User Guidance: How to identify and react to spam

[erocker]

Interesting... Though I do appreciate your enthusiasm towards spammers.

 

[Bald Eagle]

This thread is still open, so here goes.

I have read this thread completely, but am still unable to positively recognise "Spam". If I see black paint - it is black, if I see white paint - it is white, no problem. If I see a post in a Forum, giving quotes and looking quite a normal post to me, but it is spam to you, what is the vital decider in classifying it as true spam ?

Many times in Forums, I have seen posters accusing others of spamming when they are not, but simply posting counter arguments which the accuser finds difficult to tackle, so he calls the legitimate poster a spammer or troll. Spamming and trolling have lost their official definitions and have been adopted as general derogatory slang terms.

I feel we are on dangerous ground here where true spamming is being commonly used as an excuse by highly sensitive and often immature posters, who are unable to compete in an adult theatre of serious discussion and everyday expression. This includes some Mods and even Admins. I am talking about Forums in general and not TPU in isolation.

Most of these spam calling examples are suffered by ordinary posters and not professional spammers as you try to define. I have been called a spammer and troll on numerous occasions by these misguided, inadequate individuals, simply because they have not the intelligence or literary capability to know better and thus resort to name calling.

TPU is guilty to some degree of behaving as I have described, but not by far as bad as some other Forums.

It all centres on whether the poster or Mod is capable of dealing with others in a civilised manner with a good command of judgement and not resort to gutter jargon and wrongly accuse people of being trolls and spammers when they most certainly are not.

I am appalled frequently by an agitated poster being insulting and abusive to another poster for no reason, who when he reacts with similar disrespect, gets an infraction or is banned by an inconsistent and inadequate Mod. A case of the victim being punished and the guilty getting a pat on the back from Big Daddy. You think that is fair ? I don`t.

Finally, I do find that TPU is so far the best of a very large bunch. Not perfect by any means, but the ideal is an impossibility. Nobody is perfect.

 

[erocker]

This thread is still open, so here goes.

I have read this thread completely, but am still unable to positively recognise "Spam". If I see black paint - it is black, if I see white paint - it is white, no problem. If I see a post in a Forum, giving quotes and looking quite a normal post to me, but it is spam to you, what is the vital decider in classifying it as true spam ?

Many times in Forums, I have seen posters accusing others of spamming when they are not, but simply posting counter arguments which the accuser finds difficult to tackle, so he calls the legitimate poster a spammer or troll. Spamming and trolling have lost their official definitions and have been adopted as general derogatory slang terms.

I feel we are on dangerous ground here where true spamming is being commonly used as an excuse by highly sensitive and often immature posters, who are unable to compete in an adult theatre of serious discussion and everyday expression. This includes some Mods and even Admins. I am talking about Forums in general and not TPU in isolation.

Most of these spam calling examples are suffered by ordinary posters and not professional spammers as you try to define. I have been called a spammer and troll on numerous occasions by these misguided, inadequate individuals, simply because they have not the intelligence or literary capability to know better and thus resort to name calling.

TPU is guilty to some degree of behaving as I have described, but not by far as bad as some other Forums.

It all centres on whether the poster or Mod is capable of dealing with others in a civilised manner with a good command of judgement and not resort to gutter jargon and wrongly accuse people of being trolls and spammers when they most certainly are not.

I am appalled frequently by an agitated poster being insulting and abusive to another poster for no reason, who when he reacts with similar disrespect, gets an infraction or is banned by an inconsistent and inadequate Mod. A case of the victim being punished and the guilty getting a pat on the back from Big Daddy. You think that is fair ? I don`t.

Finally, I do find that TPU is so far the best of a very large bunch. Not perfect by any means, but the ideal is an impossibility. Nobody is perfect.

Did you read the first post of this thread? I can't find anything in your post that has to do with the topic. This isn't about "trolls" or rude people. To put it simply:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spam_(electronic)

 

[qubit]

Great post, especially this bit:

I am appalled frequently by an agitated poster being insulting and abusive to another poster for no reason, who when he reacts with similar disrespect, gets an infraction or is banned by an inconsistent and inadequate Mod. A case of the victim being punished and the guilty getting a pat on the back from Big Daddy. You think that is fair ? I don`t.

It's annoying as hell and some obvious trolls are allowed to exist on here for some weird reason and get away with it. :shadedshu

Anyway, back to spammers. They're usually quite easy to spot and I've reported quite a few, then watched with satisfaction as their posts got deleted and their accounts banned.

The stuff I'm talking about is typically the first post of a newly registered member. They tend to have spammy sounding names and tend to post the same kind of crap you find in your email. Things like cheap watches, meds and sex aids with weird links to them. You can't miss it and they get nailed pretty swiftly I'm glad to say.

 

[erocker]

Great post, especially this bit:



It's annoying as hell and some obvious trolls are allowed to exist on here for some weird reason and get away with it. :shadedshu

.

Yes, such a shame! Do something about it. It's been said over and over again on what to do and what you can do about this.

Keep on topic.

 

[qubit]

Yes, such a shame! Do something about it. It's been said over and over again on what to do and what you can do about this.

Keep on topic.

Yes of course, I am keeping on topic master, as you can see from the rest of my post. I was just replying to BE's comment. Is that ok with you, do you think?

 

[erocker]

Replying to it just keeps it further off topic. But, okay. Sounds fantastic.

 

[m1dg3t]

I hate spammers, i can identify them. They are the only "people" i report. Thanks for the clarification though

Yes, such a shame! Do something about it. It's been said over and over again on what to do and what you can do about this.

Keep on topic.

O/T comment here, but i'll chip in my $0.02

People have been doing something about it! Guess you haven't noticed the gradual decline, or incline depending how you're looking at it, in member > guest ratio...

 

[Bald Eagle]

Yes, such a shame! Do something about it. It's been said over and over again on what to do and what you can do about this.
Keep on topic.

My post IS on topic - it covers the subject of spamming and emphasises the abuse which this term suffers in general use and understanding.

I sincerely compliment your admirable and official classification of a spammer, but most of my post is trying to point out that whilst Mods and Admins generally act with the utmost credit, many ordinary posters (and even some Mods) do not.

Like I have said, the terms "spammer" and "troll" have been adopted by the masses as derogatory expressions in the general jargon of PC language to cover those whom they consider a nuisance for some personal reason.

Nobody likes being called a spammer or troll when they are no more than unjustly classified as "nuisances" in the minds of posters who are completely incapable of competing in a literary way, so resort to name calling.

Such expressions are equally as bad as a multitude of other insulting expressions resorted to by the mentally exasperated, which I am sure you are more than familiar with and examples are not needed.

I do not consider the definition of a "spammer" remotely adequate for accuarte interpretation by the general web and Forum populations.

 

[erocker]

I hate spammers, i can identify them. They are the only "people" i report. Thanks for the clarification though



O/T comment here, but i'll chip in my $0.02

People have been doing something about it! Guess you haven't noticed the gradual decline, or incline depending how you're looking at it, in member > guest ratio...

I was referring to trolls, rude folks, etc. Not the actual spam.

Actual spam, I think gets dealt with very well here. The forum software catches most of them and the mods jump on the rest pretty quickly.

My post IS on topic - it covers the subject of spamming and emphasises the abuse which this term suffers in general use and understanding.

I sincerely compliment your admirable and official classification of a spammer, but most of my post is trying to point out that whilst Mods and Admins generally act with the utmost credit, many ordinary posters (and even some Mods) do not.

Like I have said, the terms "spammer" and "troll" have been adopted by the masses as derogatory expressions in the general jargon of PC language to cover those whom they consider a nuisance for some personal reason.

Nobody likes being called a spammer or troll when they are no more than unjustly classified as "nuisances" in the minds of posters who are completely incapable of competing in a literary way, so resort to name calling.

Such expressions are equally as bad as a multitude of other insulting expressions resorted to by the mentally exasperated, which I am sure you are more than familiar with and examples are not needed.

I do not consider the definition of a "spammer" remotely adequate for accuarte interpretation by the general web and Forum populations.

On this forum, the term "spam" or "spammer" is what is represented in the first post of this thread. Nothing more than that regardless on how you want to define it. Thanks for sharing your opinion on the matter but the forum policy on what spam is isn't going to change.

Take care.

 

[m1dg3t]

I was referring to trolls, rude folks, etc. Not the actual spam.

Actual spam, I think gets dealt with very well here. The forum software catches most of them and the mods jump on the rest pretty quickly.

Me, personally, i report SPAM the moment i see it. Always have, always will.

What about trolls/rude folk? Because i know for a fact that you love trolls. So do some other Mods. You yourself have trolled me FFS! Also Mussels & SneekyPeet have trolled me as well

Eventually there will only be staff and a handfull of members with all their multiple accounts left at TPU, everyone else will just visit for reviews/news and carry on.

That's enough O/T from me. Good day everyone

 

[the54thvoid]

I am not sure what he web definition of what is happening here is but it is amusing on a higher level to read. The initial post, the fundamental reason for this thread states quite clearly in it's pictorial example that the spam being referred to here is the spam we receive through our letterboxes and in our e-mails. The initial post is not about trolling.

This thread has been 'hijacked' for other motives. It would be a wise and educated thing to do to read the initial post and comprehend the actual meaning of it. This post (years old) is unequivocally referring to sales spam, not 'trolling'.

Perhaps this thread should be edited and locked to prevent further hijacking of what is in effect an informative guide letting the user base know how to deal with 'financial' spam and not let it run into a pointless back and forward discussion that is irrelevant to the initial post.

Let's keep TPU clean, simple and unpretentious.

 

[erocker]

Me, personally, i report SPAM the moment i see it. Always have, always will.

What about trolls/rude folk? Because i know for a fact that you love trolls. So do some other Mods. You yourself have trolled me FFS! Also Mussels & SneekyPeet have trolled me as well

Eventually there will only be staff and a handfull of members with all their multiple accounts left at TPU, everyone else will just visit for reviews/news and carry on.

That's enough O/T from me. Good day everyone

I'll respond because it's incorrect. Active members has pretty much stayed steady since 2007.

You can browse through here: http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.techpowerup.com

 

[Bald Eagle]

Thanks for sharing your opinion on the matter but the forum policy on what spam is isn't going to change.
Take care.

My sincere thanks for the input. Much appreciated.

I would NEVER even suggest that the Forum Policy be changed, just that the Forum officials who are appointed to implement it be absolutely certain what they are implementing and how they do it.

My OP is not a hijack of the originating post, it is a natural and practical deviation of the issue created by the very mention of spamming, pointing out where the official interpretation is mutilated by ordinary users into simply meaning "a spammer and troll is anybody you take a dislike to".

If I have got this impression from the few posts I have read, then any Mod should have got the message years ago with all the posts they have to handle.

My apologies to the posters who are misguided into thinking I have hijacked the original thread, but if they think a little more deeply, perhaps the apparent and somewhat inconvenient deviation just may become clear.

My thanks to everybody for your comments.
I have made my point in considerable detail and now consider the matter closed.

 

[1freedude]

What is/ does op?

 

[Mussels]

What is/ does op?

what?

 

[erocker]

Original Post. Meaning the first post in a thread.

 

[1freedude]

My sincere thanks
...
My OP is not a hijack of the originating post...

I have made my point in considerable detail and now consider the matter closed.

What does OP mean in this context?

 

[erocker]

His original post on his topic.

 

[m1dg3t]

Glad to see Baldie is on holiday! I was getting bored with his condescending, derrogitory, cryptic speach with all the veiled insults etc. In essence, he was SPAMming the forum with his trolls.

<Flush>

Yeah, it was that bad

I'll respond because it's incorrect. Active members has pretty much stayed steady since 2007.

You can browse through here: http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.techpowerup.com

I'll respond to your further O/T "troll" I don't need a TechPowewrUP.de history lesson, thanks

What you are trying to accomplish with that link is escaping me. What constitutes a regular/active member? A $5 dial up account with a proxy, 15 emails/user IDs that log on every so often? Or an account that registers one month, makes 10 - 15 posts and then disappears? My ISP has a premium service that offers unlimited email accounts so, in theory, with a proxy, i could have an endless amount of user accounts here. Or on any forum for that matter. Thereby artificially inflating the numbers. Kinda like what they do on Wall Street!

Members online is the number you want to be looking at, and how often they post This is not an endorsement of "Post Whoring", don't misconstrue

If you wish to continue this O/T conversation erocker, lets do so via PM, as i previously attempted Although i feel it would be of little benefit to either of us, really

what?

Hey! Hey! What took you so long?

 

[Mussels]

is it just me finding it hilarious that spammers are posting in this thread, and getting decimated?

 

[qubit]

It's certainly ironic, at least.