Questions tagged [spam]
This tag is for questions about suspected user spam, the spam flag or combating spam as a community.
84
questions with no upvoted or accepted answers
98
votes
0
answers
449
views
Posts destroyed as spam should trigger a retroactive audit failure for previous "No Action Needed" votes
As a moderator on Stack Overflow, I regularly look through the review history of obvious spam that has lasted more than an hour or so on the site. I often find one or two reviewers who voted "No ...
- 60.8k
73
votes
0
answers
578
views
2017: a year in spam
Last year, I posted 2016: a year in spam. Since that was pretty well-received, here’s the 2017 version. Ladies, gentlemen, aliens, and everyone in between: more statistics about spam that you never ...
- 36.3k
70
votes
0
answers
672
views
Please moderate Facebook comments on the SO page
Not a complaint or a whine, but a polite request because Facebook won't do it.
I reported the comment above, which was posted from a fake account using your name to entice people to send them crypto ...
- 1,144
36
votes
0
answers
237
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 ...
- 12.2k
36
votes
0
answers
129
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New user restrictions should include blacklisted keywords and URLs
A significant portion of spam contains commonly spammed links and product names, such as:
We*ght l*ss
M*le enh*ncement
B*y n*w
Almost any post containing these is spam, especially from a 1 rep ...
- 733
36
votes
1
answer
362
views
Detect and block question copied exactly from existing questions
Just now I saw this question and this question two questions which are deleted afterwards, which appears to be copied exactly from another existing question, and surprisingly some "users" also ...
- 1,416
34
votes
0
answers
263
views
Better tools to handle spam on low-traffic sites
On many Stack Exchange sites, particularly during the hours when Europe and America are asleep, spam can survive for hours. This gives a bad impression.
What can we do to allow the community to ...
34
votes
0
answers
1k
views
Set up email/comment spam honeypots for Project: Honey Pot
Stack Exchange is about making the Internet better, right? They've contributed to open-source projects, spawned open-source projects, become an Open ID provider, the list goes on.
Here's one more ...
- 36.8k
31
votes
0
answers
194
views
Temporarily block (disable) links in spam-flagged posts
Today there was a spam post (copy for <10k users) to Science Fiction & Fantasy whose purpose appeared to be to induce people to click a malicious link. At least one user did:
First of all, ...
- 577
31
votes
0
answers
254
views
End the edit grace period upon two or more spam/rude flags being raised
I am aware that a similar suggestion was made and rejected. The major criticism of that one was essentially this
The only problem with this is it's unexpected - there's no visible trace on that ...
- 26.3k
31
votes
0
answers
153
views
Prevent 0 character links
SmokeDetector drew our attention to this former spam post on Biology Stack Exchange. Here's a screenshot of how it looked like:
At first, I thought it was just another 'not an answer' post, but one ...
GlorfindelMod
- 248k
31
votes
0
answers
188
views
Return HTTP 410 Gone for deleted spam questions
Stack Exchange has a pretty good relationship with Google. Often, new questions on Stack Overflow may get indexed by Google within seconds of being posted, or within minutes at most.
Usually, this is ...
- 31.6k
31
votes
0
answers
271
views
Add captcha to anonymous edits
I reached 1k rep on Chess.SE, now I can review suggested edits, and I see anonymous edits from unregistered users, all bots and spammers.
I know that you are not willing to turn off the anonymous ...
- 1,913
31
votes
0
answers
364
views
Can we get a visual indication that there are spam or offensive posts in the flag queue?
I know you're doing a lot of work on heuristic spam prevention across the network but I wonder if you've got some time to quickly improve the manual side of things. Below is what I see when I arrive ...
- 7,504
29
votes
0
answers
224
views
Show red flags to moderators of other sites if no local mod handles it in a certain time frame
There is a discussion underway in the Charcoal chat room on a certain spam post on ExpressionEngine Answers. Some of us flagged it as spam almost 24 hours ago, but flags are still pending, and a ...
- 32.7k
28
votes
0
answers
150
views
Enable a percent-based block of CJK characters on Travel
So, we have a situation on Travel:
I assure you, none of these are legit. This has been going on for weeks, at something like this volume at the same time every night, consistently. The normal IP-...
- 50.3k
28
votes
0
answers
303
views
Why can 1 rep users post so many answers so fast?
I just came across this answer (10k only) on Ask Ubuntu (image link). A new, one-rep user just posted thirteen "abusive" answers over fifteen minutes.
Another case: a user managed to post a ...
- 1,115
24
votes
0
answers
241
views
How can this user have an account on many sites but no network account?
This spammer has about twenty accounts across the network, but their network profile shows a 404 Page Not Found. What's going on here?
I often check the network profiles of users whose posts are ...
GlorfindelMod
- 248k
24
votes
0
answers
118
views
Raise a Community Manager message when an account is destroyed for spamming
This is a follow-up to this, unanswered, question:
A user should just be destroyed network-wide automatically if it has no upvoted content and is destroyed on two independent sites by mods already
...
ChrisFMod
- 100k
24
votes
0
answers
234
views
Spam flagging on-topic answers
I have noticed that the community, on finding a posted answer that appears to promote a product or service, looks up the user's account and spam flags all the other answers for that user that also ...
user102937
23
votes
0
answers
173
views
Raising a moderator attention flag in addition to a spam/offensive flag
If I flag a post as offensive or spam, the UI tells me that I can raise an other (needs ♦ moderator attention) flag. I can type a message:
But after submitting the flag, I get a pop-up telling me ...
22
votes
0
answers
296
views
Block fumacrom.com from appearing in posts
The domain "fumacrom.com" is an alias for "adf.ly", which I just came across as a spam link on Stack Overflow. Since we already have adf.ly on the blocklist, we should add fumacrom....
22
votes
0
answers
170
views
Hide post content if a user is destroyed as spammer
There is a specific destroy reason for users that post only spam or other abusive content:
This user was created to post spam or nonsense and has no other positive participation
Aside from ...
- 185k
21
votes
0
answers
124
views
Avoid plain spammers littering “users with flagged posts"
One of the moderator tools shows you users whose posts received the most flags in the last month.
This tool is useful as it may help moderators to detect problems before they get big, provide guidance ...
- 28k
20
votes
0
answers
185
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; ...
- 13.4k
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
- 248k
20
votes
0
answers
117
views
Let's meet spam waves with flag waves!
I've been helping in the Great Ask Ubuntu Spam War recently, and one thing I've noticed is that 10-20 flags usually isn't enough during a wave. It feels, quite frankly, terrible to have to sit out ...
- 50.3k
20
votes
0
answers
225
views
Dismissal of spam and offensive flags (the moderator's perspective)
There's a post that has a spam or offensive flag. These flags are pretty serious, since if they're validated by the community or by a moderator, they carry a -100 penalty to the poster's reputation.
...
18
votes
0
answers
115
views
Auto-deleted posts from spammers and trolls should get the "this is spam/rude" warning
When a post is deleted by spam or rude/abusive flags, users who can see deleted posts see a warning along the lines of "this post was deleted as spam or offensive". If they want to see the actual ...
- 182k
18
votes
0
answers
74
views
Can't cast a binding mod spam-flag if I already spam-flagged the post as a non-mod
I just came across a spam answer which had been deleted in the ordinary way, by three high-rep users, without first attracting enough spam flags to be locked and its contents hidden away in the post's ...
- 33.3k
17
votes
0
answers
259
views
Spam flags not automatically downvoting
Usually, flagging as spam will generate automatic downvotes.
This morning on Super User I noticed this wasn't happening.
This is one that was deleted quite quickly, but still only shows -2, one of ...
- 6,354
17
votes
0
answers
176
views
Make Link markdown with whitespace-only content for the 'link' text auto-delete itself
There was a questionable post caught by SmokeDetector containing an invisible link set forth on white space like follows:
[ ](hxxp://some-nsfw-image-link-or-spam-link)
... which renders pretty much ...
- 1,979
16
votes
0
answers
180
views
Why are Notification Mails considered Spam?
I get notifications if there are new questions at Stack Overflow in the htmx tag.
But gmail thinks they are spam:
I try to translate:
Gmail could not verify that this email really comes from ...
- 301
16
votes
0
answers
136
views
Should the spam handling guidance be consolidated into a single post?
As a regular SPAM flagger based on the reports of the Smoke Detector I run now and then into posts that not only receive spam flags but also close votes, an edit or comments and I imagine NAA/VLQ ...
- 86.2k
16
votes
0
answers
150
views
Can we indicate spam masking to mods?
As far as I can tell, mods can't actually see when a deleted post is replaced with "This answer was marked as spam or offensive and therefore is not shown..." - we just see the original post. I'm glad ...
- 4,056
16
votes
1
answer
239
views
Unsolicited email from a startups user (my email is not public)
Has anyone else received unsolicited email (spam) from a https://startups.stackexchange.com/ user (I can provide the user name if necessary)?
Notes:
The From and Return path names exactly match a ...
- 9,175
15
votes
0
answers
68
views
Show 'Flag as spam' button instead of 'Close question' when handling spam flags
When there is a pending spam flag, the new moderator flag dashboard shows two primary options in the bottom right: 'Delete question' and 'Close question ...'. While deleting the question is sometimes ...
GlorfindelMod
- 248k
15
votes
0
answers
174
views
Don't invalidate spam or abuse flags upon review deletion
This post was a blatant spam post, initially seeming like a bare link to a Google Drive file, but that was actually a misleading link that went to a spam site (the actual link URL was different from ...
15
votes
0
answers
361
views
Add cookie blocks to the IP-based spam-blocking system
Note: Not a duplicate of Please don't use a spam filter based on IP address. That proposes that we stop blocking IPs; this one suggests implementing an additional feature while keeping the ...
15
votes
0
answers
166
views
Restrict the access to suggested edit reviews on deleted posts
This suggested edit on an answer deleted as rude/abusive is visible, even without logging in (and for users with less than 10k reputation). These users can't see the answer 'directly', via the ...
GlorfindelMod
- 248k
14
votes
0
answers
114
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 ...
- 4,632
14
votes
0
answers
79
views
Update Help Center page about spam/abusive flags
The Help Center page about the Flag Posts privilege currently states:
What happens when I flag something as spam or abusive?
The spam and abusive flags are designed to automatically eliminate truly ...
GlorfindelMod
- 248k
14
votes
0
answers
101
views
Spam in [astro] tag
Some spammer (Vedic Folks) have started spamming on SO. I've found them rejecting suggested edits on astro tag. However, some robo-reviewers have accepted their suggested spam edit for the tag body, ...
- 14.8k
13
votes
0
answers
111
views
Disable Twitter/GitHub links for low-rep users
Currently, hyperlinks in "About me" and "Website link" in our user profile pages are disabled for low-rep users in order to prevent from malicious links. See this answer for details.
Hyperlinks for ...
- 1,635
13
votes
0
answers
74
views
Bad UX if a red flag deletes a post in review
If:
you have a spam, rude, or abusive post in the first-posts or late-answers queue;
you flag it thusly;
this flag is the one to bring the post over the deletion threshold (possibly also: another ...
- 28k
13
votes
0
answers
158
views
Active state for spam flags
Today, I saw my flags getting their state as active which are waiting for review.
But, the spam flags didn't get that.
Already, a feature request for spam and offensive flags for showing time was ...
- 7,865
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
- 248k
12
votes
0
answers
141
views
Remove the point about the author's affiliation from spam flag description on questions
Currently the flag > spam dialog has the following description:
We had a discussion about it in a chat room and came to the conclusion that the author's affiliation has no effect when flagging a ...
user300282
12
votes
0
answers
820
views
Regarding the xdotool spammer
Some of you who regularly broswe the c++/c#/python (and a few other) tags will probably have run into this guy in the last few days. He's been spamming so with a fairly lengthy post mentioning amongst ...
- 564
12
votes
0
answers
114
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Automatically cull oneboxed deleted posts (especially spam) from chat
Scenario:
There's a spam post that's lingering on a site.
Someone links to the post in a chatroom, to attract more spam flags.
The post gets hammered off.
But the onebox of the post remains in the ...