Spam ethics.

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dpaanlka
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Spam ethics.

Post by dpaanlka » Fri Apr 01, 2011 2:54 pm

So I've noticed a huge surge in a type of forum spam that I hadn't seen before. It seems a popular new trend for spammers to copy the entire contents of a legitimate post somewhere else on the internet and post it into my forum as if it were there own. They always embed links into it, or into their signature, or post a reply later on that contains links.

My question is - my mods and other members often haven't even a clue about this, and reply to the posts as if you would any other post. Upon discovery that it is a complete plagiarism of a post from some other website, is it proper to delete the whole topic?

What would you do?
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Popp Singh
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Re: Spam ethics.

Post by Popp Singh » Fri Apr 01, 2011 3:32 pm

Administrate . = if someone has a forum its the same as haveing a car ........ they have the responsibility for it and should carry it and / or apoint people as moderators who should do it . If your moderators and administrators dont know what spam is and how to deal with it teach them . Give them a sense of responsibility . that means that moderators should be people who care about the site and who are regularly online . Everyone with a forum gets spam and if the staff are doing their jobs it will be seen and deleted very quickly . Every link should be looked at and if its in the slightest comercial the member should be banned imediately . One can have a bit of leeway for members that have proven that they are serious members and they should be softly and openly warned . . By that i dont mean waveing the big stick at them i mean just by deleteing the link and makeing a small gentle comment ...... like ...... "guys thats spam please be a little more carefull" .

Generaly on a forum one should cultivate a sense of resoponsibility amongst the members so that they feel equal , at home and know that they are allowed to have an opinion and say it . When that gets over the members start to take care and when they see spam report it and comment on it in the same topic .

I joined a site with over 10000 members and it had terible problems with trolls , spam and mentaly ill people . After a while i got the members and staff to do it how i just said and the problems very nearly stoped and the forum ran itself without any need for much moderation .

Forums dont need dictators or a hyerarchy . They need careing responsible members .

Its like haveing and raising kids . If you are permanently involved with power games and it hails warnings or you come down to their level you have lost and in the end so have they .

I hope the staff hear read this and try it .



EDIT - Wow !! After rereading this post i think it should be post of the year .............
What i say is my opinion . If you dont like it or dissagree with it lets talk about it and try to come to an agreement . I`m not to old to learn or change my opinions if they are wrong .

http://www.youtopia.ws

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Re: Spam ethics.

Post by IanSn » Fri Apr 01, 2011 9:35 pm

Administrate... yep. Or in other words -- delete! delete!

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Re: Spam ethics.

Post by Kim_Possible » Sat Apr 02, 2011 12:57 am

If the post is found to be a rip-off for the purpose of spamming, we do delete the offending post and ban the spammer, but if a good discussion is going as a result, we usually leave the resulting topic.

We have also seen spammers make "plagiarized" posts (I assume this is because it is cheaper/easier than generating original content) without links, only to come back later to edit the post with spam/links. We have had to adjust our post edit settings quite a bit to prevent this.

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Re: Spam ethics.

Post by Pony99CA » Sat Apr 02, 2011 2:18 am

Kim_Possible wrote:If the post is found to be a rip-off for the purpose of spamming, we do delete the offending post and ban the spammer, but if a good discussion is going as a result, we usually leave the resulting topic.
Yes, delete the poster, but leave his posts (or at least that one) intact (but strip out any spam links, of course).

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Re: Spam ethics.

Post by Pony99CA » Sat Apr 02, 2011 2:27 am

Popp Singh wrote:Every link should be looked at and if its in the slightest comercial the member should be banned imediately .
I agree that every link should be checked, but I don't have a problem with relevant commercial links. For example, if I'm running a board dedicated to Ford Mustangs, I wouldn't mind a person posting with a link to his auto parts store. If he never posted again, I might tell him that I was going to delete him, but if he remains a part of the community, I don't mind if he gets a little business by being helpful. Not all commercialism is spam.

Now, if he posted a link to pharmaceuticals or get-rich-quick schemes, I'd certainly delete his account and possibly take other measures.
Popp Singh wrote:EDIT - Wow !! After rereading this post i think it should be post of the year ....
You would. :roll: It's not bad (well, except for the spelling, grammar and other technical details :P), but it's not anything particularly insightful, either. It's just common sense.

To get back to the original question, though, if you catch a copied topic before anybody else posts, delete it. I've seen people on a blog copy a few sentences (sometimes not even full sentences) from the original entry and post them as comments in the same place. How stupid do they think we are? :lol:

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Re: Spam ethics.

Post by Popp Singh » Sat Apr 02, 2011 9:31 am

Spellin and gramer ? That was yesteryeer . Nowadaiss sinse the internete it is comunicateing .In my opinyun grammer and spelin are literle faschism ........ the few peeple thad kan do it dicktaetin to the massess thad karn`t .

Teknickl detyls ? Witch ?

"it's not anything particularly insightful, either. It's just common sense."

No but itz somethin tha OP an LOTSA otherz aska bout an comonsense is relitive to ones experiens ......... or so manny peeple wudnt ask a bout it wud they ?

"t's just common sense."

Pleeze tel that to the peopl argyouin abowt hoo`s got the bigest in tha MOD spam thred a bout stopin spamm . Ifa few mor peaple their had mei comm onn senze it wudnt b a totle childisch shambles .

Teknyckl detyels ? Whitch?.......Pleaze ?
What i say is my opinion . If you dont like it or dissagree with it lets talk about it and try to come to an agreement . I`m not to old to learn or change my opinions if they are wrong .

http://www.youtopia.ws

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Re: Spam ethics.

Post by IanSn » Sat Apr 02, 2011 8:42 pm

I agree the reason why this copied content happens is because freelance people are being paid to add legit sounding posts on forums for covert marketing purposes. This saves them having to write content themselves, its quick, easy and they get paid for it.

The whole approach here is designed to avoid being spotted by admin and come in under the radar. That just annoys me. Period.

If someone wants to advertise on my board they should *!!**! pay me for it.

The 'ethics' question is a good one. For one thing its very hard now to draw a line between spamming and marketing. There are those who would argue legally, and do, that spamming (and grabbing personal data, etc.) is marketing anyway and they have a right make money.

But I have a right to decide who gets to advertise on my patch.

That particular arguement will have to be resolved in the courts.

Agree with Popp, though, too many folks and long threads about technicalities of spamming and the real issue is not actually discussed. Or dealt with.

The web is awash with things that are waaay too invasive and, technically, should be illegal - but the law hasn't got its head round what's going on out there yet. :lol: If it happened on the street people wouldn't stand for it.
Ian
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Re: Spam ethics.

Post by Kim_Possible » Sun Apr 03, 2011 12:13 am

For me it is about as simple as . . .
IanSn wrote:But I have a right to decide who gets to advertise on my patch.
I suppose I am in favor of making spam illegal in theory, though I doubt very seriously that another law will accomplish anything.

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Re: Spam ethics.

Post by Pony99CA » Sun Apr 03, 2011 12:17 am

Kim_Possible wrote:For me it is about as simple as . . .
IanSn wrote:But I have a right to decide who gets to advertise on my patch.
I suppose I am in favor of making spam illegal in theory, though I doubt very seriously that another law will accomplish anything.
Would it be unethical to take contracts out on spammers? :lol:

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Re: Spam ethics.

Post by IanSn » Sun Apr 03, 2011 1:22 am

Here in UK I think spamming was actually made illegal, some time ago. (Not sure what the legislation actually was or what specific activities it applied to. Be interesting to look that up.)
Pointless really. Its hard to define and there are no country borders on the internet...

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Re: Spam ethics.

Post by callumacrae » Sun Apr 03, 2011 10:51 am

IanSn wrote:Here in UK I think spamming was actually made illegal, some time ago. (Not sure what the legislation actually was or what specific activities it applied to. Be interesting to look that up.)
Pointless really. Its hard to define and there are no country borders on the internet...
I believe spam was covered in the 2003 Communications Act, although it's perfectly legal to spam businesses. Also, the UK laws would only cover spam coming from the UK, not to it. The majority of spam doesn't come from the UK, it comes from Asia (I believe), which doesn't have specific laws governing spam, an if it does they're not enforced as effectively as they are here.

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Re: Spam ethics.

Post by /a3 » Sun Apr 03, 2011 10:53 am

I thought most of the world's spam came from the USA? :o
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Re: Spam ethics.

Post by Kim_Possible » Sun Apr 03, 2011 1:02 pm

/a3 wrote:I thought most of the world's spam came from the USA? :o
I wouldn't be surprised to find that the money from spam ultimately makes it way back to the US, but my personal experience has been that SPAM rarely comes directly from the US.

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Re: Spam ethics.

Post by IanSn » Sun Apr 03, 2011 1:09 pm

Hard to say where its actually originating from.

Far and away most of the hits to my forums - scanning, attempted auto hitting the reg file, and what-not - are addresses in RU and UA. A continuous rain.
Then CN - but I don't think these actually originate there.
After that its a mix of NL, DE, US.
These tend to be from dsl residential customer blocks.

But the hits coming from commercial ranges, hosted sites, are almost exclusively US, yes.

None of the providers seem to take any notice of abuse reports. Waste of time.
Lots of IP blocking. (I want to know what happens in this respect when we switch to IPv6.)

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