The new infraction system explained

[GhostWriter16]

I know. I was just being kind of silly. I think most people would know (unless they're really bad at English).

Actually, I think the Free Software Foundation or something objection to the term "piracy" as used in that context. I do a quick google. Hang on.

EDIT: All righty: http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html

I have zero issue with it being illegal, both here and IRL, but I tend to agree, we should not call it piracy, that is stupid.

I don't support a positive or neutral term either however, it is illegal and should be treated in a negative light. That doesn't mean it should be put in the same category as murder and plunder on the seas. I like Paradigm's suggestion of "Copyright theft."

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

There are 1000's of adspammers with active points that can't post right now.

Now, if we take those out of the equation, I really couldn't tell you. I'm sure if I had SQL Access to the user database i could figure it out, but....

I'm just wondering. Why do you leave the adspammers there instead of deleting them? As they would just re-register with another name or change the IP address. It would free up database.

 

[Turner]

Status quo, I suspect. We just PB them. TF has a history of not deleting users, and it probably stems from that. Plus it helps us track them.

And calling it piracy comes from a time before anyone on this site was born.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Why not get Jon Shafer to design the new rules system?

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Status quo, I suspect. We just PB them. TF has a history of not deleting users, and it probably stems from that. Plus it helps us track them.

And calling it piracy comes from a time before anyone on this site was born.

I think theres a site where you can submit emails and IPs of spambots to help improve filtering systems and things like that. Do they do that here?

 

[Silurian]

Why not get Jon Shafer to design the new rules system?

You should start a thread about this in humour

 

[Silurian]

I didn't comment on the merits of the proposal - just that with the forum software used it does not seem possible to implement.

I know nothing about the software but what would happen if all infractions were one point. You just get more infractions for certain things.

So then if nothing added (plus no ban) in last month then oldest infraction removed so no problem with splitting infractions.

Or will the software not allow more than one method of removing infractions automatically.

 

[ori]

vbulletin allows one infraction per post and this infraction has a set expiration time (the time is set at the time the infraction is given) as well as a set number of points (which is also set at the time the infraction is given). There is only one standard option available to alter infractions after they have been issued: automatic extension of infractions - that is one can set the system to automatically extend the infraction expiration of any active infraction if a new infraction of the same type is issued (e.g. the site may have a 1 point spam infraction with an expiration in 7 days - the first spam infraction is set to 1 point and 7 days, after a day the user gets a new infraction, then the first infraction is set to 1 point and (6+7) days while the new infraction is set to 1 point and 7 days, another infraction for spam would add 7 days to any still active infractions). While infraction points and expiration can be set to anything one likes at the time of the infraction - there are no other readily available options to alter infractions after they have been issued in an automated manner. Ban levels can also be freely set but don't care about anything but either active points or infraction count.

 

[Camikaze]

That automatic extension of infractions would seem like a good way of punishing repeat offenders without leaving a long expiration date for users who rarely get in trouble. Have the staff looked at the possibility of implementing something around that feature?

 

[Nobody]

I think a short 12 hour or 24 hour minimum ban should exists. If for example you are in a heated thread and say something stupid, 12 or 24 hours is a nice cool down period rather than 3 days.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I think theres a site where you can submit emails and IPs of spambots to help improve filtering systems and things like that. Do they do that here?

Dunno if vBulletin users have their own or use the same one as the IPB admins do. What I wonder is how many new registrations per day we get here (on average).

Back when my Doctor Who forum was on paid hosting, we got dozens of spambots trying to register each day. I'd insisted to my co-admin that we set up admin-approval as the final step for people to get access to posting, since that way we could make a final judgment about whether the new member was legitimate or not. Most of the time it was pretty easy to recognize a spammer. But one time I ended up doing quite a bit of detective work, tracking one person through Google, Yahoo, and finding out which forums she'd previously been to, and whether she was a spammer at those places. It took awhile, but was worth it; that individual turned out to be a real person.

As we've seen lately, captcha doesn't work so well in some cases. A few spambots have made what starts out as a logical reply to the thread topic, then slips the ad in at the bottom.

 

[Abaddon]

being able to get around a captcha, and being able to reply to a thread are not the same thing...

 

[holy king]

how does this translate to "the road to permaban"?

 

[.Shane.]

As we've seen lately, captcha doesn't work so well in some cases. A few spambots have made what starts out as a logical reply to the thread topic, then slips the ad in at the bottom.

I've seen very simple registration questions added onto forums that a real person could answer by common knowledge but that a bot wouldn't know.

For example, ask any of the following:

The earth is round or flat?
The earth orbits this mass:
The common 2-letter abbreviation for the United Nations is?
What is the common abbreviation for the Second World War?

 

[Maniacal]

And if someone doesn't know the answer to any of those, then they need to learn it anyways. And if they don't know how to type that into google and get the answer from there then I honestly don't want them posting on the forum anyways.

Alternatively this is how it should be done (I hate the normal captcha, I swear that even if I type them in right the first time it just lies and says it is incorrect anyways)

 

[.Shane.]

Princescamp, the problem is that they prefer to not do custom changes to vBulletin. I'm pretty sure what I'm suggesting is possible w/ vB settings (though I'm not totally familiar w/ the version they're running here).

But, yeah, that's a neat system.

 

[Abaddon]

It is nifty.

 

[Catharsis]

I've seen very simple registration questions added onto forums that a real person could answer by common knowledge but that a bot wouldn't know.

For example, ask any of the following:

The earth is round or flat?
The earth orbits this mass:
The common 2-letter abbreviation for the United Nations is?
What is the common abbreviation for the Second World War?

You have to join the forums to download things from C&C, is that correct? So you might not want to post at all. Maybe you are a non-English speaker. How common is the common abbreviation for the Second World War in, say, South Korea?

Not sure to what extent this objection is applicable to here though.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

How about something like what is 2+4. Ive seen that elsewhere

 

[holy king]

You have to join the forums to download things from C&C, is that correct? So you might not want to post at all. Maybe you are a non-English speaker. How common is the common abbreviation for the Second World War in, say, South Korea?

Not sure to what extent this objection is applicable to here though.

how can you navigate this forum without being able to read english?