Preventing Spam

[Guest]

I was thinking about the rampant spam at anime-source's forums, especially how fanboys barrage posts with one-liners about mainstream manga (naruto, ichigo 100%, suzuka) and totally ignore threads about classics such as berserk and chrono crusade manga and evangelion anime. Total heresy!

Hence, I think that the penalty box should contain a thread which allows members to report topics which have become old and pontless...ie: Ichigo threads, in which non-sensical one-liners claim Manaka should end up with Aya, and no substantive evidence is ever offered...

Anyway, I also like to suggest that the first post in any new topic should be a spoiler, which will actually force people to read the posts and think critically and thougthfully with a response. Also how about dedicating an entire thread to posts which are entirely spoilers? They don't really have to be actual spoilers, but it would be neat seeing an entire thread with just a bunch of blank boxes, forcing people to read. Those who don't respond are obvious spammers. What do you guys think?

....You better answer in a spoiler![spoiler]

-anonymous servant

[aznfattass]

wow, that is a good point, you can get more people to read the posts that people post, like what im doing right now XD

yea this is also a good idea cause some people just tennd to post the same thing someone else just said because they didnt read the previous posts that others made, and i know, i used to be one of those people, im not proud of that -.-

[leoxjm]

Answer to post 1 (and not using spoiler tags to break trend ):

1) Make a penalty box thread to report useless threads: I feel that the mods are actually doing a pretty good job at locking old/useless threads. I frequent the anime forums (and to a lesser extent the manga forums) and I usually see many repeated, Versus-type and spammed threads. I often make a post re-directing people or notifying the mods that the thread should be locked, and it usually is by the time I come back. I don't know about you but I think that is pretty efficient and they're doing a good job. I don't see why bother both admins and other mods with a new penalty thread when the forum mods seem up to the task. I also think that if they ever need help they'd ask someone else for it. In conclussion, this is not a bad idea itself, but sending the mods a PM gets the job done if they don't lock the threads themselves without help.

2) About the "senseless" posts: Unfortunately there are some posts that repeat info or comments because they don't bother to read the last page or sometimes even the last two posts. In the Bleach thread, for example, people wouldn't stop saying "are there going to be fillers?" and "I hope it isn't like Naruto" and things like that. It was pretty annoying to post answers to that repeatedly, both for myself and other forumers, but I really doubt that the use (or abuse) of spoiler tags would solve it. If people don't want to read they won't and that is the end of it. Futhermore, some people (like me) actually avoid highlighting spoiler tags to avoid reading spoilers on what we are interested in. They are called 'spoiler tags" for a reason.
Besides, if people post only in the mainstream threads.... well, who cares? People are entitled to like what they like, and if they don't want to post on the Eva or Chrno Crusade threads they don't have to. Anime is not some kind of school in which you have to "graduate" in Evangelion and FLCL to be considered a smart person. Some posts like "AsuKa RuleZZZ " in the threads that require abit more thinking would really bring their quality down and if people who post like that don't watch them I guess I would be glad that they don't. Additionally, A-source is proud to be a community open to anyone. Accepting people only if they have a certain anime "prerequisite" of acceptable experience/tastes contradicts that point. Who and what defines "acceptable", anyways?

3) About making the first post of the threads a spoiler: Not enitrely helpful, and more often than not when the thread is a few pages long the first one tends to be forgotten. Especially if it is an anime discussion thread where the new stuff is the one that matters and that is found in the last pages. I guess you can do it if you want.

4) About making spoiler-only threads... I don't really see the point. Why not simply post in the thread of the anime you're talking about and use spoiler tags? if the simple-minded posts annoy you you can just ignore them and reply only to those you care about. That's what I do. I don't think spoiler tags will make people think more or read more carefully, as I said before. All they would do is create a new (and spammable) standard. People won't highlight any posts to say "I liek tis AniME", and they can post that with spoiler tags. Anyway, that idea may pass through the Staff/mods. I don't think it is a bad idea itself, but it seems kind of pointess.

Well, that is it... I guess I just wanted to offer a counterpoint to the first idea. Whichever way the staff wishes to go is fine by me. Personally I also would like to see less spam in the forums, but I think things are run pretty well already and the initial sugestion would accomplish relatively little to that purpose. But that is just my opinion.
_________________

[Guest]

Do you think my suggestions had anything to do with the new point system, especially the end of points from forums? I must have created a new monster! The anime review sections, which will now be the place to get points might become inundated with bogus reviews. However, some administrators decide which reviews are accepted, so at least there will be moderation.

[Frundock]

So far, we noticed no change in the reviews flow. However, we've put some nice piece of code to prevent quick useless review from even reaching the admin team.

We've also increase the number of ways to get points. Please refer to the FAQ in "Website Stuff" for complete details.