reason why anyone with half a brain would go there to discuss anything. It's a section for increasing your post count, basically.
We need to do something about the influx of noob shitposters, but I'm not exactly sure what can be done. Mods can't even do much without Theymos's approval, and he's content to leave things how they are. Merit doesn't seem to be helping that section, Economics, or Altcoin Discussion, because you can register an account, rank it up to Jr. Member and enter it into an altcoin bounty as soon as you do.
It'd be so nice if we could just nuke all of these bounties altogether. That would help, at least.
We need to do something about the influx of noob shitposters, but I'm not exactly sure what can be done. Mods can't even do much without Theymos's approval, and he's content to leave things how they are. Merit doesn't seem to be helping that section, Economics, or Altcoin Discussion, because you can register an account, rank it up to Jr. Member and enter it into an altcoin bounty as soon as you do.
It'd be so nice if we could just nuke all of these bounties altogether. That would help, at least.
I had a look at the Bitcoin discussion board, and found the spamming megathreads reopened again:
E.g.:
What is the best way to buy bitcoins?
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/--3406222
How do you cashout from bitcoin?
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/--3406904
is it the rise of bitcoin ?
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/--3407018
Who is Satoshi nakamoto ?
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/--3407051
bitcoin is better than gold.
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/--3407099
And this is only 1 newbie (https://bitcointalksearch.org/user/mofazzal420-2022457)
And it took only 2,5 hours from the registration to copy the titles of some of the most "interesting" topics, to restart spamming (or just to gain activity....)
And the spammers are gathering, some topics have answers already...
Is that true that we can do nothing else but reporting the posts one by one?
Edit:
Mods were quick
But if somehow we can prevent the Boards from newbie spammers, mods will have more time for the other parts of the forum
E.g.:
What is the best way to buy bitcoins?
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/--3406222
How do you cashout from bitcoin?
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/--3406904
is it the rise of bitcoin ?
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/--3407018
Who is Satoshi nakamoto ?
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/--3407051
bitcoin is better than gold.
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/--3407099
And this is only 1 newbie (https://bitcointalksearch.org/user/mofazzal420-2022457)
And it took only 2,5 hours from the registration to copy the titles of some of the most "interesting" topics, to restart spamming (or just to gain activity....)
And the spammers are gathering, some topics have answers already...
Is that true that we can do nothing else but reporting the posts one by one?
Edit:
Mods were quick
But if somehow we can prevent the Boards from newbie spammers, mods will have more time for the other parts of the forum
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