SPAM Re-visited.
 

The topic of SPAM seems to come up quite a bit in this section of our dear
forum and even though the concerns exhibited by my fellow moderators is
warranted to some extent, in another it is simply foolish to even bring up.

Before I continue, SPAM must first be defined so as to avoid any possible
confusion. I have chosen to describe it as follows:

The posting of massive pieces of irrelevant, innapropriate information or
material in regards to the established forum rules.

Now that we have a proper definition, we can proceed to the concerns and
typical "SPAM occurences". The first part I would like to adress is the one
relating to MASSIVE amounts of posted information: granted, several new
threads or posts (under the same topic) by the same person can be quite
annoying so here are some general guidelines concerning the quantity and
speed of posting new information:

- Unless you strongly believe your new posts are worthy and justified, with
good reason (which relates to common sense, let's not get into semantics
here), chances are you just spammed.

- Unless you strongly believe your new topics are worthy and justified, with
good reason (which relates to common sense, let's not get into semantics
here), chances are you just spammed. Keep in mind this has to do with a
person posting several new threads in a very small time interval.

Concerning IRRELEVANCY of new posts or threads: this is a very delicate
subject. One must understand that most postings and threads are matters
of opinion (unless the topic or post specifically deals with facts) and thus,
are subjective in nature. Since different people place a different amount
of importance on any particular subject, it isn't always easy to judge how
something should be considered SPAM. With new topics, unless it is shown
that they have no quantifiable value, they cannot be deemed SPAM under
the criteria of irrelevancy: as stated above, they must be dealt with another
way. Posts are a different matter: using the method of contrasts, through
common sense, we can determine whether a post in a specific topic is spam
or not.

INNAPROPRIATE information is easier to define, as it has less to do with
subjectivity and more to do with the already pre-existing rules Badscript
made initially. Repeated and excessive cursing, posting of pornographic
material and personal attacks are examples which readily come to mind.
This is not a section with requires much more elaboration so I will move
on to my final thoughts on this topic.

Throughout this essay, I've tried to define SPAM and enumerate the different
ways a person might do so. I understand that several topics and posts might
seem irrelevant or innapropriate at first glance but upon further investigation
and inspection, they could very well be worthy additions to the forum section.
I honestly don't believe we have that big of a problem with SPAM in the O-T
section of the AA.COM Forum and a reason we should lower our guard from now
on is simple: this is an OFFTOPIC forum. Whatever doesn't and shouldn't fit
into the other sections, so long as it isn't spam, must therefore have a place,
here.

I hope this clears things up and helps you better understand the position of
some of our members who seem constantly infuriated at the locking of their
topics or repeated warnings at their most recent posts. Thank you for your
patience.

SoLiDUS, well said and no argument....but please consider, how do the untold threads that defied all the rules and logic,
that began badly or whatever, but went on to be solid gold, how do they fit in?...you've been in on all the classics,
would you really have done away with any of them?...I asks ya!!

Also, just out of curiosity, do mods consult each other at all, or is it just a personal choice to lock/delete threads?
For example if one mod thought a thread was harmless fun, but another mod come along and locked it,
...y'know, how would that work? Just that I saw a bit of moderating earlier today that was decidedly hake:

yours, Eight Ace

The second point first: I think it's all personal. I haven't been around long
enough to know if everyone consults one another but it's safe to assume no
one does.

If I read you correctly, you basically ask me "Would you remove a seemingly
bad thread right away or give it some time to check whether or not something
valuable comes from it?", correct ? Well, I will wait to see if things work out for
the better: if not, chances are the thread will be locked.

I can't disagree with your reasoning but there is still no mention of thread lockage due to a topic being discussed before, so I would still have to presume that this isn't spam, it's just lockable because Mods have spent more time on these boards and as such think all "boring" topics don't deserve to be discussed.

That is, if a mod doesn't feel a thread is worthy of their time to discuss in then it's lockable.

I would like to see a rule that deems it right that a mod can lock a thread due to this reason and, if this is done, also some kind of responsability shown by mods to ensure that the author of the thread is pointed in the right direction so they can get the info/discussion they need.

The thing is, just because a topic has been discussed before doesn't mean that we should always refer to that single thread to discuss it.

Otherwise we'd have threads over 100 pages long all over the shop and they are much harder to read and reply to than a fresh thread of a similar topic.

I always thought the adage that "You don't have to read it if you don't want to" was better than "It's been said before so it's locked".

I agree with ydiss. (Is that spam?)




I also think the mods should take a deep breath and count ot 10 before lockng any thread. The locking has gotten out of hand. I also think it is chickenshit for a mod to reopen a locked thread, make a post and relock the thread. Mods are here to enforce the rules, they shouldnt be above them.

Ive not been spamming but bck in the past the only spammer that we couldnt handle was spammachine who spammed mostly everyone off the AA forums. He also came bck later as Horumbus code of spam or some other thing but spamming is becoming a problem in the forums these days since new comers done know wat to post.

P.S. plz notify me if i spam at all and i will correct my mistake.

If it gets to the point where legitimate posters are asking if they're spaming it's gone too far.

lol, yup biggrin:

We should request BadScript to put like a limit or something that u have to type a certain amount in order to make a post that way people wont be spamming with smileys are doing short sentences. On http://www.neoseeker.com they have something i dont know wat it is but u have to type up a certain amount in order to get your post even though it may show up it doesnt add to your posts. Maybe BadScript could come up with something like that or a better solution to stop spam.

thats wierd how you can only type a limited amount of text

We all know thats never gonna happen, and also, thats the stupidest thing ive ever heard. The amount of text shouldnt matter, you can keep it short and simple (with the exceptions of "lol", and "ya") and still have a point. Offtopic Forum = SPAM, thats what its for, if you want to stop spam on this website, take this forum away.

OK, here's my point of view:

First off, let me say that no ones perfect, including myself or any other mod. Just because we have privs over regular members here, it dosen't make us more knowledgeable as to what stays and what goes. So even we, including myself, make mistakes.

Now, as far as spamming goes on these forums, Solidus knows that some of his posts in the past have irritated me, as I saw no potential value of a conversation in them. That, is my personal opinion. But as of late, I really don't bother with him anymore, frankily, because the threads aren't meaningless as they used to be; a fine example would be this one.

Simply put, I'll give you some examples of what I (ME, no one else) consider spam:

http://www.alliedassault.com/phpBB2/vie ... p?t=142486

http://www.alliedassault.com/phpBB2/vie ... p?t=142529

To be honest, I don't mean to put anyone here down, but I think the problem mainly generates from the fact that we have too many immature or younger people here, and they just neglect to keep to a civil point of view. Even with the Offtopic, there's a line that you just shouldn't cross, as there are still young people here that these posts are driving away from this website, and the game.

IMO, you guys should all just browse the http://www.allaboutnothing.net forums for a few pages, and just take a look at some of the posts there. I don't mean to criticize, but there's times I'd rather not be here to read what people have to say, and just rather chill there with some good, trusting gamers of mine. Read some of the posts, and take it into consideration.

[quote:e9f45]I also think it is chickenshit for a mod to reopen a locked thread, make a post and relock the thread. Mods are here to enforce the rules, they shouldnt be above them.[/quote:e9f45]

Didn't you know thats one of the perks of being a mod.

to whomever deleted my post here....i hope you get cancer hake:

honestly, spam doesnt bother me a bit. most of the topics posted are not interesting in the first place, and i read just for the humor. what bothers me is, there isnt any humor anymore because the threads dont last long enough. i do agree that childish 14yr flames between people, and being an asshole for no reason is uncalled for, but locking threads because of it has never been until joe became mod. why not just remove the posts instead of locking the thread, and let the thread continue.

there is very little worth reading here anymore ...

i completly agree. i have never been to a forum that have mods who consistently lock threads like this. i am not botherd by spam the LEAST BIT

[quote="Simo Häyhä":9e3dd]i completly agree. i have never been to a forum that have mods who consistently lock threads like this. i am not botherd by spam the LEAST BIT[/quote:9e3dd]

That's good that you aren't bothered by it, but what if others are? I for one, hate when people just post random crap here. I can put up with it occasionally, but not when it's all the time. The thing is a rules a rule. And if BadScript dosen't want people spamming here, then it shouldn't happen, that's all I'm trying to say.

Joe, it's all very well to make grand speeches, but I think the problem is you don't even "get" half the humor
or even see what it is people are enjoying. Your thread locking spree yesterday (ninty9, Bleuchudu (SP?))
before anyone could even see what was said, was a classic example of pure ignorance.

[quote="Bazooka_Joe":43a44][quote="Simo Häyhä":43a44]i completly agree. i have never been to a forum that have mods who consistently lock threads like this. i am not botherd by spam the LEAST BIT[/quote:43a44]

That's good that you aren't bothered by it, but what if others are? I for one, hate when people just post random crap here. I can put up with it occasionally, but not when it's all the time. The thing is a rules a rule. And if BadScript dosen't want people spamming here, then it shouldn't happen, that's all I'm trying to say.[/quote:43a44]
yea

Look, honestly, I have't seen one post in favour of lockage. All I see is people opposed to it, and these people make up this community. Without them this board would be nothing.

Listen to the people, I say. Best way to do it.

You can't please everyone but damn, I think the call on this particular topic is quite clearly cut in favour of being more lenient on locking posts.

As it used to be posts got locked for pretty much only a few reasons:

1) Mentioning or discussing cheats and/or warez.

2) Abusive behaviour (Lord, even this would have to go far before it got locked, if it did at all)

3) Utterly pointless and spammy topics (but by this I mean ones that are quite evidently off-topic on General forum.

Er, that's about it.

Dodd and Rudedog would step in maybe once a week to lock a thread and the forums didn't suffer for it.

Opinion, you might say, but I'll bet I have more agreeing with me on this than not.

I will say this once and for all that it is just about the most annoying thing to have a discussion or argument (even a flame-war) cut short by lockage with only a reason that it's spam.

If it were spam then we'd not post on it, would we?

Even worse is not being able to post on it at all.

Let's all just talk in PMs, shall we?

The edit button has gone already, is it the New Topic button next?

after they took for B.S. out of the title of this forum...I think we need spam to deal with the pain.

spam= pork stuff

i agree. Things around here happen almost like an improv which makes it funny-->enjoyable. With threads locking before they have a chance to develop, this whole enjoyable factor drops.

Ive been seeing alot of locked threads lately becuase of the newbies and they dont know wat to post so they just post useless threads sometimes i was even accused of spamming but i wasnt since joe cleared my name i wasnt spamming (thx joe by the way) but the point is their must be a way we can stop spamming we cant just simply get rid of Offtopic forum if we do their will be alot of complaints since the Edit button was taken away then people will start leaving AA.com their must be a better solution to stop spam instead of getting rid of the Offtopic becuase spam accures in mostly every forum on AA.

http://www.punctuation.com
http://www.grammar.com
http://www.dictionary.com

Well, sometimes the spam can get out of hand but this is an "off-topic" forum so stupid shit will be posted here from time to time. Also, the sigs are definately out of hand and i'm guilty of that too. It doesn't bother me too much since i'm not on dial-up but i feel for those guys.
About the lamest thing a mod can do besides locking a thread, is editing someones post.......thats bad, very bad. It hasn't happened to me here yet but thats the worst in my book.
My .02

http://www.thelinktopeststhreadaboutgra ... igence.com


thanks for your thought s on this matter

Hey judas - looks like you add another locked AND EDITTED thread to your prior count. Why would a mod edit someone else's post and not state that they had editted it? Whats the word I am looking for? I think I used it earlier.....hmmmmm...oh yeah..... chickenshit!

Very well put pest. But their must be a way we can stop spam and make people stop making useless threads.

I agree with a number of the posts above. I dont have a problem with the alledged spam. Most topics are clearly marked and this is the Off Topic forum. If you dont like the posts, use the back button on your browser. If there are members that spam excessively, deal with them directly. If a thread is truly worthless, it will die and slip off the front page.

Ya good threads have gone to waist since stupid users have been changing the subject and spamming them and joe has to lock them(im not blaming u) its their fault for changing the subject and its joe's job to take care of it thats why we lose threads so easily is becuase people change the subject and it creates spam.

eek:

Tripper give it a rest and stop acting like a dumass. We already have enough military police to lock up spam threads but wat else can they do to prevent it.

amazing, no wonder why I didnt log onto this "site" for a week

How about you come over here and choke on my fat dick, you stupid fucking cum-gargler.

Owned.

Leave him alone Trip. Besides, you dont have a dick to choke on in the first place happy:

[img]http://www.dodstudios.net/uploads/uploads/six27.jpg[/img]
angel:

Eat some gay.