How to reduce spam

Guys, can I ask you to remove the time limit on the report function? I just tried to report two spam posts in Comms, and it told me to wait on the second.

It's basically the point at which I go "nah, my incentive to report this is gone".

 

Yes, I encountered that time limit a few days ago. If it can't be removed entirely, perhaps reducing the throttle to 10 seconds instead of 30 would help. The idea is that we should be able to report spam faster than the spammers can spam.

 

A thread I reported was deleted, and the one I couldn't report because the arbitrary and silly limit made it harder than it ought to be stayed open. So I mean, it's not like there's increased material risk for anyone but conversely the report system works and it is in your interests to ensure it works properly.

 

I wasn't even aware there was a limit. It's not in any of the regular setting pages, at least. It might be hidden somewhere, as XenForo's admin panel is kind of, er, twisty, or it might be hardcoded. Let me take a look...

 

Almost every time I report multiple cases I hit it.

 

I've hit the limit as well. When that happens, I look in a new tab for a couple seconds and then come right back and try again.

 

I've had the same issue, here and on other forums with a 60 second rather than 30 second time limit. I figure most forums have some kind of limit.

 

There's usually a default limit set for things like that, post editting times, etc in the forum software. Users with access to the Admin Panel can customize these settings if they aren't hard-coded elsewhere in the software.

 

Ok, so what as tech admin are you doing to remove that arbitrary barrier to reporting posts as rapidly as you detect them?

 

JoinTheSchwarz - were you able to find anything on this? I've had a look around the Admin CP and on the Xenforo site and couldn't find anything about changing the time limit.

 

No, no luck at all. And the documentation hasn't helped at all. It's probably hardcoded, sadly.

 

That's what I thought.

 

I had an idea today - it's a slightly silly one - but it might work.

Make a competition of it - open to ordinary posters only (not mods and admins).

We all know how enthusiastic participants in competition threads can be.

After a month or so from the announcement, offering two titles, one to the person who has reported the most spammers, and one to the person who has reported the most spammers first, could be enough of an incentive for posters to keep an extremely sharp eye open for spam posts.

Good idea? Or terrible?

 

It seems that we're starting to get some spam in the late afternoon and evening U.S. time, as opposed to the typical Eastern European morning. What's up with that, and where are these new spammers from?

 

We could ask next time we permban one...

 

It hasn't been super bad so far today but I reported a couple so far.

 

I think Cushy would probably be odds-on to win such a competition.

TBH, I think the best approach is simply to encourage users to use the Report function, largely by increasing the awareness and understanding of it, particularly how effective it is - while discouraging the smart-arsed practice of replying to spam threads with "In before the lock"-type posts and not bothering to actually report the spam.