Hi,
I think we should limit new users to only post a welcome/hello message or contribute to an existing thread. Reason being, it could cut down the spam postings.
Do you see much spam postings here?
I delete around 10 new spam users every day before they even write their first post. Additionally, most spam posts are filtered out by our spam protection software and deleted by us before any user gets to see them. Spam posts that are visible to the communiy normally last less than an hour before they get hidden or even deleted.
Most spam posts i discover are not new topics but replies to existing topics. Often these are copied sentences of older posts or robot-created texts.
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Hi Eric, not a huge number, but every now and then.
Call me ignorant on the topic of spam but I do not feel i have noticed any and I do read a lot of posts. Even the ones I’m not particularly interested in.
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Spams are usually flagged pretty quick, so they disappear before a lot of people see them. I’d say I flag one or two every weeks and I don’t think I’m the only one.
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Good job on goal keeping I honestly have not noticed any.
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I’m not a fan of forcing (instead of suggesting) someone to present themselves on a forum. It feels pressuring and not very welcoming; at least, this is what I feel when I want to post on forums where the staff required a proper presentation. I sometimes even didn’t participate because of this.
Also, spammers would just then post their spam in their presentations. Some have already done that sometimes here.
And on our French forum, a few months ago some new user posted a presentation message where he explained that he wanted to learn unicycling, and spoke about his daughter’s tricycle with a tricycles information forum link…
The messages seemed legit at first, but after visiting the link, it was clear that it was a “niche site” with affiliated links made in the sole purpose of earnings, and the post was a spam to this intent. I removed the link, waited for a few days, and the guy never came back. I then deleted his account.
By default, new users can’t post links. But I removed this limitation because I prefer new users not having this kind of frustrating limitations but having to deal a very little much more with spammers in exchange.
Since you’re a trust level 3 (trust level are an automated system based on a lot of criterion) member, when you flag a post, it is instantly hidden. That also helps reduce the presence of “existing” spam to other users and visitors.
Yeah, I estimate the number of spammers to be around 15 each day and they are 95% of the time blocked by the system / deleted by an admin before then can even post a message.
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Ok thanks, and thanks for your work. It’s the same here, I see them occasionally like Maxence but I guess if all/many regular users flag the posts as spam then it’s not excessive/arduous work overall. If i’m wrong, then moderating/admining is no fun!
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I see very few spam messages, I think Maxence is too fast for me. 
Just some dubious messages like this one: Lessons for Kids? (in DC area) - #3 by casder
But I don’t really see the point of writing a message with such a poor content from a robot or a human. 
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These are just to establish a new spam account before really starting to spam. I have an eye on things like this 
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If you help us with flagging these, it’s really fine. Especially as you are one of the early birds on here. When our american users drink their morning coffee, the south east asian spam army is mostly done for this day.
At the moment it is not much work every day to get rid of this.
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Yeah… I had doubts but approved this message, though I’m monitoring it. But it’s probably a “future” spam account.
When I have doubts, I check the avatar, username, full name, email address, the IP address with public spam databases records. Seemed legit based on this, despite the random content on an old topic.
And I also check other public account data over several days. Did the user come back? Did they read any more posts? Etc…
But I guess this account will be gone in a few days. 
But how will I get cheap escorts or nice funeral services (yes, we had a spam account about this…)? 
The moderation interface is pretty straightforward. Looking at detected/reported accounts and taking action is usually a matter of two or three mouse clicks. 
Plus Eric apparently wakes up earlier than me and does all the job so… 
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Additionally, i go through the new users list every oner or two days, which leads into deleting 8 out of 10 before they ever posted anythig or even got recognized by our anti spam software. 
This can be really fun sometimes when you read their profiles. 
Just did this routine now:
Looked at 15 new accounts, deleted 7 instantly, two look like real unicyclists, rest is highly suspicious. One even named its account …_backlink.
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Sometimes I spot them in the users’ avatars list on the top of the topic list before they have been detected by the automated system (or before the system sent the notification; I’m not sure about the behavior). They have their business logo as their avatar, it’s striking as almost no legit user does that.
Also, I receive a fair amount of emails from marketing/ad/spam guys that ask me if they can post promoted content in exchange for money or stuff like that… I always report these email as spam and don’t reply.
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For the curious ones, here’s what the admin panel looks like, regarding the automatically detected (or reported) users:
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Cool stuff. Yep, spam x3!
I read this post after reading yours. I’m not sure how this would be considered spam? On the other hand I guess it could be a ploy of getting some one to give up personal info.
I would have never thought!
As I understand it, some spam attempts start with a banal message (generated with AI?) that looks pretty normal so as not to arouse suspicion.
Maybe it’s just someone who registered on the forum without paying attention that it was a unicycle forum… 
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One of the things I notice about spam accounts or fake reviews is that there will frequently be little details about things that don’t exist or exist on similar products. In reading the Amazon reviews of full face bicycle helmets I remember one mentioning how the visor didn’t fog up.
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Starting to be a little bit off-topic but… On every site I read with customer reviews (usually 1 to 5 stars), I read only comments with 2 to 4 stars.
5 stars are likely to be filled with false reviews. In this business (fake reviews buyers), to my knowledge at least, they always ask for 5 stars review and never less.
1 star reviews are rarely representative of the real product quality as well.
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