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(THIS IS NOT FOR ASKUBUNTU ONLY! THIS IS FOR THE WHOLE STACKEXCHANGE SITES! DO NOT MARK THIS AS DUPE!)


Personally, I dont like spambots. And you should too.

Spambots are like your flag wasters, and thank god we have Smokey otherwise this would be in a heap of spam.

Today I had enough.

So my question is, should we add a new feature that can COUNTER the spambots, or a new censoring (keep in mind spambots are product/beauty clickbaits) filter, or a god-damn update to the ToS (terms of service)?

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  • Related: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/110025/…
    – Mark Kirby
    Jul 5, 2016 at 8:56
  • @MarkKirby keep in mind, i know its dupe but at least we can have a post that we can kinda talk about it
    – user527600
    Jul 5, 2016 at 8:58
  • 2
    We talk about this all the time, there are 322 posts about spam on here meta.askubuntu.com/search?q=spam, it is the price we pay for an open and welcoming site, why let it get to you? spam is removed faster here than any other site I use. Flag and downvote and it is automatically removed and we are all looki9ng out for it.
    – Mark Kirby
    Jul 5, 2016 at 9:01
  • 5
    @MarkKirby Please do not downvote spam posts, only flag them!
    – Byte Commander Mod
    Jul 5, 2016 at 9:02
  • @ByteCommander Why? This is the first time I have ever heard anyone say don't downvote spam. All spam recives many downvotes.
    – Mark Kirby
    Jul 5, 2016 at 9:04
  • 4
    @MarkKirby The spam flag includes a free downvote. If you add an additional downvote, it just lowers the posts score until it gets automatically hidden from the front page, but is not deleted by enough spam flags yet. Please refer to this Meta post: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/193916/…
    – Byte Commander Mod
    Jul 5, 2016 at 9:07
  • @ByteCommander Fair enough, I did not know it was just hiding it, I thought it was been removed, thanks.
    – Mark Kirby
    Jul 5, 2016 at 9:10
  • 3
    Yep, please never downvote spam. In any case, your spam flag also casts an automated downvote so the result is the same, while actual downvotes can hide the post before it has amassed enough spam flags to be deleted.
    – terdon
    Jul 5, 2016 at 9:17
  • If it's for the whole Stack Exchange, post on Meta Stack Exchange.
    – muru
    Jul 6, 2016 at 8:51
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    "THIS IS NOT FOR ASKUBUNTU ONLY! THIS IS FOR THE WHOLE STACKEXCHANGE SITES!" Then you are posting on the wrong site, you should post on meta stackexchange, also, what is for stack exchange? You did not even make a suggestion, just said we should do something about it and that does not help anyone.
    – Mark Kirby
    Jul 6, 2016 at 8:56
  • @MarkKirby sure
    – user527600
    Jul 7, 2016 at 4:03

1 Answer 1

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Sure we should. As soon as you come up with a surefire way of getting rid of spam, I'm sure SE will implement it (and you'll be set for life). In the meantime, they're doing what they can.

There are already measures in place to block spam. What we get is a tiny proportion of what is trying to get in. As for the ToS, what makes you think the spammers would care? It is already forbidden there:

Spam, personal attacks, and abusive language do not have a place on the Stack Exchange Network.

[...]

Under no circumstances will Subscriber use the Network or the Service to (a) send unsolicited e-mails, bulk mail, spam or other materials to users of the Network or any other individual

So, sadly, we're already doing all we can. Seriously though, if you do have a clever idea to block more spammers, please post it on the main meta or here. I'm sure the devs would love to have a better solution and I know the rest of us would.

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  • Thank you, new moderator
    – user527600
    Jul 5, 2016 at 8:55