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My First Ban!

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Tom Levine

Tom Levine

Skilled Investigator
As your newly appointed moderator of The Paracast Forums, I'm proud to say that I just:

BANNED MY FIRST MEMBER!!!

Posting spam to this forum is completely unnacceptable. Make no sudden moves; This will only hurt for a moment; I'll aim for the throat, and cut fast and deep; If you spam us, you will be BANNED FOREVER!

:)

Members, if you see any evil wrongdoings, such as posting utter garbage to the forums, please send me a direct email, or private-message me. I'll be fair, but swift. I will cut every thread, and delete every post, to ensure that our forum remains SPAM FREE, FOREVER!

And by the way, SPAMMER...If you're reading this note, take heed: I KNOW YOUR IP ADDRESS. I know what city you live in, I know who your provider is, and I know how to create a whole lot of trouble on my own.

I'm an investigative journalist. I'm a snoop. I won't hesitate to use these skills, in an effort to protect this forum, and hinder your evil activity on the NET, forever!!!

Sincerely, your devoted moderator, Tom.
 
About once every 2 weeks there is someone that spams something. Last one that I noticed was someone spamming a "spiritual" site. Some other person spams cell phones and computers. Too bad it's not porn like Korff's site eh?
 
A.LeClair said:
About once every 2 weeks there is someone that spams something. Last one that I noticed was someone spamming a "spiritual" site. Some other person spams cell phones and computers. Too bad it's not porn like Korff's site eh?
Click to expand...

Right. No one is interested in buying a plasma TV from England. Would it even fit in my socket, anyway?

But porn...Well, I guess that's another socket altogether now, isn't it ;)

Unlike other forums, this one's got moderators who actually enjoys squashing bugs. Send me the posts, and I'll squash away.

Haven't decided how far I want to go yet...Oh, there's LOTS of things we could do to violators.
 
Tom Levine said:
I KNOW YOUR IP ADDRESS. I know what city you live in, I know who your provider is, and I know how to create a whole lot of trouble on my own.
. . .

Haven't decided how far I want to go yet...Oh, there's LOTS of things we could do to violators.
Click to expand...

The zeal is appreciated, it's good to see spam free forums . . . I'd watch the vague threats though.

-DBTrek
 
If they did nothing but spam, ban em. Many will come back via another account though. They'll usually give up after one or two IP bans however.

Most spammers that are trying to sell something only come here to do that. Not like they post relevant stuff even some of the time.
 
A lot of forum spamming is now automated - the spam bots can create a new account and post links automatically, just depends how thorough your 'new user' process is and whic forum software you're running.

When I ran a forum I found a lot of spammers just wanted to get onto the members list page - having a web link on the members page can increase your site's rating with search engines such as google.
 
A question - is posting a link to a thread in another forum considered spam? I belong to some forums, but do not yet know all the ins and outs and I don't want to unintentionally break a rule. For example, if I want to refer to more info from say, the JREF or AnythingGhost, or whatever, is that spamming?
 
Ankhes said:
A question - is posting a link to a thread in another forum considered spam? I belong to some forums, but do not yet know all the ins and outs and I don't want to unintentionally break a rule. For example, if I want to refer to more info from say, the JREF or AnythingGhost, or whatever, is that spamming?
Click to expand...


Ankhes, not as far as I'm concerned. The infraction with regard this post, had to do with an individual who created 4 threads within an hour, and all subjects had to do with selling cheap plasma televisions from England. Clearly, this person was a spammer, who probably had no idea who we were, or what we do here.

Just to be clear, I would NEVER ban someone with regard to a discussion point, or a point of view, or a tactful argument. Just read some of my own posts. If I were to follow that train of thought, I would have banned myself long ago.

Furthermore, what you're describing doesn't sound like a problem, at all. If you were posting something derogatory or inflammatory, and that was brought to my attention, I might inquire about it, and treat the issue with some objectivity before taking any action.

The reality is that this is, in fact, a public forum. While you must be a member to post, spiders come by here all the time, as to visitors, and it is all open for comment around the NET. If the conversation is picked up in other forums, that's a good thing, is it not?

Everything's a case by case. My goal is to keep the spam out as much as possible. What you're describing, certainly is NOT spam.
 
Good work, Tom. Spammers will not be allowed on these forums.

As far as the question about linking to threads on other forums, that's completely cool, as far as I'm concerned.

dB
 
Ankhes said:
A question - is posting a link to a thread in another forum considered spam? I belong to some forums, but do not yet know all the ins and outs and I don't want to unintentionally break a rule. For example, if I want to refer to more info from say, the JREF or AnythingGhost, or whatever, is that spamming?
Click to expand...

No, I do it all the time. So far I haven't got into trouble for it. Now if you post the same link in every thread, then yes that would be spam, unless it's on your sig. The person who spammed the spiritual site did it in every thread with no regard to subject/topic.
 
A.LeClair said:
No, I do it all the time. So far I haven't got into trouble for it. Now if you post the same link in every thread, then yes that would be spam, unless it's on your sig. The person who spammed the spiritual site did it in every thread with no regard to subject/topic.
Click to expand...

It was probably an automated 'script' - no user interaction required. You can get a piece of code to submit a 'form' if you know the expected field values should be...

...it's a real nuisance for the forum software writers.
 
Rick Deckard said:
It was probably an automated 'script' - no user interaction required. You can get a piece of code to submit a 'form' if you know the expected field values should be...

...it's a real nuisance for the forum software writers.
Click to expand...

Could be. The message varied though. Usually that sort of thing has the same message/wording I think. Either way, ban em!
 
you have my support but get over yourself already.

i have seen this mightier than god attitude on forums before and it is downright sickening and will drive people away very quickly.
 
pixelsmith said:
you have my support but get over yourself already.

i have seen this mightier than god attitude on forums before and it is downright sickening and will drive people away very quickly.
Click to expand...

Since this board was set up in 2006, we have banned maybe a dozen or two members, either for disrupting the forums (you know who they are) or spamming the board. That's not a large figure by any means, and I think others encounter worse difficulties. Tom was simply reminding would-be vandals that we aren't going to accept such behavior. There are three of us monitoring the boards now, so there are very few hours where it isn't being observed constantly.

At the same time, I know we can depend on the rest of you to let us know if something is amiss here.

We're not mightier than anyone -- just telling it like it is.
 
i understand completely Gene. been there done that with forums and moderating.
good job Tom. i hate spammers.
 
Thanks, Gene.

Pixelsmith, Thanks for the comments. I'm just having a little fun with my new toys...

:cool: I'll admit to the showboating.:cool:


That said, Gene's absolutely right about the intention. Have no fear, the enthusiasm will subside relatively soon.
 
Tom, no problem here. i remember my first Banning of a rude poster. (not here) it gave me a feeling of "take that you butthead!"

it is good to have enthusiasm. good quality to have.
 
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