Solved Spam

[RoyalChick]

Thanks for everyone's patience!

The struggle with spam is finding the balance between keeping the bad-actors out, while letting the good-peeps in.

The problem: The only way to stop spam 100% is to 100% block all new users. Often, there's no way to know someone is a spammer until they start posting... and even in those cases, we've found that they are smart and will post a few non-spam posts to look legit, and then start posting spam.

It also puts it into perspective that HUGE sites with literally billions of $$ and the best programmers in the world (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.) aren't able to stop spammers... so the fact that we are able to keep most of them away (with our shoestring budget) is pretty amazing!

So, while we keep doing all we can to slow the spammers down, the best thing our community can do is to report them immediately.

Just to weigh in to say I think you and your Mods do an amazing job at what must be a gigantic challenge.
I reported a couple of these threads recently and in both cases they came down in about an hour.
I notice that they mostly seem to post in the middle of the night US time so a 'wee hours' shift from the Mods (or some Mods based in Europe or Asia) might make it easier.
Anyway, was just weighing in to say thank you to everyone who works on this behind the scenes.

 

[SourRoses]

Valid. I've changed the status.

We'll work to make sure we have better coverage in the wee hours.

Thanks Nifty!

 

[Debbie292d]

Thanks for everyone's patience!

The struggle with spam is finding the balance between keeping the bad-actors out, while letting the good-peeps in.

The problem: The only way to stop spam 100% is to 100% block all new users. Often, there's no way to know someone is a spammer until they start posting... and even in those cases, we've found that they are smart and will post a few non-spam posts to look legit, and then start posting spam.

It also puts it into perspective that HUGE sites with literally billions of $$ and the best programmers in the world (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.) aren't able to stop spammers... so the fact that we are able to keep most of them away (with our shoestring budget) is pretty amazing!

So, while we keep doing all we can to slow the spammers down, the best thing our community can do is to report them immediately.

I absolutely can't stand those people who spam and/or scam. I picture them as some loser, sitting in a musty basement with their phone in their face posting this garbage. They've got evil on their mind and hope in their hearts that someone will fall for whatever they're posting. They have some sort of mental illness that gives them pleasure when someone innocently falls for their crap.