Help Us Fight Spam

[jessssi]

So we just PM you the link of the account?

[Schipperke]

So we just PM you the link of the account?

Yes, that would be very helpful, Jessi.  Thanks!

[Seabody]

I'd just like to take time to thank our moderators for their hard work.
Recently (5 minutes ago, in fact), I spotted a topic that I thought might need merging with another topic. I looked at it, at it was another topic written entirely in Polish. Needless to say that I immediately hit the "Report to Moderator" button, filled in my comment and waited. I then proceeded to look at the profile of the spammer, when I saw that, when I pressed "Show all posts", this person had no posts.
Thank you to whichever moderator removed this post (and possibly person). The quick spam-fighting is one of the reasons I stayed on this forum, instead of registering, pointing out a mistake in the Guide Sitemap (I remember my very first post! ) and leaving to play Sims in my little corner of the world.

What I don't get is this: Why do they write in Polish? That's about the third topic I've seen in Polish - the others were about wheels.
Thank you again, you wonderful moderators!

Seabody.

[Pam]

It was just a Polish based spammer.  We see that quite a bit in other languages, too.  I want to thank our members, too, because three people reported that same spam message.  It's great that we all work together. 

[malteser60]

From my perspective everybody is doing a great job as I hardly ever see spam on the site. I think I've only reported twice. And If I'm at work i'm constantly dipping in and out of the forum. So well done everybody 

[Seabody]

It goes so fast... The first time I ever saw spam, I panicked, didn't think about reporting it, and within seconds, I was dashing all over the forum, seeing if they had made any other posts, getting error messages the account didn't exist... And when I went to report it, *poof* the message was gone.
Long story short, Thanks again moderators.

EDIT: And I've reported... 5 posts, I think. But one (that wasn't spam - I thought it broke a forum rule) turned out to be allowed, as Pam told me afterwards.

[Hosfac]

As a moderator, I would much rather see you report a post that didn't break the rules because you thought it did than to have you not report a post that did break the rules because you weren't sure about it.  If the report is earnest, I wouldn't even consider holding it against you.

[Pam]

I agree with Hosfac.  Better to go ahead and report something if there's some question about it.  Better safe than sorry. 

[beccaboo105]

I'd like to say well done to the mods and everyone for getting spam off so quickly. I saw a couple recently, reported them and as soon as a moderator was online they were gone  It's great to know how efficient this forum is!

[samoht04]

There was a Spammer just on that managed to get Two Posts in and then they were gone! I think it was mtglady who got the Spammer so Thanks to her! 

[Seabody]

As a moderator, I would much rather see you report a post that didn't break the rules because you thought it did than to have you not report a post that did break the rules because you weren't sure about it.  If the report is earnest, I wouldn't even consider holding it against you.

Just to be certain, is this what you mean, Hosfac? I'm just unsure:
Do you mean that, as a moderator, you'd be happier for me to report a post that I am unsure about, even if it does not break the Forum Rules, than for me to think a post might break Forum Rules, and not report it? And if it turns out that I am mistaken and report a post that does not break Forum Rules, I wouldn't be in trouble?

I also have another question - are Site Affiliates exempt from breaking Forum Rules (That probably came out wrong)? As in, say someone says that they read on a particular site that hosts mod links and is an affiliate of the Forum/Guide, and they linked to the article, does that mean that I needn't report the post? Or should I report it to be sure?

[Hosfac]

Just to be certain, is this what you mean, Hosfac? I'm just unsure:
Do you mean that, as a moderator, you'd be happier for me to report a post that I am unsure about, even if it does not break the Forum Rules, than for me to think a post might break Forum Rules, and not report it?

Absolutely.

And if it turns out that I am mistaken and report a post that does not break Forum Rules, I wouldn't be in trouble?

If you genuinely believe that the post is in violation, absolutely not.  If it's not in violation of the rules, we'll explain why it's not and leave it at that.  I doubt that anyone here will hold anyone responsible for sending a report in good faith.

I also have another question - are Site Affiliates exempt from breaking Forum Rules (That probably came out wrong)? As in, say someone says that they read on a particular site that hosts mod links and is an affiliate of the Forum/Guide, and they linked to the article, does that mean that I needn't report the post? Or should I report it to be sure?

You definitely should report it.  This is something that people need to be careful of.  It's something that I ran afoul of before I was a moderator.

There is certain page that I linked to that contained some information that I thought would be useful.  However, earlier on that page, a utility program of sorts was discussed and linked to an external site that hosted the download.  I was aware of the link, but I wasn't aware at the time that the program was considered a mod.  Pam removed the link from my post, told me why, and I've been much more careful ever since.

It's easy to "bump into" a rule, and not even realize you've done it.

[Pam]

I don't expect members to always be up to date on rules and affiliates.  When it's all said and done, I'm probably the only one who knows and understands about our affiliates, so nobody is expected to know for sure what to do.  Best thing is to report is and let it get sorted out with the Moderators.  The only time a member will get in "trouble" for reporting is if a pattern becomes apparent that he/she is merely reporting things to be a nuisance.  We've never had that happen here and if it ever does, we'll handle it. 

[Serena Darrin]

Well, you all must be doing a really good job, as I've never seen spam posts anywhere on this forum.

Thank you.  It's nice to not run into spam for once.

[Sportsfan]

I hardly ever see spam, but one time a couple of days ago I reported 2 in 2 days. You mods are really good about ridding the forum of spam, I applaud you for it.

[Seabody]

You guys are FAST!
I saw a spam topic about a minute ago. I reported it. By the time I pressed submit, Schipperke had removed it. (Schip was the only moderator on at the time.) Thank you once again!

[Schipperke]

Thanks, Seabody.  I logged on to the forum and the spam post was the first thing I saw - I hadn't even received your notification.  So it was really just chance.  But it's nice when it works out that way.

[ZapKid]

Seems like I saw some spam couple of minutes ago. Lots of gibberish text and links and whatnot. It looks like it has already been deleted. Thanks, moderators who work so hard to help get rid of pointless posts 

[Pam]

Seems like I saw some spam couple of minutes ago. Lots of gibberish text and links and whatnot. It looks like it has already been deleted. Thanks, moderators who work so hard to help get rid of pointless posts 

I think I got that one.  Thanks to everyone who reported it. 

[AnnBeiFong]

Thanks to all of you moderators for keeping the forum free of spam! I really can't thank you enough.