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Post by Celebrity Wrestling Federation on Sept 16, 2023 18:26:09 GMT -6
Hey guys, maybe I’m just being incredibly OCD, but is anyone else seeing a TON of spam posts lately? I swear I have been deleting like 5 of these per week for the last few months and it’s getting worse. This week it’s at least two a day. I’m curious if I’m catching them all or if others are also modding even more than I’m seeing. Is there any way we could close off who can post here to needing an account? Or only certain guest accounts? It’s slowly driving me insane lol.
Some random ass name will post with a throwaway guest account (name changes every time, it’s clearly a bot) and post this spam message or something similar. They’ll go all the way back to posts from years ago, PPVs from 2021, just obscure annoying junk.
“Hey,freeforums.net Admin
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Post by Celebrity Wrestling Federation on Feb 8, 2024 11:56:52 GMT -6
Just bringing this up again since no one responded and it hasn’t gotten any better…
I just deleted NINE spam posts all from today. I really am seeing no benefit to leaving the forum open to anyone to post here. If you’re interested, you can create an account like everyone else. Anonymity is a nightmare. With bots and AI getting out of control, we’ve got to shut this thing down where you don’t need any sort of account or permission to spam here. If I’m missing some benefit or reason we have everything open, I’m happy to listen.
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Post by Celebrity Wrestling Federation on Feb 8, 2024 14:29:52 GMT -6
Update: 2 more since I made this post, ELEVEN today alone.
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Post by The Dollhouse on Feb 8, 2024 14:33:01 GMT -6
I usually delete them too if I see them, but havent seen any lately...I guess you're doing a very good job? Yeah its a problem I've raised before. The solution is to disable the option to post for "guest" accounts. (I'm pretty sure it's an option in the board settings) All the spammers are using "guest" accounts. But Lookout decided against it when I suggested it few years back. I guess because it limits participation from random people who can't be bothered to sign up for a proper account. But I think if they care enough to post they should be able to take 2 mins to sign up. Maybe we should ask again if it becomes too much
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Post by Vassago on Feb 8, 2024 15:41:51 GMT -6
It shouldn't be a problem to simply delete the spam posts. Many "in character" messages are made from guest accounts including all Boxing World Online messages.
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Post by Celebrity Wrestling Federation on Feb 8, 2024 15:58:25 GMT -6
11 in a day though? I routinely delete 5-10 per week and have been for months. It’s not a horrendous problem, but what is the benefit of leaving it open for any bot to post here? How long before some bot or random guest user posts something that negatively impacts or shuts the board down?
I fail to see even a single benefit to not having a permanent account over a guest account. People can create a real account in 30 seconds, and it would save me and others from having to moderate spam multiple times a day.
If you have multiple characters, that’s excellent. The board is specifically designed to accommodate that with a button at the bottom right of your page. I’d be happy to teach or show anyone how to set it up. You can change between an infinite number of fighter and manager profiles with the click of a button, all grouped together and more easily managed from a REAL account than 20 different guest accounts. Accountability just needs to be a thing imo.
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Post by The Dollhouse on Feb 8, 2024 16:15:43 GMT -6
11 in a day though? I routinely delete 5-10 per week and have been for months. It’s not a horrendous problem, but why deal with it? What’s the benefit of leaving it open for any bot to post here? How long before some bot or random guest user posts something that negatively impacts or shuts the board down? I fail to see even a single benefit to not having a permanent account over a guest account. People can create a real account in 30 seconds, and it would save me and others from having to moderate spam multiple times a day. If you have multiple characters, that’s excellent. The board is specifically designed to accommodate that with a button at the bottom right of your page. You can change between an infinite number of fighter and manager profiles with the click of a button, all grouped together and more easily managed from a REAL account than 20 different guest accounts. Accountability needs to be a thing imo. I agree 100% and that was my position too but was told some users are not technically savvy enough to handle signing up and switching accounts etc and it would make things complicated for them. Vassago - Why is it not a problem to waste time deleting spam posts for years but IS a problem to ask people to sign up properly to post? sounds backwards to me...
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Post by Celebrity Wrestling Federation on Feb 8, 2024 17:21:39 GMT -6
If that’s the case, I would be MORE than happy to make a thread explaining how to do everything. Create an account, create multiple ‘users’ all linked to your account, etc. Managers can very easily create a manager account and link an account for every single fighter in their stable if they want. I can dumb it down to where even the most technically unsavvy person on earth could figure it out (though from experience, I don’t think that applies to anyone here). I’m just sick of moderating bot spam multiple times a day, especially if the trend of 11 posts today alone continues. I think it’s silly to reject a feature built into the forum and continue risking that a guest can come in here at any time and ruin the board by posting something against guidelines.
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Post by Vassago on Feb 8, 2024 19:04:43 GMT -6
I've deleted spam messages before and they often came in a specific and the same thread which was later locked for replies and the spam ended. Of course it surfaced later on elsewhere after a break but with a lesser volume.
Of course some members have created multiple accounts to accomodate for the "OOC" messages. I personally only use one account because I rarely post OOC messages so I don't find the need to create other accounts.
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Post by Lookout! Boxing on Feb 8, 2024 21:14:24 GMT -6
If that’s the case, I would be MORE than happy to make a thread explaining how to do everything. Create an account, create multiple ‘users’ all linked to your account, etc. Managers can very easily create a manager account and link an account for every single fighter in their stable if they want. I can dumb it down to where even the most technically unsavvy person on earth could figure it out (though from experience, I don’t think that applies to anyone here). I’m just sick of moderating bot spam multiple times a day, especially if the trend of 11 posts today alone continues. I think it’s silly to reject a feature built into the forum and continue risking that a guest can come in here at any time and ruin the board by posting something against guidelines. This is obviously a very important topic. We don't want anybody to feel frustrated, we don't want to cause any issues in the cohesive community that we have and we certainly don't want to risk the board by having anybody post something against the guidelines. I think this is a bigger discussion, which I may put up a poll soon to get a larger sense of how people feel, but in the meantime, it seems like things may be headed in the direction of having to require people to create an account. That's unfortunate, but my goal is not to present an insurmountable barrier for people participating. I'm happy to hear any other viewpoints and certainly from people who use Guest Accounts, but if you want to create a thread explaining how to create the account, multiple users under that profile and make it simple enough for all, I think that's an awesome idea. Feel free to e-mail it to me and if anybody else wants to be included in the e-mail or review it, let me know. I'll be happy to work with you on that and see whether there are any other moderating tools I can explore as well to help out with this issue!
-Lookout!
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