SPAM option?

[Former Member]

Hi,

I am observing that lot of people in various forums keep marking random / useless/ irrelevant reply without even reading the question being asked.

They keep pasting a whole load of links, copy of SAP help and what not.

I want to have an option to mark these posts as SPAM and if the same person is marked for SPAM some definite number of times, he could be looked into for a term-ban from SDN.

I think it will make it more saner than to have a mad-rush for points which everybody keeps pleading for.

At this juncture I don't want to point out any particular person/post but I can if people want to observe some of the posts like that.

So what do you guys think?

Cheers

[former_member223537]

Hi,

Removing the point system wont solve the problem. Points is one of the motivation on SDN.

Agreed that people with Huge points to keep on pasting links which are irrelevant to the question raised, but removing point system is definitely not the solution.

Rather than assigning the responsiblity to people who have some X points, its better if Moderators keep a watch on such postings. If a person has 10 such postings, then he should be penalised with some points.

Best regards,

Prashant

[Former Member]

Hi Prashant,

What I meant by removal of points was a criteria and not from SDN itself.

I have reservations about putting this 100+ points or some other level of points as criteria for this kind of feature. I believe it should be thrown open and there should not be points as citeria for having this feature.

Points in no way demostrate maturity in posts.

And I guess it would be loading up the moderators unnnecessarily if they are asked to look for such posts.

Let the community be self regulatory and report people. If moderators feel they are not following decorum they can take appropriate actions.

Regards

Nishant

[David]

Hi,

The points system is here to stay - sorry, no chance that is ever going away.

An alternative to the 100 point selection criteria would be some form of voting by the member population. I favor this, because it requires less programming effort

Mark preferred the automated method to make it less strenous on the forums managers, but voting has the advantage of avoiding those who cut and paste answers being "promoted".

Best Regards,

David

[pokrakam]

Hi,

I don't mind he 100 point threshold (preferrably 500), I think it's a good idea as the majority of these will have an idea of netiquette.

Why not let a number of dings (5?) remove their right to ding for the next 30 days? (and if they receive another 5 wintin these days then another 30 are added). Else a moderator could also suspend ding rights.

Cheers,

Mike

[Former Member]

Hi All,

Contrary to what is believed that more points reflect better etiquette, it's not the case.

I believe it would be terribly wrong to assume that people who enter late in a forum are poor in following rules and are not aware. This could be partly because they read FAQ's first and other stuff before embarking on.

In contrast to that old time users of the forums tend to be complacent, overlook FAQ's and post without reading the question even at times!!!

So though I agree with the Ding or something of that sort approach, I am really cynical about the use of points as criteria for using such functionality.

Regards

Nishant

[Former Member]

Quite right Nishant,

From where I'm sitting I see a lot of people with vast amounts of points who simply cut and paste answers (often irrelevant to the original question.)

And we do get a lot of new people joining who are more than "netiquette" whilst some of the older members are just miserable, sarcastic and grumpy (and that's just me

Anyway, to the point, I agree that the ding feature is a good (very good) idea but should be open to all. It looks like it will work out as a really useful addition to the forums and may help to address some of the problems with both new and old members.

Gareth.

[David]

Hello Nishant,

While at TechEd Las Vegas, Mark Finnern met with Bhanu G. who is one of our most active forum moderators. She suggested the following scenario called Ding the Poster.

Members who have achieved over a certain level of points, say 100, within the forums, would be granted the right to mark certain posts as inappropriate. The moderators would then be able to log on in the morning and sort by those given such marks. They could then decide what further action to take - delete with or without warning, edit and warn, edit, all of the above plus ask to have the userid deleted.

This seemed like a great idea as it allows our more experienced members to assist the moderators.

I asked Mark to submit a request for this feature for the coming year. I am sure he will once the various TechEds are finished.

Best Regards,

David

[former_member583013]

David -:)

I wasn't aware of that new "feature"....Really cool...and helpfull...Hope to see it this year -;)

Greetings,

Blag.

[bhavesh_kantilal]

David,

If we end up choosing people on the number of points, it would lead to same hue and cry. For example, there are many people on various forums who might have crossed even 1K points but still continue to post irrelevant links and answers.

I know it is a contentious issue but any solution that goes back to choosing people or providing powers to them on the basis of points will lead to the same vicious cycle over and over again.

I wish there was something ideal and better I could suggest, but let us not choose / award powers to people on the basis of points.

My 2 cents worth,

Bhavesh

[Former Member]

Hi,

I agree with Bhavesh. I can give pointers to some members who have gathered a healthy number of points but still indulge in sub-standard replies by posting numerous links with no relation whatsoever with the question .

Maybe points are the only thing which spring up but there seems to be no proper scale for giving this feature.

I was just wondering why not remove the points criteria? I mean assuming people are not forming cartels against other people and the thingy will only be a pointer to the moderators, useless use of the same could also be controlled.So maybe this feature can be enabled for all members.

Regards

Nishant