Replying to spam


sebt3

homebrew player (P. & C.)
Joined
Sep 9, 2008
Messages
4,886
Age
43
Location
France
Website
sebt3.openpandora.org
Hi,

Today is the 3rd day in a row I see some member of this community replying to spam.
This is probably the worst one can do.
Up to now I was purging the spam thread hiding that behaviour. Today was the last I did that. Now I wont remove these threads anymore and put your reply to shame.

If you wanna do something about it, report the spam. If you want to do more then request spam purge permission to ED. You might get it if he believe you're reputable enough.
Else leave these threads alone !
 
I haven't been around the last few days. I don't think there is anything wrong with replying to spam. I do it myself occasionally (if the message makes it amusing to me). I don't think they will care if you leave it for others to see since the nature of a forum is for others to read what is posted. In other words, if you are trying to shame someone by not deleting spam threads I don't think it will work. We actually have a few longer threads that started with spam.

On the other hand, yes, help kill the spam by reporting it. Wouldn't you all rather have it cleaned up instead of having this place overrun with it? While I may not agree with sebt3, it probably isn't a good idea to piss off the people that do the dirty work (thanks to all the mods, too). I am also a spam remover, so I value the feelings of the others that shovel this shit. Plus the replies probably aren't as funny or clever as those that post them think they are (myself included).

Just report the spam.
 
Replying to a spam, mean it enter the "threads that got reply" list. That make the thread more revelent for robots (like google's ones) and easier to find. thuss replying the a spam actually help the spam being more visible... and by opposition you're harming the forum' reputation since theses bots will notice more the spam, so the forum will have it's results lowered...
All in all it's a very bad idea to reply a spam...
 
That is far from the only bad idea I have acted on. I get your point and support your request.

Now I am off to play with decomposing animal parts.
 
You know they probably have notification settings enabled so they can see your reply and know the forum is active effectively making spam worse?

Please don't do it, i've warned you about it before and it's annoying AF.
 
I had to vent frustration somehow! One bot: three posts! I can't remain silent!!!
I still don't see what the problem is though. Once it's deleted it's no longer relevant, whether someone replied or not.
 
For the longer it's up near the top of the page, the greater pagerank and similar it'll accrue, and likewise with any links contained therein. That's how these spammers work. Even after the post has been deleted, their work in giving rank to the links within has been done.

Mind you, they normally post in the early hours when few people (and mods) are about I think, so I'd have thought their posts would hang near the top of the latest posts page anyway without being bumped.
 
One bot: three posts!
So ? 2 clicks, all the posts are gone. Oh and it's not bots. That's humans doing this. I've seen some creating a thread per forum section. yet, again, 2 clicks and everything is gone.
If spam frustrate you, get the spam purge hammer and kill them before me.

Mind you, they normally post in the early hours when few people (and mods) are about I think, so I'd have thought their posts would hang near the top of the latest posts page anyway without being bumped.
They posts all the day long, if you dont see them at some point just mean the mods are faster than you ;)
 
Replying to a spam, mean it enter the "threads that got reply" list.
Personally, I find that tool rather useless, but then I don't read half the boards, and there's a lot of threads that I ignore, so it's easier to just jump into the few sections I check.

I'm with @sebt3 . I don't understand people answering spam. It's useless, not funny, and damaging.
I'm curious, how is it damaging? Useless, yes; Not funny, sometimes; but damaging?
 
Does it have to be a hammer ? What if someone prefere some other kind of spam purge weapon ?
 
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