7

It's been like this every day for a long time now

enter image description here

Of course I flag it. It's a firehose though..

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  • 10
    One option would be to leave AskUbuntu to let it wallow in spam to send a message to management at StackExchange. Today will be my last day here until the spam filters are restored 🙂
    – matigo
    Commented Jun 21, 2023 at 7:16
  • 9
    The company is making decisions that are detrimental to the entire platform, and thus, to the community; and such the community stopped doing a few activities we were supposed to do, in order to pressure the company to fix those decisions. You see, we now look like those people who gave up their personal blogs to post instead on the Medium website, under someone else's rules and control. Karl Marx observed: unless the worker owns the means of his production, there is a high risk that capitalist schemings will alienate his work from him. That's where we are now.
    – Levente
    Commented Jun 21, 2023 at 7:54
  • 7
    Nobody likes this :( There is a post on AU Meta that has some details of the current strike and its effects on AU: meta.askubuntu.com/q/20325/57576
    – andrew.46 Mod
    Commented Jun 21, 2023 at 8:22
  • Reach out to mods who didn't join the strike... perhaps, Oli.
    – Random Person
    Commented Jun 21, 2023 at 8:56
  • 4
    Now that I am aware of the strike, I don't have a horse in that race but I respect their reasons for the strike and I'll just stay out of it for now
    – thomasrutter
    Commented Jun 21, 2023 at 13:37
  • Reading the country codes almost all seems to came from the same region: xsel -b | grep -oP "\+\d+" | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn
    – Pablo Bianchi
    Commented Jul 6, 2023 at 17:10
  • There is a tag (spam) on meta - I suppose it would be a reasonable tag for this question. (Since I cannot edit on meta, I have posted the suggestion in a comment instead.)
    – Martin
    Commented Jul 11, 2023 at 9:27

4 Answers 4

Reset to default
28

The community has built spam detection tools and many moderators and curators are on strike, but hopefully we can deal with this once the strike is over.

One of the main spam filtering systems is community-run, and with the stand of the company of moderation of GenAI content, it's hard to justify putting in time and energy.

I also suggest people sign the Open letter to Stack Exchange Inc..

Honestly, on my own sites, I'm itching to get rid of this garbage, but sometimes some pain is needed for long term good. :(

1
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    I will echo Journeyman here - as one of the Ask Ubuntu mods I'd nuke this garbage the moment I saw it, but while we're on strike it won't get erased. But yes, because of the strike this is the problem. Before Charcoal-SE (a spam detection tool) existed, this junk used to show up massively all the time too. They're joined with the moderators on the strike though, so.
    – Thomas Ward Mod
    Commented Jun 24, 2023 at 3:26
0

Yes, there has been a serious issue with spam posts over the last couple of weeks that has caused major disruptions to the site. The Trust & Safety team is aware and has been actively trying to combat it. Let me tell you how:

Blacklists

The good news is we have blacklisted a lot of the key phrases that these spammers are using. The bad news is they are really good at being able to change the phrases faster than we can keep up.

Monitoring

I am personally checking this site multiple times a day to do a sweep of the posts. By monitoring the flag queue as well as searching deleted:true to see which posts have been deleted by red flags I am able to see the bulk of the posts.

Once I have the list of posts I then grab one of the profiles being used to spam. With that I can check for sockpuppets, and 9/10 they have many. With that information, I am able to destroy multiple accounts in one fell swoop.

I do understand that this issue has been incessant and debilitating to the site. Please continue to flag these posts. It deletes them faster and puts them in the flag queue which speeds up the workflow. Rest assured I am using all the tools at my disposal to fight these spammers.

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    It's a bit funny that SE is so unwilling to acknowledge the mods and curators effort, and yet struggle so much to reimplement what the community provided.
    – vidarlo
    Commented Jul 23, 2023 at 19:43
-5

By doing your part instead of relying on a few specific individuals (they are not coming back)

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    Who's not coming back, and why not? It looks like you are saying there won't be mods?
    – Levente
    Commented Jul 2, 2023 at 8:59
  • 1
    It's not a few individuals. It's a community.
    – vidarlo
    Commented Jul 23, 2023 at 19:44
-7

Edit Out Spam

(strike stopgap)

I do not like seeing the site flooded with ads for Turkish Call Girls, Loan Sharks, Penis Enlargers, Voodoo spells, and Gummy Drugs. I have been flagging each spam post I see as spam as well as editing the spam out of the title and body, replacing it with

---------- spam ----------

This gets messaged to the spammer and pasted to their home as an activity.

The spam post seems to get removed much faster than when left alone.

I tried different text strings and this one did not look too offensive to me.

I have been told that editing out spam is not against Ask Ubuntu rules.

From past experience, spam is not a problem here when the moderators are not on strike.

Here is a list of the spammers whose spam I edited. How to Delete them?

https://cdn.sstatic.net/Sites/askubuntu/img/site-background-image.png?v=29bccd27864c

https://askubuntu.com/users/1709908/wendy-swilso

https://askubuntu.com/users/1705894/loan-app

https://askubuntu.com/users/1706183/safatul-kumar

https://askubuntu.com/users/1705023/aah-i-g

https://askubuntu.com/users/1709867/usjg-ku

https://askubuntu.com/users/1709858/fshj-hsb

https://askubuntu.com/users/1709844/%d8%b9%d9%88%d8%a7%d8%af-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b8%d9%81%d9%8a%d8%b1%d9%8a

https://askubuntu.com/users/1706758/dr-goddy7spirit

https://askubuntu.com/users/1707135/wales-fc

https://askubuntu.com/users/1709710/mtkal-abd

https://askubuntu.com/users/1709683/devi-kumari

https://askubuntu.com/users/1709653/jacqueli-nenajer

https://askubuntu.com/users/1681184/%d8%a2%d8%af%d9%85-%d8%b9%d8%b2%d8%b1%d8%a9

https://askubuntu.com/users/1709621/madrachod-kumar

https://askubuntu.com/users/1709618/muni-kumari

https://askubuntu.com/users/1702437/sahirf-kumar

https://askubuntu.com/users/1707054/rohit-sharma

https://askubuntu.com/users/1709493/userstream

https://askubuntu.com/users/1709472/rina-grubs

https://askubuntu.com/users/1709430/hero-ruppe-kumar

https://askubuntu.com/users/1709346/vikita

https://askubuntu.com/users/1709334/best-supplement-stacks

https://askubuntu.com/users/1709287/sany-livon

https://askubuntu.com/users/1709258/chief-kule

https://askubuntu.com/users/1709102/mama-lukia

https://askubuntu.com/users/1709095/ajay-prajapati

https://askubuntu.com/users/1709059/stephanie-m-olson

https://askubuntu.com/users/1707997/lalit-kumar

https://askubuntu.com/users/1705497/vinay-dube

https://askubuntu.com/users/1708879/queen-banni

https://askubuntu.com/users/1706647/ghisi-merabhai

https://askubuntu.com/users/1708870/best-steroid-for-strength

https://askubuntu.com/users/1708868/active-keto-gummies-uk

https://askubuntu.com/users/1708815/diaetolin-review

https://askubuntu.com/users/1708817/diaetolin

https://askubuntu.com/users/1707998/haragon-occult

https://askubuntu.com/users/1708807/harris-uortniy

https://askubuntu.com/users/1708703/eco-971

https://askubuntu.com/users/1708592/anny-robert

https://askubuntu.com/users/1708598/amity-bob

https://askubuntu.com/users/1708526/theartsyspot

https://cdn.sstatic.net/Sites/askubuntu/img/site-background-image.png?v=29bccd27864c

https://askubuntu.com/users/1708504/snehashis-roy

https://askubuntu.com/users/1708505/finance-pay

https://askubuntu.com/users/1708335/joseph-baba

https://askubuntu.com/users/1708113/ip-man

https://askubuntu.com/users/1708297/azaan-bilal

https://askubuntu.com/users/1708294/josphine-burton

https://askubuntu.com/users/1708287/vani-peteral

https://askubuntu.com/users/1708255/sandra-thuber

https://askubuntu.com/users/1708271/profastketo-user

https://askubuntu.com/users/1708250/pauline-haden

https://askubuntu.com/users/1706711/uopj-kumar

https://askubuntu.com/users/1708066/anavar-vs-winstrol

https://askubuntu.com/users/1707990/quick-money

https://askubuntu.com/users/1708034/lehman-miranda

https://askubuntu.com/users/1708028/secretarial-committee

https://askubuntu.com/users/1707357/chichi-juma

https://askubuntu.com/users/1705478/sona-kumari

https://askubuntu.com/users/1707998/haragon-occult

https://askubuntu.com/users/1707997/lalit-kumar

https://askubuntu.com/users/1707981/karin-spark

https://askubuntu.com/users/1707071/lakna-ravi

https://askubuntu.com/users/1707071/lakna-ravi

https://askubuntu.com/users/1707768/humra-ji

https://askubuntu.com/users/1707980/smeqald-ahayes

https://askubuntu.com/users/1707972/dtei-sharma

https://askubuntu.com/users/1707952/korma-loan

https://askubuntu.com/users/1707951/nihal-raza

https://askubuntu.com/users/1707827/frariade

https://askubuntu.com/users/1705023/aah-i-g

https://askubuntu.com/users/1707263/rehahan-tak

https://askubuntu.com/users/1707821/kiran-kumari

https://askubuntu.com/users/1707027/aisho

https://askubuntu.com/users/1707788/hanshiya

https://askubuntu.com/users/1707791/miyakhanna

https://askubuntu.com/users/1707207/muna-khan

https://askubuntu.com/users/1707794/queen-banni76

https://askubuntu.com/users/1707289/pankaj-raj

https://askubuntu.com/users/1707091/rohan-parjapati

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    I haven’t looked closely for it on AU Meta, but the general network-wide guideline is to not edit spam, so could you share where you were told editing spam is fine on AU?
    – cocomac
    Commented Jul 2, 2023 at 6:44
  • @cocomac: As I understand some AI generated "spam sites can have a nasty payload to deposit on unprotected computers". I would not want AU to be responsible for breaking a client's computer. See pcworld.com/article/1971683/… . When the bots are working, there is no need for me to do anything, so I don't, but the bots are not currently working.
    – C.S.Cameron
    Commented Jul 2, 2023 at 7:33
  • 1
    It takes about 3 seconds to confirm that the edited material is spam before flagging it.
    – C.S.Cameron
    Commented Jul 2, 2023 at 7:44
  • 3
    I don't see how this helps anything. And I also don't see the point of the article you link to. Which problem is it that this solves? How does spam break a client's computer? And how is this our problem? So many unanswered questions..
    – Artur Meinild
    Commented Jul 4, 2023 at 7:57
  • 1
    @Artur Meinild: I'm just trying to reply to the question. The problem it solves is preventing users from clicking on what may be a link to a harmful website. If you like this type of spam, enjoy.
    – C.S.Cameron
    Commented Jul 4, 2023 at 8:07
  • 1
    I don't like it, but I think it's necessary while the negotiations are ongoing.
    – Artur Meinild
    Commented Jul 4, 2023 at 8:16
  • Doesn't sound necessary to me to sacrifice new Ubuntu users or their computers.
    – C.S.Cameron
    Commented Jul 4, 2023 at 8:37
  • 3
    For the strike to have maximum effect, we have to put maximum pressure on the site. That's the sad reality. So don't do anything, and let Stack be stressed out over this..
    – Artur Meinild
    Commented Jul 4, 2023 at 9:19
  • I am here to try to help people convert from Windows or IOS to Ubuntu. Why are you here?
    – C.S.Cameron
    Commented Jul 4, 2023 at 14:50
  • 1
    @ArturMeinild well some people aren't interested in the strike, and that's probably what SE is betting on. I don't think much can be done other that nudging or asking people to join the strike. If they aren't interested, then that's unfortunate.
    – Dan
    Commented Jul 5, 2023 at 23:55
  • 3
    @C.S.Cameron as for your recent edit, you can't delete users, only mods can ban them. Most AU mods, if not all, are on strike. So nothing can be done about this. Once the strike is over, charcoal will take care of incoming spam again (not sure about old posts though). Best is to flag the posts if you want yo keep moderating. If enough people flag as spam, the system should auto-ban the users posting them and delete the posts.
    – Dan
    Commented Jul 6, 2023 at 0:01
  • 2
    I'm not arguing any further, since we clearly have different views. Let's leave it at that.
    – Artur Meinild
    Commented Jul 6, 2023 at 5:30
  • 7
    Please do not edit spam as per network guidance. Please flag instead.
    – Bella_Blue StaffMod
    Commented Jul 20, 2023 at 13:21

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