Waygook! > Website usage, help, FAQs, Questions, Suggestions.

Spam from newbs trying to get to 5 posts

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flasyb:
I know when you first rock up to the ROK, especially if you're new at the old teaching game, most people need some time to find their feet and find the waygook.org lessons quite useful, at least for getting the ideas flowing and at best for planning out entire semesters.

Newbs need help, granted.

However, surely I'm not the only one who is getting sick of the pointless "Hi, nice to meet you" messages that are cropping up everywhere all the time. Plus, the "This is great, thanks!" messages posted by people who only just have 5 posts.

I understand the mods might be too busy to scan every thread that they can for the spam that these users post up in order to be able to download unlimited lesson plans but surely there must be a better way to prevent this level of spamming, which seems to be on the increase.

It seems that these days, all you need to do to be able to download unlimited lesson plans from fellow waygook.org users is post "Hi nice to meet you", "wow, this is great" on a couple of threads and then maybe throw in a "Yes, that is very serious. You should try showing a movie. Kids love movies!  :D "

Is there anything that can be done about the constant spamming from users (in the pejorative sense) of the site?

lotte world:

--- Quote from: flasyb on May 14, 2012, 07:20:50 PM ---
Is there anything that can be done about the constant spamming from users (in the pejorative sense) of the site?

--- End quote ---

Yes.  Remove the requirement to make five posts.

flasyb:

--- Quote from: lotte world on May 14, 2012, 07:26:44 PM ---
--- Quote from: flasyb on May 14, 2012, 07:20:50 PM ---
Is there anything that can be done about the constant spamming from users (in the pejorative sense) of the site?

--- End quote ---

Yes.  Remove the requirement to make five posts.

--- End quote ---

I'd be down with that.

strawberry:
ooh the best one: "I loved your powerpoint!"  (how much do you love it if you only have 2 posts and can't even download yet?!)

Brian:
My favorite is when they post "why can't I download?" on threads explaining exactly why they can't download.  If you're going to join a site and expect hand-outs, take some time to learn how it works first. 

I don't think it's on the increase, I think it's always been a problem. 

There are a few ways to deal with it.  The posting requirement clearly is a big reason for it, and leads people to throw up empty posts or post links or other stuff that doesn't really help: redundant worksheets, links that everyone knows about, powerpoints entirely in Korean, etc. If the requirement went away we'd still have thousands of users downloading material without ever contributing a thing.  At least this way we can see who's around and using the site, even if there are some annoyances.  When moderators have debated this requirement, opinion is split, because new members who can't see attachments obviously can't post stuff that meets the standards of our best teachers. 

Maybe there is a way to tie download capacity to the number of posts or uploads.  That is, somebody without any posts doesn't have unlimited downloads.  Somebody who has, say, 7 posts can only make ___ downloads per month.  (I don't do anything on the back end, so I don't know if that's possible or easy).  Or maybe a way to let new members download a limited amount for seven days, post-free, just so they can see what we have.

When we find these empty posts, though, it's an easy way to find who is here to share and be community members, and who is here just to steal.  If you come across empty posts you don't think belong here, click "report to moderator" so a mod can easily get to it.  We remove the posts and issue warnings.  Repeat offenders are muted and the most flagrant ones can get banned.

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