Questions tagged [spam]
This tag is for questions about suspected user spam, the spam flag or combating spam as a community.
735
questions
12
votes
1
answer
331
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AI generated answers promoting a personal app
I've been reading a lot of answers about how to react to AI-generated responses. There is one particular case, a user who answers based on AI and gives credit to the source of the answer. So far, ...
- 938
12
votes
1
answer
235
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Does SO use pstmrk.it & rallyuxr.com for study related emails?
I got an email inviting me to a study as it appears I set the settings for it. However I am skeptical to its realness as:
All links do not point to a SO/SE site, but instead to a cryptic link for a ...
- 491
39
votes
0
answers
364
views
GitHub briefly closed the SmokeDetector repo - what exactly happened?
On Tuesday, September 3, 2024, around 15:05 UTC, GitHub sent out email notifications to SmokeDetector and all users who had a fork of the repository, notifying us that it had been disabled because of ...
- 15k
12
votes
0
answers
201
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Opining on, and making a case for additional classes of data dumps
The data dumps traditionally were primarily meant as an insurance policy against the company going rogue.
Considering that the company 'now' sees the dumps as something they can turn into a product, ...
- 187k
-8
votes
1
answer
142
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New User Barriers: The Reputation System's Impact on Participation [duplicate]
I'm new to StackOverflow and would like to use it more, but I'm a little confused about the reputation system. Why do you need reputation to do things like comment or vote? It seems like a barrier to ...
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-8
votes
1
answer
170
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I can't post a question on Stack Overflow as it thinks it's spam [closed]
Here are some screenshots of the question I'm trying to post:
Why is Stack Overflow blocking it for being spam?
2
votes
0
answers
82
views
My code with remarks in Traditional Chinese characters is taken as spam [duplicate]
If I embed the following code with Chinese characters as remarks, the post is taken as spam, I need to remove all the Chinese characters to pass it. Please elaborate on this and advise, thanks.
# 2024-...
- 21
30
votes
0
answers
217
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Let's remove spam/offensive edit suggestions from the original poster's inbox as quickly as we can
Some of us have taken it upon ourselves to seek out the worst of what finds its way to Stack Exchange so that the majority of users don't have to see any of that. That's how the spam and rude flags ...
- 54.8k
6
votes
0
answers
68
views
Update Help Center page about necessary spam flags to delete a post
The Help Center article about the privilege to flag posts still refers to the old situation where 6 flags were needed:
What happens when I flag something as spam or rude/abusive?
The spam and rude/...
GlorfindelMod
- 254k
7
votes
1
answer
122
views
Why was this spam post locked and deleted twice by the Community bot?
Looking at the revision history of some spam, it was deleted and locked twice:
Checking another spam post, that one was only locked and deleted once.
What caused this one to get deleted & locked ...
- 14.7k
24
votes
0
answers
320
views
Can we make the spam flag description more clear?
Currently, the description of the spam flag reads as follows:
Exists only to promote a product or service, does not disclose the author's affiliation.
This wording is very confusing because it's ...
- 415
0
votes
0
answers
156
views
What recourse does a (mistakenly?) deleted spam account have? [duplicate]
There is of course a specific post that prompted this, but I'm not going to link it unless necessary.
Anyway, to the point; under the idea that a user's account is destroyed because it was labeled a ...
- 1,142
15
votes
1
answer
347
views
If *all* of a user's many answers promote the same thing but they properly disclose affiliation, is it spam?
I just saw a user on a small site posting a bunch of uncited AI-generated posts (which is plagiarism) that all promote the same thing. They properly disclose their affiliation in each post.
I read ...
- 27.9k
36
votes
0
answers
259
views
Auto suspend the user network-wide if their accounts have been destroyed on a certain number (e.g. 3) of sites
Possibly related; might be an extension or alternative to: A user should just be destroyed network-wide automatically if it has no upvoted content and is destroyed on two independent sites by mods ...
- 12.7k
39
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Does the Charcoal team plan to run SmokeDetector again?
There have been several posts complaining about increased visibility of spam posts.1 At least part of the reason was the fact that the Charcoal team participated in the strike and SmokeDetector wasn't ...
- 15.4k
9
votes
0
answers
256
views
Recent proliferation of spam on Server Fault [duplicate]
In the past couple of months I'm seeing a lot more spam on Server Fault. Until a few months ago I virtually never saw spam, and now virtually every time I visit there are money lenders, abortion pills,...
- 207
9
votes
2
answers
283
views
What exactly do VoteTypeId=4 (offensive) and VoteTypeId=12 (spam) mean?
According to the Database schema documentation for SEDE, the table Votes contains as VoteTypeId 4 = Offensive and 12 = Spam. The latter was mentioned, for example, here: How to find posts closed as ...
- 15.4k
-15
votes
1
answer
394
views
Temporarily reduce the 5-second rate limit on flagging posts as spam, to allow for quicker flagging on sites overrun with spam
SmokeDetector is currently disabled due to the moderation strike. This means that some specific sites are overrun with spam, and when I go through and flag each of those spam posts, I keep running ...
- 44.2k
6
votes
1
answer
451
views
Why can't we blacklist questions with a description containing a mobile number and the string "loans"? [duplicate]
As we are seeing a lot of spam, why can't we blacklist questions with a description containing a mobile number and the string "loans" combination on this platform?
- 193
-34
votes
3
answers
1k
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How about using GPT or some other LLMs to help for spam detection?
Example from https://askubuntu.com/questions/1475868/gold-rupee-loan-app-customer-carehelpline-number%ef%b8%8f-7250536107-7250536107
Prompt given to https://chat.openai.com/?model=text-davinci-002-...
- 44.2k
47
votes
2
answers
1k
views
The rate limiting system for posts is on strike; can it please be made to work?
Ten posts in eight minutes. I don't see a reason why anyone should be posting this fast, especially not a brand new user. This is only the most recent example, not the one that's posted the most:
It ...
- 54.8k
29
votes
2
answers
1k
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SE manipulation recruitment saga Pt. II
First, please read Pt. I of this story:
This guy tried to recruit me as a stooge for manipulating SE
I've decided to counter-fish our friend Mr. Thomas, and have sent him the following reply:
Hello ...
- 26.8k
64
votes
2
answers
1k
views
This guy tried to recruit me as a stooge for manipulating SE
A few days back, I got this email:
Dear Ein,
I see that you are an active member of multiple Stack Exchange
communities. We are looking for content creators. The task is very
simple and pays well. We ...
- 26.8k
26
votes
1
answer
780
views
How can we handle spam faster? [duplicate]
As of today, the Ask Ubuntu site was hit with a flood of spam. While I was trying to flag these posts, I was informed that I could only raise 16 flags a day. I would question this constraint.
Do we ...
- 329
-1
votes
1
answer
91
views
"This looks like spam" error message when attempting to ask a non-spam question on tor [duplicate]
I'm trying to ask in the "Tor Stack Exchange Q&A Site" about Signaled readiness to systemd... but always count my question as spam while it is not...
my question body : https://pastebin....
- 19
29
votes
1
answer
210
views
Red-flagged question titles are no longer shown to moderators
Instead of the title, I just see "This question was marked as spam or rude or abusive and is therefore not shown":
While this is the correct behavior for non-moderators, moderators are ...
- 28.3k
12
votes
1
answer
271
views
Why does deleting my own question tell me that I have flagged it as "spam or offensive content"?
It turned out that my question was asked as a misunderstanding. It now (after clarification) brings zero value to the community. So I have deleted it.
I was surprised to see this right after that:
...
- 4,097
-16
votes
2
answers
295
views
Are spammers and trolls part of the community?
This is a much more philosophical question than most. It is inspired by the question Is "the community" an arbiter or an authority of "belonging" on the site? as it relates to the ...
- 33.1k
-30
votes
1
answer
350
views
How can I cheat the reputation system?
I have been a full stack web developer and have been using computers for most of my life.
I use these Stack Exchange websites a lot, to get answers, as they say, and indeed they are right!
I get ...
user981122
8
votes
1
answer
124
views
Does it matter if a post discloses the author's affiliation if it only exists to promote a product or service?
The definition of the spam flag is:
Exists only to promote a product or service, does not disclose the author's affiliation.
And it links to the site's /help/promotion page. Based on the tips ...
- 54.1k
4
votes
0
answers
66
views
Question flagged as spam and error on body [duplicate]
I am trying to post a question on Stack Overflow regarding a problem I found on my code, but when I try to post it, the site returns two errors, both not really clarifying what is wrong with the ...
- 41
20
votes
2
answers
351
views
Using GPT-3 or similar tools to mass-produce low-quality answers
Consider this answer to this question:
The couple in question is James Morley and his wife, Liu Xiaobo.
hope this helped.
That's the kind of thing that GPT-3 or a similar AI would misinterpret out ...
11
votes
1
answer
406
views
Is it possible to blacklist a word, especially for unregistered users, in questions?
The problem
Since the 30th of August, Law.SE is suffering under a single user that does ask repeated questions over something they made up from thin air. The word "constiption[sic!]/constipt"...
- 662
2
votes
0
answers
56
views
Remove an account promoting escort services [duplicate]
I just rejected a spam edit on MSO from a new user promoting an escort service.
Looking at the user's profile here on MSE, it seems to have no purpose other than (spammingly?) promoting an escort ...
- 7,064
11
votes
2
answers
426
views
Appropriate measures for repeatedly posting the same content across the network
The user https://stackoverflow.com/users/12923651/polcott is very excited about their "insight" about an error in the proof of the Halting problem, and so they would like to share it with ...
- 297
20
votes
0
answers
190
views
Podcast advertising by spammers?
In podcast episode #482 I was somewhat disturbed to hear an ad for turing.com
I don't particularly perceive them as a spammer, and actually don't have much of a perception of them as a company at all; ...
- 15k
6
votes
0
answers
101
views
"This appears to be spam. If you think we've made an error, make a post in meta." The link to "meta" isn't clickable
In doing some testing for this post, I repeated the steps in How can I solve the 'Body cannot contain ""' error when trying to post? which gave the error:
However, if I left-click ...
- 22.5k
15
votes
1
answer
251
views
Under what conditions are 漢字 blocked?
I was surprised when I saw the question Chinese text isn't working on Stack Overflow. I've seen questions and answers with Chinese characters all over Stack Exchange (Skeptics, Islam, Politics, ...
- 22.5k
6
votes
0
answers
43
views
The "Tab Name" for Deleted Spam Questions still shows the Original Text [duplicate]
For questions deleted as spam or R/A, like this one, the question title (header) is replaced by the "System" with the following text:
This question was marked as spam or rude or abusive and ...
- 4,083
25
votes
1
answer
202
views
"You don't have the permission to use this type of flag" when casting a spam flag
Today I attempted to flag a question as spam on Stack Overflow; however, it was deleted the same moment as I cast the flag. The UI shows a popup
You don't have the permission to use this type of flag
...
GlorfindelMod
- 254k
10
votes
2
answers
268
views
Is it okay to flag blatant spam using two accounts?
I understand that using two or more accounts to vote on the same post (or interact with it in almost any way) is against the rules. That being said, what if I encounter a blatant spam/scam post that ...
- 15.3k
14
votes
1
answer
202
views
Is there a new kind of spam floating around the network nowadays (Spring 2022)?
This post is more of a “heads up” post than anything else since this recent spam trend I have seen seems quite novel and interesting.
I noticed this post on Super User (now deleted and flagged as spam,...
- 4,064
14
votes
0
answers
121
views
Posts Removed as Spam Still Appear in Network Profile
I know it is quite likely that this post is a duplicate of Question still appears in my top network posts even after having it disassociated from my account at least with regard to how these posts are ...
- 4,920
3
votes
0
answers
72
views
How to deal with "Please follow us on <social-media>"? [duplicate]
I just came across an answer thats ends with:
Hope you like it. Please follow us on Telegram and Instagram
Removed the links so they won't get any clicks
Screenshot
How should I deal with requests ...
- 3,227
20
votes
0
answers
82
views
Keep showing the post after casting the final spam flag while reviewing
When casting the final spam flag from the First Questions/First Answers/Late Answers queue, the post disappears and 'question/answer not found' is shown instead:
This makes it difficult for example ...
GlorfindelMod
- 254k
18
votes
0
answers
263
views
Hashcode sites are unmoderated and spam-filled [duplicate]
Hashcode is a network of Russian Q&A sites that was bought by Stack Overflow in 2015. The most active sites for programming and Russian were imported to Stack Exchange, but not all were. A few ...
- 4,798
30
votes
1
answer
367
views
Remove 'Autobiographer' from Recent Badges
Until a better method is implemented to prevent spam accounts from seeing the light of day, can we remove either the 'Autobiographer' badge from the Recent Badges list, or, alternatively, prevent ...
- 8,300
12
votes
0
answers
87
views
Reviewing a First Answer with red flags leads to "Possible spam" notice shown for question
There is a First Answers review item about a (questionable) answer that received four (still pending) rude/abusive flags. That leads to the familiar notice
Our system has identified this post as ...
GlorfindelMod
- 254k
48
votes
8
answers
508
views
Could we have a minimum reputation for visible profiles?
After a couple of years - most of the profiles that were getting my goat have been herded away from the sites I moderate. There's probably many more left and I'm looking at thwarting them in many ...
- 187k
-15
votes
1
answer
149
views
How can I answer questions with affiliate links? [duplicate]
I am new here. As an affiliate marketer, what can I do to be able to post affiliate links to answers questions about new technology, health and design on stackoverflow.com?
- 1