To deal with spammers

[Ricardo2020]

Greetings, fellow community members.

I want to talk about forum spam.

As time goes by,, I see more spam happening on this forum. Like all other internet gathering places, spammers look for low hanging fruit, that is, slow forums without formal moderation tools. They pollute the site, and the only way of dealing with it here is to report said spam. The spam is still there. IMHO, there needs to be a way to not only remove said detritus, but to block and or ban said spammer.

Yes, I know this is a virtual whack-a-mole game, but I come in here often and I am capable of carrying a really big mole whacking hammer. I would even be willing to do a daily smack down if given the chance. Spamming is a cancer that ruins the experience when you are looking for the latest topic only to find out it is just another turd in the punch bowl. This is one of the main reasons why I avoid all social media.

I do not want this forum to become just another cesspit in cyberspace, but left unattended without consequence, that is exactly what will happen. The community moves slowly and that is OK. However, it should not be seen as low hanging fruit which is ripe for those who do not give one whit about the purpose and focus of this forum and its community of happy human makers. Let's work together to solve this growing problem before things get out of hand.

Thanks for considering this option.

End of rant.

[tomcat]

I can only agree with you that spammers make an extremely bendy impression and something should be done about it. There is not much activity on the site, but it is still there. And spammers are doing everything they can to bring it down to zero.

Unfortunately, my proposal did not arouse interest. Well, I have experience not only in moderation, but I am already an administrator on the game forum. I come here almost every day and could delete spam.

Curious, purely in theory, what punishment is possible against spammers? Is criminal prosecution possible?

[Ricardo2020]

Howdy, Tomcat.

To punish spammers.....

I had a dream once. I owned a programmable zap gun with AI. It had heat seeking precision guided ordinance and, once a victim was targeted, could sniff out and hit its goal. When the shell made contact, the target would be transported to the top of Mount Everest during a really heavy snow. Stripped of clothing, frostbite would claim the target in seconds, but not before a really painful death occurred.

In the dream, I could target anyone who dealt in harmful activity. So, I set the parameters for all marketers who lie, cheat, steal and annoy, and other social cancers like Meta and such, so that the CEOs and their boot licking crannies were in my sights. Once the salvo was released, the world became a better place overnight.

Then I woke up.

Spammers and marketers in general are of the same turgid mindset. They care about nothing but their own selfish interests. They break the world. They ruin everything. They are poison. If left unchecked, they take over. Everyone else loses.

I do not want to see that happen here. This community is an epic destination in cyberspace, and the artist has so much to gain by using and developing its vast set of resources, all with no financial cost. It welcomes everyone running MAC, Windows or Linux. It is as things should be.

It is high time that the spammers get what they deserve, a swift kick in the ass which constipates them forever until they blow up from all the shit stuffing. I mean it. They do not belong here, or anywhere else, for that matter.

As long as these evil folks are allowed free reign, they will run rough shod over everything and everyone who wants to enjoy making art rather than dodge useless and dangerous crap.

Someone asked me once in a community forum post how I could help out. I offered two things. One, welcome new artists. Two, ban unwelcome spammers. Give me that power and watch me go. I am already helping the newbies. Now let me at the asshats. They won't like what happens next...

I am glad to see you among those who share this sentiment.

Thanks for the reply.

[tomcat]

Here's an example:

• The man with the real question is a Newly registered user with limited rights.
• And a spammer with 4 posts is a full Registered user!!

I realize that the new site is being worked on, but normal users will be scared away in the meantime.

[Ricardo2020]

You are spot on, Sir.

That last thing we need is a spammers stifling the hard efforts of so many good folks who want to make art, not follow influencers to dodgy places for bad things.

This is why we need a team willing to moderate as a community. We already have most of the tools for reporting on each post page. Now all we need is a way of dealing with that reported information. But some ground rules must be understood before using the ban hammer since holding the handle of that requires forum admin privileges.

1. If it smells like spam, acts like spam and feels like spam, and has been reported as such, then it must be spam. Delete the post and ban the author.

2. Make sure, on the new user signup page, that it is bot proof and does not contain hidden pixels to you know where. Do not sell out to the big tech tempters. Just no.

3. Create server certs so that the site lists as what it is, an art site for digital model creation. This makes searches from elsewhere actually work without being buried in porn listings when safe search in the browser is off. It also sets your repos for OS validity. This looks much better to the newbies.

4. Make certain that the above is known and easy to find and understand. Put it where they cannot miss it, but do not make a nag popup out of the notice like so many bad web designers do these days. People who are potential human makers get turned off by that sort of thing. They go away, never to return.

Now, we cannot send offenders to Mount Everest with heat seeking target teleporting missiles. Heck. We cannot even prosecute them. However, we can keep them gone from public view on this forum. It really is that easy in principal. The tech end will be a challenge, but at the end of the day, well worth community effort.

After a time, the scumbags will see no value in what they have mistakenly viewed as low hanging fruit for easy pickin's. They too will go away. And new newbies will flock without fear. And the spammers will get tired of the boot to the hind end. But there will always be new ones... A ban hammer driver is never finished... Sigh...

Let's get the ball rolling...