Anti-troll mod Tachy Goes to Coventry

[Brian Boru]

Greeted by ~75% spam—or so I assume—threads about Fortnite, PUBG, CoD when I just visited, I was reminded of an old mod which Zenforo dev Kier wrote for vBulletin back in a previous life, and since adapted for Zenforo. If PCG admin/mods aren't aware of it, it might help make your task easier.

Add-on - Tachy Goes to Coventry

Any add-on with vB's 'Tachy Goes to Coventry' functionality? Is it too difficult do develop for XF?

xenforo.com

There was also some variation(s) of Global Ignore mod(s), but I can't recall anything about them at the moment.

Of course, many of these posters may be bots—I suspect they are—in which case such solutions won't have much/any effect. I don't know if there are mods which will look for keywords in new thread titles and auto-move such to a 'Limbo' forum for mods to check before releasing any legit ones into the general viewable forums.

 

[Zloth]

I must admit, I'm starting to wonder if it would be better to report the posts that aren't spam. At least the vast majority of the spam has been game related.

 

[DXCHASE]

Its very 2021 when Fortnite is the main spam topic in a gaming centric forum, pretty much sums the game up for me.

 

[CParsons]

Of course, many of these posters may be bots—I suspect they are—in which case such solutions won't have much/any effect. I don't know if there are mods which will look for keywords in new thread titles and auto-move such to a 'Limbo' forum for mods to check before releasing any legit ones into the general viewable forums.

We already utilize most of those features already. The spam you see on a daily basis is nothing compared to what gets trapped and discarded. As always is the case though, some slip through the cracks. We adjust, they adjust, we adjust, they adjust. You know how it goes.

 

[Brian Boru]

The spam you see on a daily basis is nothing compared to what gets trapped and discarded … You know how it goes.

Indeed I do! Good to hear, thanks for all you do to keep the forums habitable

 

[Lutfij]

The things we do to keep these borders free of all zombies. The horrors we see. May they never see or feel them. May their children never hear about them either.

Okay, I'll quit with the fireplace horror story voiceover.
Seriously, good thread!

 

[XoRn]

We already utilize most of those features already. The spam you see on a daily basis is nothing compared to what gets trapped and discarded. As always is the case though, some slip through the cracks. We adjust, they adjust, we adjust, they adjust. You know how it goes.

I don't suppose there are any nuclear options? The forums have been really bad these past few weeks it seems. I honestly just kind of feel bad for the mods who have to keep up with it all.

 

[CParsons]

I don't suppose there are any nuclear options? The forums have been really bad these past few weeks it seems. I honestly just kind of feel bad for the mods who have to keep up with it all.

There is not unfortunately. As I mentioned before, regular folks don't see 98% of what is caught but catching it presents its own problems in the fact that yes, you're not seeing 'traditional' spam, but you're left seeing the junk posts they put in to test the waters. All the silly stuff like 'Hi, new here looking for help!' kind of posts until the mods have a chance to investigate and kill that user off. We did, however, manage to close off a few holes they were using to sneak legit spam onto the site, now we're just investigating how to better handle their testing the waters junk posts.

 

[Brian Boru]

Fyi I noticed a flurry of Likes yesterday, maybe more water testing?

ETA: I also note a bunch of quoting posts in reply, but finishing the quote with…
[/KUTIPAN]
…which seems to be the Indonesian word for 'quote'—shrug.

 

[Zloth]

Yeah, always wondered about those weird quotes where the start was still {quote} but the finish was translated. I guess the browser is translating?? Or the bot software?

P.S. I think the 'nuclear option' in this case would be "no new accounts." That would kill the spam fast, but it would kill the forum slow.

 

[SHaines]

We definitely do appreciate that people are willing to call out their concerns, since it shows we have a community that cares. CParsons has been doing a ton of work to help us keep things as clean as possible.

Folks who want to try becoming a Moderator to help clean out the Spam that's not making it live, feel free to ping me and we can discuss it.

That said, while we can't stop every post every spammer wants to get through, we can very quickly find their posts as long as folks keep reporting them. So, our thanks to all of you for helping call out the spam as it pops up, so it can be quickly squashed.

 

[XoRn]

Fyi I noticed a flurry of Likes yesterday, maybe more water testing?

Ya, their behavior is weird sometimes.

Question - Which minecraft mod is better?

Heya! I need your help. May you suggest some mods for minecraft 1.16.5? I'd like to play with my friend.

forums.pcgamer.com

They also seem to make threads specifically so other bots can reply to them which is just... why?

Valorant or CSGO

which FPS game is better? Valorant or CSGO

forums.pcgamer.com

 

[Zloth]

Some forums require X number of posts before you can do links, or pictures, or whatever. So they make dumb little posts to push up their post count.

Or they could do something like post a thread saying "Who likes pie?" Somebody looks at the post, sees nothing wrong in it, and passes it. The next day, the bot goes back in and edits the post to put in the advertisement. People keep bumping the thread up (because pie is awesome) and the advertisement gets seen.

 

[Pifanjr]

I would suggest adding a rule about "low quality posts". Then you could send a warning to any account that makes junk posts and ban them if they keep going. It's not ideal when faced with so many spammers, but I've seen it used successfully on another forum before.

 

[Lutfij]

That's an interesting take on improving community quality. Out of curiosity, would you be able to share the forum you speak of?

 

[SHaines]

I would suggest adding a rule about "low quality posts". Then you could send a warning to any account that makes junk posts and ban them if they keep going. It's not ideal when faced with so many spammers, but I've seen it used successfully on another forum before.

Glad Lufij bumped this. I was just working on the language to implement this in the rules. We very much appreciate the suggestion.

 

[Pifanjr]

That's an interesting take on improving community quality. Out of curiosity, would you be able to share the forum you speak of?

Here is a link to their forum rules: https://www.personalitycafe.com/threads/personality-cafe-rules.594529/

It's 13 years old by now, so there's a lot of experience that's gone into these rules

I was a moderator there for a little bit as well and I've always considered the moderators to as close as perfect as you can expect from a group of unpaid volunteers.

 

[Lutfij]

I'm sure this will be looked at with very keen eyes to prevent our community from being overrun provided we need some tweaks to the rules. Outside of that, thank you for sharing that link/forum rules page! highly appreciated!



Was you say...?

 

[Colif]

Or they could do something like post a thread saying "Who likes pie?" Somebody looks at the post, sees nothing wrong in it, and passes it. The next day, the bot goes back in and edits the post to put in the advertisement. People keep bumping the thread up (because pie is awesome) and the advertisement gets seen.

The forums smart enough to highlight the posts edited after fact, so that trick doesn't work.

well, its 13 years ago. Most forums don't last as long, I have been a mod on several that no longer exist.

likes are good for ego even if I know a 10th of mine are real.

 

[Lutfij]

You're a Colif! Coliflowa's don't have ego's, only nutrients

 

[Colif]

Shhh. I am a mod, who going to be afraid of a flower... thinks of a game, Undertale? Okay, maybe some people.

Maybe a venus flytrap...

 

[Lutfij]

You're a gentle giant! Oh well, that escalated quickly!

 

[Pifanjr]

I'm sure this will be looked at with very keen eyes to prevent our community from being overrun provided we need some tweaks to the rules. Outside of that, thank you for sharing that link/forum rules page! highly appreciated!



Was you say...?

You're welcome!

And yes, I was a moderator. I was assigned to be responsible for the part of the forum I was most active in. However, it was deemed a conflict of interest when my wife (then girlfriend) got into a bit of a fight in that part, so they moved me to a part of the forum I never participated in and I lost the motivation to keep going. Funnily enough, my wife now has the role of moderator on that forum, though she hasn't been very active lately.

 

[Colif]

Some forums require X number of posts before you can do links, or pictures, or whatever. So they make dumb little posts to push up their post count.

I am on forums with rules like that. But those rules can be extended to fight those who know its X amounts of posts before you can link, or might not have restrictions... as you can always extend how many messages are seen by the spam filter.

Here... its all sorts, you only see the ones that hit the forums, so its not all the same type. Some are just weird and make you scratch head but i won't say too much

 

[Lutfij]

@Pifanjr
So your wife wanted your position, very sneaky of her! it's good to come across other people who have had a moderator position. Only adds more to the depth of the community Pleasure to have you among our ranks, kind sir!

@Colif You always say too much!