Topic: Why isn't carrying signatures banned for low member levels? (Read 202 times)

I'll echo others here in stating that this isn't a bad idea, but unfortunately it's not a new one--it's been suggested many times since I've been a member here.  Theymos doesn't want to go that route, probably since that would stifle traffic to the site.  It's just something we all have to deal with, and believe me it's well-known how bad the problem is.  This merit system that you see?  That was a response to it.

Those sections that you mentioned are the worst, and this is unfortunate.  Bitcoin Discussion should be the best section on the whole forum, but it's far from that.  Very, very far from it.  That's where the shitposters go to get their nonsense, broken-English shitposts buried under a mountain of similar garbage--and they're all using their signatures to advertise.

I will also echo those who said you should report shitposts as you find them, especially the really low-value ones.  You'll know them when you see them.  Believe it or not, mods do take action against them.  And if you ever find a post that's plagiarized, report it.  That'll get the member a permanent ban.

Some sections are way better than others.  Meta is a good place to vent frustrations like this, as is Reputation.  And if you're into mining or collectibles or wallets, there are areas for discussion about those things and they tend to be less infested with spam.  Good luck with your time here.  It doesn't sound like you're on the road to being a typical signature shitposter.

Although many users have started to primarily use their signatures for bounties, there are still meaningful, non-campaign-related uses for signatures like putting your personal website or social media, bitcoin address, etc. Like the posters above me already said, signatures have restrictions and many bounties have restrictions against low level members as well.

A lot of it comes down to the fact that people abuse the system, as usual. As long as bounties, ranks, and merit exist, there will be a ton of spam posts. I think a better solution would be taking away the signature or restricting it if the user has the tendency to spam or abuse the privilege, rather than a blanket ban on them for low-level members just because they are low-level.

Its better to report such "offtopic" posts for the sake of the forum. However mods are already having hands full to clean up the diarrhoea shitposts ejected by self-righteous shitposters and hence its of low value. But still reporting works.

Blame the campaign manager for that. Or you can try reporting such people in "Meta" as well if you have time to make a list. Such people can the be exterminated in public by the mods

Its a sad reality that those sections are the love-making hideouts for the bounty spammers.

I am sure this was suggested before but theymos did not officially do anything as such. But campaign managers are enforcing rules of minimum rank for eligibility.

There are restrictions on what you can place in your SIG space based on your rank. Most campaigns do not accept Newbie, and only a few accept JR. Member; so atleast now it does take a while for new users to achieve a rank to join a campaign.

Not that it's a bad idea, but the Forum leans more towards less regulation and allows the community to sort it out.


The best thing to do is use the report to moderator button to get the post deleted. Most of these garbage posters do the bare minimum and even one post getting deleted can wipe out their pay, hopefully to the point they leave, or turn around their membership habits.(Not holding my breathe on the latter)

Here is a guide to reporting that is useful.

Following discussions on Bitcointalk is no fun anymore. There are so many users who post content that have nothing to do with the topic. Most of them are member level and lower and are being in a signature campaign. It's obvious that it's spam. Many posts are very similar and distributed over a variety of threads, mostly in Altcoin Announcement, Altcoin Discussion and Bitcoin Discussion.

Why not allow signatures to be applied at a certain level (for example, from Full Member)? This can prevent many useless posts and improve quality a bit.