Author

Topic: Banning spammers from the Marketplace section (Read 2251 times)

legendary
Activity: 1102
Merit: 1014
I, have a hard time recommending professional contacts come here which is sad. It's one of the best places to learn about Bitcoin and get help.

If only we could identify better what is good for us and for the Internet. I think most of us can agree that spam in any form is bad and should not be supported here. I would like to see a paid section as well so I could recommend people pay $10-20 equivalent for year to reduce the noise level.

I second the original motion, ToS and all.
vip
Activity: 574
Merit: 500
Don't send me a pm unless you gpg encrypt it.
Well I agree the forum shouldn't be used for bad things, but part of bitcoin is that it is anonymous and uncontrollable...  Undecided

Perhaps, but this forum isn't anonymous and it is controllable.
newbie
Activity: 42
Merit: 0
Well I agree the forum shouldn't be used for bad things, but part of bitcoin is that it is anonymous and uncontrollable...  Undecided
member
Activity: 82
Merit: 10
The moderators don't have the time to read every third party ToS and moderate accordingly.  Plus, bitcointalk.org moderators shouldn't be responsible for other site's problems.  The moderator's limited amount of time is better spent correctly identifying thieves, whom are more threatening to the growth of bitcoin than spammers.
legendary
Activity: 1526
Merit: 1129
Yes, I don't think anyone is going to cry if your attempt to game Google with blog spam gets kicked off these forums. 72289 is exactly the kind of abuser who makes this forum and community look bad. The Bitcoin economy is big enough that there are plenty of goods and services available that don't implicitly involve being asshats, so why allow them to advertise here?
sr. member
Activity: 293
Merit: 250
If there is a good or service offered on these forums that you disapprove of don't buy/use it and don't talk about it. This is the best way you can fight someone, if there is no demand they will stop offering it. If you stop giving  them free advertising less people will hear of them.  Smiley

Well said.
legendary
Activity: 3472
Merit: 1721
If there is a good or service offered on these forums that you disapprove of don't buy/use it and don't talk about it. This is the best way you can fight someone, if there is no demand they will stop offering it. If you stop giving them free advertising less people will hear of them.  Smiley
sr. member
Activity: 293
Merit: 250
Sure, but what about the folks selling obviously illegal substances? Xanax is illegal in the US and most western European countries without a prescription. Paypal will be tossed, and I'm sure if I look closely enough at MoneyPak's TOS that will be gone as well.

Also ALL of these SEO services would need to be banned if this was passed:

- Blog comments
- Yahoo commenting
- Xrumer (and all other forum/blog/profile link creating bots)
- Blog lists (yes, this is considered spamming technically)
- All Facebook services
- Simply advertising on these sites is technically against their TOS unless you go through the correct pipelines so simple advertising would need to be at least postponed until that could be discussed.

I've been doing SEO/SEM & advertising for years. I'm sorry some people here have a problem with techniques, which whether you like them or not, have been around for a fairly long time. If BitcoinTalk.Org doesn't want to expand into the realm of online marketing and optimization (which should be a massive market for BTC since it's a virtual & global currency) then that's fine.

My input.

legendary
Activity: 1204
Merit: 1015
It's not that we don't understand the examples that's the problem. It's properly defining a rule so that there aren't any unintended consequences.
legendary
Activity: 2506
Merit: 1010
hero member
Activity: 560
Merit: 500
What if we say anything that would be highly illegal?
Botnets are highly illegal, but then again...depends on where you live. :\
legendary
Activity: 1526
Merit: 1129
I don't think there'd be any legal liability created. But it looks bad to have people promoting tools and services that exist only to "game the system" at other sites.

I'd be OK with restrictions on the other things Maged mentioned. There's lots of things that can be bought and sold with Bitcoin that don't annoy other people or companies. If a company wants to restrict the sale of in-game items or whatever, it's their game / their rules.
legendary
Activity: 873
Merit: 1000
we should try and keep bad guys off of bitcointalk.org specifically.

is that a suggestion that has the goal to improve Bitcoin's image and perception in general or is that a suggestion that enabling that kind of activity could put the bitcointalk.org forum in harms way like it being targeted for liability in a suit or puts it at risk of otherwise unwanted attention?
administrator
Activity: 5166
Merit: 12850
I lean toward enforcing the free-speech principle as purely as possible and allowing such posts, though I'm willing to enforce new policy on this matter if the community wants it.

I totally agree. However, it'll at least have the following implications, as you currently have the rule worded:
1) You wouldn't be able to sell game currency.
2) You wouldn't be able to sell game accounts.
3) You might not be able to buy/sell PayPal money for bitcoins (Bitcoin is against their ToS).

As such, this is a more complex issue than it appears to be. It's also a question on what we want to allow, as a community. I don't really know the answer here.

It'd also make moderation much more difficult, since mods would have to make decisions on issues like those. Probably the rule would need to be less inclusive and more specific than just "violates a site's ToS".
legendary
Activity: 873
Merit: 1000
It's also a question on what we want to allow, as a community.

it's a democracy?

anyway, for reference the posts that describe the current policies: Marketplace rules and guidelines: https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/marketplace-rules-and-guidelines-3629
and Forum moderation policy: https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/forum-moderation-policy-20333
legendary
Activity: 1204
Merit: 1015
I totally agree. However, it'll at least have the following implications, as you currently have the rule worded:
1) You wouldn't be able to sell game currency.
2) You wouldn't be able to sell game accounts.
3) You might not be able to buy/sell PayPal money for bitcoins (Bitcoin is against their ToS).

As such, this is a more complex issue than it appears to be. It's also a question on what we want to allow, as a community. I don't really know the answer here.
rjk
sr. member
Activity: 448
Merit: 250
1ngldh
I've noticed an uptick in threads selling things like botted Twitter followers, YouTube accounts, etc.

I hereby move that people selling services which violate third party websites ToS should be removed for the following reasons:

  • They are spammers. Nobody likes spam.
  • They typically work around abuse controls via botnets, which is illegal.
  • They therefore bring the Bitcoin forums into disrepute.
  • There are other, dedicated forums where spammers can sell their services anyway.

I work on anti-abuse as part of my day job. I am not surprised or annoyed that Bitcoin is being used this way (the most common payment form for these services I see is LR/WebMoney/Paypal actually), but we should try and keep bad guys off of bitcointalk.org specifically.
While some such as dropboxexpander can provide a useful service, I agree that should not be allowed since it disregards the ToS of the site being exploited (Dropbox). I support this motion, and hope the marketplace can become a little cleaner.
legendary
Activity: 1526
Merit: 1129
I've noticed an uptick in threads selling things like botted Twitter followers, YouTube accounts, etc.

I hereby move that people selling services which violate third party websites ToS should be removed for the following reasons:

  • They are spammers. Nobody likes spam.
  • They typically work around abuse controls via botnets, which is illegal.
  • They therefore bring the Bitcoin forums into disrepute.
  • There are other, dedicated forums where spammers can sell their services anyway.

I work on anti-abuse as part of my day job. I am not surprised or annoyed that Bitcoin is being used this way (the most common payment form for these services I see is LR/WebMoney/Paypal actually), but we should try and keep bad guys off of bitcointalk.org specifically.
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