Legend

Answered

Much Ado About Spamming

Forum|Forum|14 years ago
May 2, 2011
7 replies
5033 views

Frankly, this business of reporting spam here and hoping an Admin will follow-up seems a bit silly.

I really feel for the Adobe Admins who must continually track the spam thread here and go actively delete posts based on the reports.

Here's an idea...

What if when someone reported a post as spam using the existing [Report Abuse] button it was immediately removed from display and put on a list for Admin review?

Then, even if no Admin ever followed-up, the spam would just be off the forum as quickly as possible.

The forum software could even track the number of reports and suspend an account automatically if a member hit a spam count threshold.

You would then essentially have the members who care about the quality of the forums ALL actively fighting spam at once.

About the only downside I can think of is that someone could report perfectly legitimate posts as spam, thus abusing the [Report Abuse] system. The Admin could just ban such members (or simply remove their ability to squelch spam) based on a history (a few times?) of doing that.

Yes, I realize this involves engineering new functionality into the Jive forum software. But that shouldn't be something to be avoided!

-Noel

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer Jochem van Dieten

Noel Carboni wrote:
What if when someone reported a post as spam using the existing [Report Abuse] button it was immediately removed from display and put on a list for Admin review?

The threshold for that currently is 4 reports. I do not know if that threshold is configurable.

Jacob Bugge

Community Expert

So far, in this case, http://forums.adobe.com/people/dailyonmegavideo, which will hopefully be gone when you read this, there are 47 posts, each of which would need 4 Report Abuse clicks by different natives, a total of 188 clicks over a number of forums (4 posts in Print Design), probably with some overkill leading to more (folk) clicking.

I have (only) reported it once in the Spam tread, with a link to the poster.

Noel CarboniAuthor

Legend

No doubt the ability to report spam centrally is important.

But in the vein of my original post, and assuming the forum software could be changed to allow it, why not have an accumulation of individual spam reports count against a user and hide all their posts?

The whole concept of forums is to have the user community interacting with one another. This would be just another form of interaction.

And I still the the 4 should be reduced to 1 if at all possible.

-Noel

Claudio González

Legend

The button you are talking about is called Report Abuse, not Report Spam, and we have been told that about once a day a person uses it by mistake -probably because it is dangerously close to the Reply button. What would you say if all your posts were hidden just because four different people pressed the Report Abuse in one of your messages, willingly or unwillingly?

J

Jochem van DietenCorrect answer

Inspiring

Noel Carboni wrote:
What if when someone reported a post as spam using the existing [Report Abuse] button it was immediately removed from display and put on a list for Admin review?

The threshold for that currently is 4 reports. I do not know if that threshold is configurable.

Noel CarboniAuthor

Legend

Jochem van Dieten wrote:
The threshold for that currently is 4 reports. I do not know if that threshold is configurable.

So you're saying that if 4 separate people report abuse (spam) on a given thread, the post will disappear on its own?

That's excellent!

So - everyone - if you see spam, hit the [Report Abuse] button. As a group we have the ability to blast it almost as soon as it appears.

-Noel

pwillener

Legend

Unfortunately in the Flash Player forum there are only two regulars. This means spam will remain visible until someone with higher power intervenes.

Also, we have been told to flag only one message of a spammer. Question: if four users flag one message of a multi-message spammer, will all other spam posts also disappear?

Today is a quiet day, but on some days the Flash Player forum is hit with 20-30 spam posts; therefore the question.

~graffiti

Legend

Oh and the spammer is back in the Reader forum. He must have just taken Monday off.

pwillener

Legend

Another possible (additional) approach to consider: http://www.stopforumspam.com/

Claudio González

Legend

Another (non-Adobe) forum I frequent prevents the posting of links by newcomers, I think that at least for the 50 first messages. And I like the idea of limiting the number of posts to -say- 3 per day for the first 60 messages (I changed the number of posts because 50 is not divisible by 3 ).

In any case, I agree with what others have said. The software version used in these forums is ancient, and there are too many bugs that have been with us since this new "improved" version of the forums was implemented. Thertefore, I very much doubt Adobe will introduce any new features before both things have been corrected.

pwillener

Legend

Claudio González wrote:
Another (non-Adobe) forum I frequent prevents the posting of links by newcomers, I think that at least for the 50 first messages.

This is the absolutely best way to deter spammers; if they can't post links, then there is no point of posting.

Claudio González wrote:
And I like the idea of limiting the number of posts to -say- 3 per day for the first 60 messages.

That is a less good idea; in the Flash Player forum we often have legitimate exchanges with newcomers of 10 or more messages per day.

the_wine_snob

Inspiring

Claudio González wrote:
And I like the idea of limiting the number of posts to -say- 3 per day for the first 60 messages.
That is a less good idea; in the Flash Player forum we often have legitimate exchanges with newcomers of 10 or more messages per day.

I agree completely. In several of the product forums, that I spend time in, many new posters DO post more than 10 times per day, into their threads, as requests for more info are offered, or as one tests various suggestions to fix an issue. While not an everyday occurance, it happens too frequently to have such a poster (usually fairly new to the product, and in trouble) blocked.

I like the idea above that, however, regarding links being allowed ONLY after X posts. In one product forum, the MOD is very good at spotting a new poster with a link to a commercial site, even if germane to the thread. He asks that the poster respond, and points out the need to keep spam out of the forums. When they "prove" their good intentions, he restores the link. An automatic limiter would go a long way, and save him a bunch of typing.

Just thinking here,

Hunt

Jacob Bugge

Community Expert

Noel,

What if when someone reported a post as spam using the existing [Report Abuse] button it was immediately removed from display and put on a list for Admin review?

I would vote against anything that disrupts or blocks the flow of the threads; and we have seen too many posts/threads/natives disappear already.

Also, I believe the Report Abuse button is too close to the Reply button to prevent frequent post killings/suspensions by accident (mishit).

As I see it, the Spam Report thread works well enough; I have chosen that over the Abuse button.

Noel CarboniAuthor

Legend

Jacob Bugge wrote:
I would vote against anything that disrupts or blocks the flow of the threads; and we have seen too many posts/threads/natives disappear already.
Also, I believe the Report Abuse button is too close to the Reply button to prevent frequent post killings/suspensions by accident (mishit).

I question both of these statements.

What posts have disappeared that shouldn't have?

And have you ever actually used the [Report Abuse] button? It requires additional input.

-Noel

Jacob Bugge

Community Expert

Noel,

I have never used the Abuse Report button; I got the impression from others that the damage was done when the button was pressed.

It has has been very unpleasant to see many posts and threads, and natives, disappear for various reasons in the time after the fair forums. I, for one, should hate to see more of that under any circumstances whatsoever.

~graffiti

Legend

Noel Carboni wrote:
Yes, I realize this involves engineering new functionality into the Jive forum software. But that shouldn't be something to be avoided!
-Noel

You DO realize that to do that, they would actually need to update to a more recent version of the forum software (something they seem unwilling or unable to do).

Seems that trying to get Jive to update this version would be like trying to get Adobe to update features Acrobat 4.

Noel CarboniAuthor

Legend

Really?

I believe I'm detecting changes in the way this forum software operates. Someone's working on it.

-Noel

~graffiti

Legend

Noel Carboni wrote:

I believe I'm detecting changes in the way this forum software operates. Someone's working on it.
-Noel

It was an acident. It should get back to the regularly scheduled bugs any time now.

I wasn't talking about fixing things that are broke but more of adding features that probably don't exist in this version of the software. Of course I admit that I don't know anything about the back end of the forums so I could just be blowing smoke.

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