Okay, this is getting ridiculous.
We have folks posting job offers for working at home
http://www.applefritter.com/node/view/5774
http://www.applefritter.com/node/view/5773
http://www.applefritter.com/node/view/5772
These have also been posted in the wrong forum!
We have folks hocking scams
http://www.applefritter.com/node/view/5271
http://www.applefritter.com/node/view/5673
http://www.applefritter.com/node/view/4346
http://www.applefritter.com/node/view/5598
Many of these were posted in the wrong forums!
There are many more like these, but I just limited to what happened in the last few days.
Now some of these have been cleaned up, but I see a few fundamental problems that may have some simple solutions.
[1.]Once a user has submitted a post, they should be prevented from posting another new thread with the same name until they post a different thread (different subject/title). This should prevent people from posting the same thread over and over in multiple forums or even in the same forum. The have a similar funtionality over in the barracks.
[2.]When a user does post nusance postings, delete the user and the thread. We are getting a lot of flack from folks in the barracks on this type of stuff. Do the moderators need to be more militant in deleting these things? Perhaps the default setting for a new user is that their inital posting needs to be reviewed by a moderator before they are granted unrestricted posting abilities. If their first post is okay/benign, give them open access, if it is scam stuff, deny their post and tell them to go away, thus keeping tyhe forums clean proactively.
Just my two cents.
--DDTM
So far as most forums go, we're already pretty good about what we allow posting. I think having a technical forum helps keep most morons away. I know I check AFF at least twice a day, and I clean up this kind of stuff when as soon as I see it. If someone's posted, I leave it, since it's usually informative. (Aside: That's why I love AFF. Other places have cool discussions get bogged down. We get intelligent commentary on spam.)
I like the dupe-thread filter idea. First post approval is extreme, since most of us lurk around for a long time, then only register and post when need be. the ratio of idiots/legit posters isn't enough to punish legit posters.
If it wasn't pure spam, I'd go with the old 'make fun of them until they go away' theory, which seemed to keep us moron-free for quite a while.
-BDub
Just had one more idea. Since the largest source of spam is our good friends at freeipods.com, why don't we just make http://freeipods.com?r= (or whatever the referrer links look like) a blocked work? That way, if you throw a freeipods link in (with referrer, legit conversations wouldn't be impeded) then it'd be censored.
-BDub
Uh oh, there's the "c" word I love to hate.
I'd stay away from automatically blocking/censoring content. We have enough mods for the forums; we should be able to remove obnoxious posts relatively quickly.
Mmm, granted. Does 'Filtered' sound better?
Yeah, when I think about it, I do agree live mods are a better solution.
Thanks for the links. All those members have been banned from posting.
The work-at-home links (now deleted) are fraudulent, according to the real Chernobyl Children’s Project International Inc.
A notify-moderator link would be useful, if there's anybody who'd like to code that.
It would be nice if some things we didn't have to see in the first place, though, like Evil Block Company.
oops! Hey! We can post the word Evil Block Company again!
We've had yet another free ipod triple post in the Hacks area from some lack-wit who couldn't even figure out that we have a dedicated ipod area.
I vote for changing the free ipod link into the text "I'm a twit" or something more creative anytime someone tries to post it.
Not if I see it.