How to stop spamming?

[Gaius Julius]

Hey everyone,
Okay, so after that little spamming spree by several of our members, I thought it was high-time we looked at spamming itself, its causes, its problems and ways it can be stopped.

Spamming-what is it?

Spamming is essentially posting comments with little or no relevance to the topic at hand.

For Example, if I made a topic asking for reviews on some fan-fic I had written, and someone posted the comment,\"Haha you squig humper! Did you watch Eastenders last nite?\" , then that could be construed as spamming.

I don\'t think it\'s spamming!

No, you don\'t. Because in your mind, it\'s just harmless fun, banter and generally just a laugh. BUT, to others it\'s annoying, frustrating, and just downright silly.

Why do I do it?

people spam because they want to make a joke. They want to go up to Hawke and call him a \"grot humper\", or worse. It makes them feel big, and makes them laugh to themselves. But the laughter soon stops as we all have to sift through an endless stream of posts to find the actual on-topic ones.

What effect does it have?

Spamming has a very negative effect on a community. It means that polite, well written, and on-topic posts are lost in an endless sea of ridiculous ones, with no relevance to anything. It also means that the Mods and Adders have to go around deleting them. It makes the forum seem out of control, silly, and not worth looking at, which is NOT WHAT WE WANT!

So, how do I stop it?

Simple:think, before you post. Read your comment through again, and if you think that it could be construed as spam or off-topic, either don\'t post it, or alter it so that it fits in. If you do post something off-topic, please DELETE it yourself. Don\'t make Hawke do it!

Thanks for listening.

GJ

[Skrall]

thanks gj, karma boost.
He\'s right though, its not bad to go off topic, i like it when its productive off topic but not mindless dribble about salford in a post about spam!

Thanks for listening to this moaning old git.
Hawke

[Indra]

Good post GJ, very well written, and to be honest, something everyone ought to read.

We are all guilty of a little spam from time to time, and when this breeds an interesting off topic topic its great. But it often doesn\'t and so we need to keep the spam off the boards.

[mark]

yea i see what you mean,

sorry to go off topic here, but why is it called \"spamming\" ?

[grinkohof]

well, i dont agree with you about \"spamming posts\" i think they are funny, and thats one of the reasons why i come to this forum, to relax and participate in a bit of a laugh. without those \"spamming posts\" the forum would be very boring and i think we would lose alot of members over it, dont get too strict guys, its not a prison camp.

i think this site is changing for the worse, too strict on the everyday joe soap non-mod member.

if you really wanna stop spamming, make a section of the forum for insults and funny conversations, thats what i think.

[TheSovereign]

grinko wrote:

well, i dont agree with you about \"spamming posts\" i think they are funny, and thats one of the reasons why i come to this forum, to relax and participate in a bit of a laugh. without those \"spamming posts\" the forum would be very boring and i think we would lose alot of members over it, dont get too strict guys, its not a prison camp.

i think this site is changing for the worse, too strict on the everyday joe soap non-mod member.

if you really wanna stop spamming, make a section of the forum for insults and funny conversations, thats what i think.

I think the introductions and general board should be fairly loose on this kind of thing...it\'s not hurting the board, really. I mean, 40k boards should be on topic but other than that I don\'t have a problem with some harmless chatter on the other boards.

[adders]

TheSovereign wrote:

I think the introductions and general board should be fairly loose on this kind of thing...it\'s not hurting the board, really. I mean, 40k boards should be on topic but other than that I don\'t have a problem with some harmless chatter on the other boards.

Hello Guys

Time for my tuppence worth.

I agree with TheSovereign on this, a voice of reason as always.

I for one don\'t mind a bit of spam but as TheSovereign says if posts aren\'t 40k based keep them in the General Category.

For example I know I\'ve used the comments and suggestions forum as though I were chatting in messenger sometimes as I try to find out what people think of something.

I think though the other forums should stay on topic if they can.

I don\'t want the mods to get draconian about enforcing this but they should delete posts that are blatantly irrelevant to the category they are posted in.

e.g.

A user posts a Tau question and someone replies asking how the user is... Use a PM.

A user posts in the Space Marine forum asking about the price of a snickers in Madrid, stick it in the General(non-40K) forum.

A user posts a Eldar question in the Eldar forum, the topic then goes off on a bit of a tangent after a number of posts, this for me is the grey area if it only goes on for a few posts, fine, if not maybe a mod needs to post, get it back on topic and suggest they carry on their posts in the general forum.

So to recap.

In the general category feel free post what you like (bearing in mind bad language and racist comments etc are off limits).

Mods go easy on people on these forums.

The other categories need to be kept on topic, see examples above.

Geez this turned out longer than I intended.

Cheers

Post edited by: adders, at: 2006/06/21 16:41

[Aun O Vader]

OK, first, if this topic has not been stickied it should be, and highlighted if possible to draw people\'s attention to it.

Second, personally I have found myself turning away from a lot of subjects due to the high Spam potential, I know that a lot of subjects are likely to be spammed just for kicks!

Third, I do however accept that Spam can be beneficial, the jokes and the banter that those of us who are regulars share, especially in the \"introduce yourself\" forum are an intrinsic part of the Astronomican. And I think that it is important to keep this, as it humanises us to the new joiners, and it makes them want to take part in the conversations, and to want to join our awesome community.

I do not want to see us go the way of the GW forums, where the mods become the fun police, and try to stop any form of banter or jokes, at the end of the day this is a private venture for online friends. I like to share a joke with my friends outside the net, why shouldn\'t I share a joke in the net.

I agree with the suggestions of spam being regulated on the topical forums, but we should all be able to go to the general non40k forum and the introduce yourself forum and kick back.

blimey, this subject seems to encourage lengthy posts! right, nowe to give GJ some (more) karma for starting us off on this subject.

[adders]

I\'ll sticky this AunO.

By the way I don\'t want the mods to be anywhere near as extreme as the GW mods.

Also no 40k based topics will ever be of limits, Squats anyone?

And finally no worries in exchanging banter on any forum if it forms part of an on topic post or is a reply to a previous post.

It\'s just the pages full of off topic posts we want to ensure are kept to the general category.

Cheers

[wakopanda]

one more thing. i agree with adders on all counts, the rules can be pretty lax in the introduction and general forums, and tighter elsewhere.

but one small thing, going off topic, even in a 40k forum, can be a good thing if its productive off topic. for example, a post in the tau forums comparing carbines and rifles, then develops into a discussion about if a devilfish is a decnent buy or not. still a perfectly productive topic, and as long as thats the way the posts are moving, i see no problem with it.

if someones first reply to said topic though, was that devilfishes are useless, and the person makes no refference to the orriginal topic, then it needs to be moved back on track. if not, i feel its okay.

your thoughts?

[adders]

I agree, a quick post from a mod restating the topic would be a good way to get it back on track.

In some cases maybe a mod should post encouraging the user to create a new topic about the new subject and get the original topic back on track that way.

[Indra]

I cant remember when I said it, but generally speaking I know that spam can result in a good line of coversation. Anyone remember the now recently deceased decline of Tactics in 40k thread? That deviated and became one of the most informative and interesting threads on the forum.

I am really very laid back even if in the last few days I\'ve appeared as a prison guard twirling my nightstick. I had a few issues with things and now that they are being resolved I can relax a bit.

Spamming productively is good. Spamming pointlessly will see deleted posts to prevent extreme off topic deviation, and guilty parties PM\'d.

Indrafurya

[grinkohof]

sounds fair enough, and dont worry indra, people dont get angry at mods for doing their job, as i explained to hawke in another post. keep up the good work.
B)

[Gaius Julius]

grinko wrote:

sounds fair enough, and dont worry indra, people dont get angry at mods for doing their job, as i explained to hawke in another post. keep up the good work.
B)

Lol yep, you\'re safe for now indra!

:evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:

GJ

[grinkohof]

Gaius Julius wrote:

grinko wrote:

sounds fair enough, and dont worry indra, people dont get angry at mods for doing their job, as i explained to hawke in another post. keep up the good work.
B)

Lol yep, you\'re safe for now indra!

:evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:

GJ


yeah, you\'re safe until we get bored and decide to destroy you, or until the non-mod members plan a revolt and take over the astro!

:laugh:

(yes i am aware that i may be spamming in the \"how to stop spamming\" post, dont PM me!)

Post edited by: grinko, at: 2006/06/22 02:09

[Skrall]

I\'m saying this. Thanks for the comment, i know there has been a rebelion against me but i crush this rebelion in my Iron grasp.

Hawke

[Starscream]

GJ is right.
Less spam.
I don\'t think this means less fun.

[Gaius Julius]

Ok guys. I just want to draw your attention once more to this thread. Read these spamming guidelines, and follow them.

Or else.

GJ