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Suggestion: Limiting Number of New Threads for Newbies

Suggestion: Limiting Number of New Threads for Newbies

 
Old Sep 16, 2015, 6:57 am
  #1  
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Suggestion: Limiting Number of New Threads for Newbies

Just recently I noticed that FT seems to have acquired some spammers who post numerous threads until caught, take out a new ID, and repeat in a different forum.

In all these years I never noticed it happening even though mods told me it happens all the time.

In the 2 cases I saw I reported them, and one was so blatant, I also reported it a senior mod to get it to stop.

My thinking is that if newbies were limited to a certain number of new threads, such as 5 per day, over the course of their first week (or month) of membership, it would lighten the loads on the mods a bit.

I'm also not sure if something like this is the purview of TB, so close if I'm barking up the wrong tree

Last edited by Mary2e; Sep 16, 2015 at 8:19 am
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Old Sep 16, 2015, 7:32 am
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I'm sorry but I am absolutely against this. It goes against the spirit of community and inclusion first of all. Second of all, who's to say what a "newbie" is? When does that time period end? I don't like censorship beyond what's in our T&Cs and I also don't think that just because someone is new they aren't capable of productive discourse.

And finally, I doubt this would do anything to stop the spam, spam is as old as Flyertalk and will always be a part of it. It's the cost of doing business and is being dealt with by moderators as best as they can (I trust).
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Old Sep 16, 2015, 7:49 am
  #3  
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Originally Posted by CMK10
I'm sorry but I am absolutely against this. It goes against the spirit of community and inclusion first of all. Second of all, who's to say what a "newbie" is? When does that time period end? I don't like censorship beyond what's in our T&Cs and I also don't think that just because someone is new they aren't capable of productive discourse.

And finally, I doubt this would do anything to stop the spam, spam is as old as Flyertalk and will always be a part of it. It's the cost of doing business and is being dealt with by moderators as best as they can (I trust).
Agree.

Also, there is a thread in the Technical Support forum to report spam issues:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/techn...sues-here.html

Cheers.
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Old Sep 16, 2015, 8:19 am
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Like I said, I hadn't noticed it until I saw the spammers yesterday. I only thought of it as a solution that would still be inclusive, and perhaps slow down the spammers.

CMK - I mentioned the parameters in my post. I don't think it's onerous to set it at 5 new threads per day for the first week or month of membership.

However, I did say posts - and I should have said new threads. I will correct.
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Old Sep 16, 2015, 9:46 am
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At the request of the OP, we have modified the thread title:

"Suggestion: Limiting Number of New Threads for Newbies"
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Old Sep 16, 2015, 11:57 am
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A further note... we already limit number of PMs for new members, so this would just follow that line of thinking.
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Old Sep 16, 2015, 1:05 pm
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moderators can see IP addresses (in terms of multiple accounts after ban etc)

and many of us recognize and report spam, including those who keep doing new accounts

if its possible, banning by IP address might be something to explore for those who have made a zillion accounts and are banned each time, especially spammers/etc
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Old Sep 16, 2015, 1:08 pm
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Isn't the IP address only constant if you use a wired connection to the network? Someone using wifi would be hard to detect unless they consistently use wifi from the same place, maybe at the same time, etc., versus from hotels, etc.
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Old Sep 16, 2015, 1:10 pm
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I don't think the issue is banning IP address. The mods already have that tool and for some seriel spammers, I don't think it's working.

I'm talking about a limit on the number of new threads that can be started to try to take some work off the mods.
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Old Sep 16, 2015, 1:12 pm
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Originally Posted by Mary2e
I don't think the issue is banning IP address. The mods already have that tool and for some seriel spammers, I don't think it's working.

I'm talking about a limit on the number of new threads that can be started to try to take some work off the mods.
Understood. I'm just suggesting one logical reason why banning IP addresses might not be working very well.
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Old Sep 16, 2015, 1:18 pm
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ah, what about number of threads in a certain amount of time, and having it be a higher number in a small amount of time
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Old Sep 16, 2015, 2:35 pm
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Originally Posted by Mary2e

My thinking is that if newbies were limited to a certain number of new threads, such as 5 per day, over the course of their first week (or month) of membership, it would lighten the loads on the mods a bit.

I'm also not sure if something like this is the purview of TB, so close if I'm barking up the wrong tree
Originally Posted by Mary2e

I'm talking about a limit on the number of new threads that can be started to try to take some work off the mods.
Have the mods been complaining to you? I would think if it was a serious problem they'd be discussing it w/ the CommunityDirector & IB.

I'm against the suggestion for the reasons CMK10 mentioned in his post up thread.

Also I'm going to go out on a limb here & say 99% of "newbies" don't spam & thus shouldn't have their contributions limited.

FWIW - I don't think this is a TB issue. TB didn't create the limit on PMs, for example.

Cheers.
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Old Sep 16, 2015, 4:42 pm
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there is also tech forum
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Old Sep 16, 2015, 6:49 pm
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Originally Posted by CMK10
I'm sorry but I am absolutely against this. It goes against the spirit of community and inclusion first of all. Second of all, who's to say what a "newbie" is? When does that time period end? I don't like censorship beyond what's in our T&Cs and I also don't think that just because someone is new they aren't capable of productive discourse.

And finally, I doubt this would do anything to stop the spam, spam is as old as Flyertalk and will always be a part of it. It's the cost of doing business and is being dealt with by moderators as best as they can (I trust).
We agree on something!
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Old Sep 17, 2015, 5:32 am
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As long as there has been spam, there have been ways for spammers to get around any roadblocks put up to try to stop it. It's constantly evolving, unfortunately.

I know IB and mods are doing an awesome job attacking spam each time something crops up, as evidenced by the thread in the Tech Support forum. Until they know the next method of attack, it's impossible to plan for everything.

All of that said - I visit some boards that have restrictions like needing to post in a "Let Me Introduce Myself" type of forum/thread before being able to post anywhere else on the site, so if the spam REALLY becomes a site-wide problem, something like that could be implemented to at least corral it to one forum. Just an idea.
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