Topic: Why create threads for shit posters? - page 2. (Read 662 times)

It's fine to create a post just to raise awareness about how serious spam is on the forum, but if someone is going to make a thread every time they spot a spam or low-quality post, that’s not really productive anymore. One or two threads addressing the issue are enough since the main goal is awareness.

Reporting remains the most effective way to reduce spam. The problem is, there are far fewer people reporting compared to the number of spammers, and not all reported posts, especially in mega threads, get caught. Maybe it’s better to limit the number of threads created about spam and instead focus on reporting spam threads so we avoid duplicating posts that have already been discussed elsewhere. It’s definitely a challenge with the size of the forum and the number of users, but "teamwork" is key in reporting and managing spam.

I also support using the report to moderator button for general spam posts. But sometimes, reporting to the moderator report does not work regarding AI posts. I mean, the moderators do not have enough time to check using the AI detector tools to check if that post is AI generated or not. In this case, forum member nutildah created a thread AI Spam Report Reference Thread so you have some proof that those posts are AI generated.

I am pretty sure you know this thread because it has 34 pages so far, and I would say it's a successful thread like "report plagiarism" thread. Utilizing such a thread is always a good idea instead of creating a new thread for every user.

You didn't understand my point, I believe. I didn't say that you said my thread is a spam, I know it isn't, but since you are talking about threads that are created to report spam or spammers, I thought mine might be one of those you are talking about because I created that thread to report and discuss about a user who is a serial spammer.

So I thought I should give my explanation about why I created that thread and that I did report the posts of the guy before and after creating that thread and I believe there is nothing wrong with that because creating the thread makes others report the spammer as well, so that makes it more effective. I hope you understand what I mean now. 

Now most of those topic you see that is created reporting shitposter are because maybe simply because mod aren't active in those board so even though they reported them there would be no action taken place. Sometimes I have to think if theymos is actually reviewing some of those mods that are being appointed to some of the boards as mod.

I can also see board that their mods hardly come online to do their task at this point what is left for theymos is to reappoints a mod to take place of those board to act respective. So when they reported the general admin or global moderator can like spot out that person and have their posts deleted without any hesitation, I think that is all and no one loves creating topics for reporting shitposter.

Then again for plagiarism there is always a thread where to report such person and this is would be based on review and adequate findings to see if actually such person plagiarized as they said before sanctioning that is all.

I don't know if that's true or false, as I don't frequent the technical board(s) all that much, but my strategy has always been to put entire sections on ignore (like Altcoin Discussion and, unfortunately, Bitcoin Discussion).  Not everyone wants to do that, nor should they.  So if you want to help fight the shitposting problem, either choose to self-moderate your own threads when you create them or report crap posts to the mods when you see them--the latter solution has been suggested so many times, I couldn't even estimate how many times I've read it.

By the way, for those of you who might not know, this issue has been an ongoing one for probably 10 years or more, but it got much worse in the few years leading up to the merit system creation in 2018.  Unfortunately I think post/thread quality has taken a huge step backward lately, as I've seen the Economics section become infested with idiots starting threads that have no value.  That used to be relatively rare compared with other sections.  Ugh.

AI has made the problem much, much worse.  I don't think the tools to catch AI-written shitposts has caught up to the rate at which the morons are using AI to generate garbage.  If I'm wrong about that, someone please tell me.

I completely agree with the overall message of focusing on reporting spam or low-quality posts directly to moderators rather than creating new threads. Creating a thread to call out specific instances often leads to more clutter and could attract further spam. Reporting posts is a more efficient way to help the forum stay clean without drawing unnecessary attention to bad actors. However, as mentioned, if a user becomes a persistent and notorious offender, then creating a thread could be justified to highlight the issue. It's all about balance and making sure our efforts contribute to the community in a meaningful way.

I might be wrong but I think most of the thread creators sometimes do this not out of just making fuss but to actually draw the attention of the other members to the specific shitposter. One of the scenarios is when a member is been reported numerously for a certain shit posting and the reporter actually finds such posts still not deleted meaning that either the moderator are comfortable with the post or they just happen to not have attended to it. In any of the cases the reporter might result into creating a thread; one to get the attention of the moderators and secondly to get clarification as to maybe such posts are allowed if at all it is the moderators that left it.

If we look at the reports thread most especially by reputable members it is against a serial shitposter or scammer and not just a one time, although I also don’t like unnecessary creation of threads just to keep the forum clean I think some are needed for some members

Creating a new topic about a user who is constantly shitposting or posting AI, without first reporting the posts is kind of wrong, but it is okay to report the posts to the moderator and then create a topic about the user, this will get many users to also report their posts and it could draw the attention of the moderators faster.

There are also dedicated threads for different kinds of report, i.e. plagiarism, malware and suspicious links and AI spam, users should also use these topics for their reports because i am sure mods visit them often.

As the name of the board implies, it technical board and that means only technical discussions take ace in that board and as we all know, we only have few technical posters in the forum that make up for the activities of that board, so newbies with zero technical knowledge can't make a thread or comment on that board, which makes the board less spamming to a great extent.

The responsibility of keeping the forum spam free is to report any low quality posts and the mod will do the needful.

Threads are usually created for particular reasons, just not for spam or shitposts. For example, if you noticed a user constantly posting AI-generated content, then it does make sense to create a specific topic or report/post on an existing topic. Because you do need to add some solid evidence against this type of report. But for low or zero-value posts, you don't need to provide any evidence, just use the report to moderator button, and they will handle it. So creating new topics varies depending on the situation. 

I smiled immediately I saw your reply. Do you think this your particular post is a spam? If not I don't think you should be bothered about this post refering to you. If I wanted to say anything like your thread is a spam I would have done that in the reply I made on your thread. Yours is a different case don't get the wrong message. From this thread. The main reason for this thread is to encourage everyone to report spam posts to Moderators rather than replying them.

This is more like the exception we are talking about here. Just having a couple of consecutive shit posts calls for reporting to the moderator. Something more serious than that can then a thread be necessary.

Exactly that's the point. Only in extreme cases where a ban would be necessary that's when you are supposed to create threads.

Great observation. At some point I noticed users creating threads to report shit posts or spams or whatever they call. Which in my own estimation is totally unnecessary because those type of posts create room for spams as well. Simply put this topic is a call to action for everyone on the forum rather expending your energy on creating a thread to report shit posts, channel that energy into reporting the posts after all we are all moderators despite not having the official title. It is a collective responsibility to keep the forum clean.

Is it against the forum rules to do both? I only know main two threads designated for such reports and each of them serve their purpose. One for plagiarism cases and the other for AI spam. Not only do the mods get to see a detailed report, the general forum is also alerted of accounts engaging in such behavior so even if the accounts are not banned, we can watch out for them and reference their previous acts if need be.

I think the problem here is that forum members would see a low quality thread and still post under it even though they know the OP is saying a whole bunch of nothing.

I don't know, but it seems like you are referring to/targeting the thread that I have created a few days ago about a similar issue, this one:

Shouldn't there be a rule to prevent burst-posting or spam such as this?

First of all, I didn't create that thread because I didn't want to report the posts from the guy that I mentioned in the thread, but I did it because it was too much. Besides, I did report his posts despite creating a thread about the issue because I found it abnormal. I wouldn't create a thread about every shitposter or low-quality poster that I witness over the forum every day because there are too many, and I only report the posts that I find useless or extremely low-quality in each section that I visit.

The reason why I created that thread was to involve more people in it and bring it to the attention of the moderators who watch this board and check threads here. Don't you think it would make it more effective if I'm letting more people report his posts along with me instead of reporting a few of his posts alone? If I can report 20 posts single-handedly, 10 of us can do 100, and that will make it more concerning for mods to maybe make them punish the guy for spamming so much.

So, in my point of view, there is nothing wrong in creating threads about extreme shitposters, those you know are doing it abnormally. I wouldn't say we should create threads for every shitposter out there because that wouldn't make sense, but in some cases, it becomes essential to do so only to bring more attention to the matter.

If you really want to become a forum contributor, then report low quality posts including spam, posts that violate the rules and many others. Reporting poor quality posts to moderators is a real contribution from forum users that other users never actually know about, unless you tell them how many posts you have reported. So, it is always recommended that you and other users contribute to maintaining the cleanliness of the forum by not making low quality posts and reporting other users' posts that you consider to be of low quality.

But no matter how hard you work to report posts to keep the forum looking clean, I think spammers will always be there whether they post for their signature campaign or just for fun or something. If spam hunters or forum cleanliness guards were more appreciated and recognized than cheaters hunters, then many users would definitely compete to report spammer posts to moderators.

One doesn't exclude the other, and if I had to guess, I would say that those who make a thread about specific users usually report their posts as well.

I don’t see anything wrong with creating a thread every once in a while about a shitposter that is really sticking out for some reason as raising awareness about them might help get them banned.

Our responsibility when we see low-quality posts is to report them to the moderators. They will take the necessary actions. But I support creating a thread when the user or member becomes a notorious shitposter or spammer. Sometimes, you see users spamming different boards with low-quality posts. In other cases, the post might have been reported, and there is no action. Creating a thread draws the attention of moderators to that member. Such a thread is usually locked immediately after it has fulfilled its purpose.

Do you mean threads like this: Users who spread false/fake/unhelpful information on technical board?

But I don't see many of these kinds and the ones we have serve their purpose too cause users can report the posts and give the link to the posts that were posted on these in the comment section while you use the Report to Moderator' button which makes it easier for the staffs to moderate them.

Nah incorrect.

Low spams happened in technical board doesn't only mean the reputable members are good at reporting shit posts, it also need moderators to delete the posts.

Yeah there are no proof if people are reporting shit posts outside the technical board, but at least I have a proof some of my reported posts didn't handled by moderators. Would you still blame the community?

Partially disagree, sometime the moderators reacts when you give more attentions rather than just report to moderator, that's why users creates dedicated thread for shit posts or AI posts.

Making a series of consecutive is not the point of shitposting. It's all about the content of the post that's why reporting them sometimes being overlook if the quality of the post has some value or on topic. This is probably the reason why creating a thread to voice out is always the best choice for concern user.

Can we define first what's the right post interval to determine what's wrong or right here? Some people post with short interval because they see interesting topic quickly when they browse.