Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

[Valka D'Ur]

It's not a matter of seeing a strange name. It's a matter of seeing a name that is obviously meant to refer to a product or service. Or it's a random jumble of letters or numbers. Chances are, if you encountered such a sender in your email, you'd trash them - it's reasonably safe to do so here, as well.

However, I always do some investigating on the not-quite-sure ones... sometimes following the username through several forum registrations over several years via google cache.

 

[Camikaze]

There are almost always certain tells. If there isn't, we don't permaban. A few slipping through the cracks does less harm than banning an innocent new user.

 

[Pacioli]

What's the average number of spambots in a typical month here?

 

[The_J]

Currently we're for this month at 100 bots which have at least posted one spam thread.
You can easily add twice of that amount which doesn't post or have been caught before they could.

 

[Pacioli]

That's far more than I would have imagined.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

How much percentage is that compared to good users?

Also, do you subscribe to any spammer databases?

 

[The_J]

How much percentage is that compared to good users?

, but definitely more than real users who stay and post more than once.

Also, do you subscribe to any spammer databases?

No, not subscribed (besides an additional spam protection for the modiki).
But the admins extended the user profiles for the mods with a quicklink to check usernames against one.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

By "good" users I should have said legit, non-spam.

 

[Optical]

Why is there no spoiler button in the quick reply box? I probably use spoilers more often than I use quotes - or underlines for that matter.

 

[Synobun]

Why is there no spoiler button in the quick reply box? I probably use spoilers more often than I use quotes - or underlines for that matter.

What's difficult about typing out {spoiler}BLAH{/spoiler} ?

 

[Optical]

Nothing, and I'm not complaining; I'm just sort of surprised it's not there.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Someone once posted a trick to search a specific subforum with google when the built-in search doesn't work. But I can't remember it. Does anyone know?

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Can a person be infracted or warned or something for disregarding what the OP says? For example if you say "Please don't talk about such-and-such" and a user talks about it?

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I should think it depends on if it's just a passing mention or if the person gets obnoxious about it.

 

[Abaddon]

Its happened when people in forum games screw the game up on purpose... and its the reason a lot of games have "sign-ups" rather than simply letting anyone play.

As for threads. You might learn if you don't reply to the post you don't like.. its the end of it. Don't feed the trolls

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I have a question. If someone grossy messed up the bbcode in a post and did something like make half the post in really huge text (instead of a header or something), and it's really distracting, do mods feel free change it if the poster doesn't?

Another question: I know it doesn't matter now as the autocensor just blanks, but when they had the smileys or the dots, if someone slipped up and triggered the autocensor (I think I once did with a typo of "screen shot" but I noticed it) do they get in trouble for that?

 

[DaveShack]

I have a question. If someone grossy messed up the bbcode in a post and did something like make half the post in really huge text (instead of a header or something), and it's really distracting, do mods feel free change it if the poster doesn't?

I'd most likely leave it, as it's hard to tell whether the huge text was meant or not.

Another question: I know it doesn't matter now as the autocensor just blanks, but when they had the smileys or the dots, if someone slipped up and triggered the autocensor (I think I once did with a typo of "screen shot" but I noticed it) do they get in trouble for that?

If the context made it obvious that it's a typo, perhaps not. But don't take that as a license to "accidentally" typo stuff.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Well if there's a broken closing tag...?

 

[Camikaze]

If it's a broken spoiler around an image, or a broken URL or something, then I'll probably fix it. It entirely depends of the inclination of whichever mod comes across it. The general rule is 'we reserve the right'.

 

[Abaddon]

Can repeatedly asking common sense questions be treated as spam?