Spam Topics and Banning Policies

[eXtaticus]

Due to recent and heavy influx of useless, worthless, cluttering and moronic spam topics that seem to have plagued the forum in the last few weeks, I have formulated a request to pose to the staff of the SSMB:

If a user, be him a long-standing veteran or an inexperienced newbie, has created a large myriad of spam topics (say five, for the purpose of this example) within the space of a month, then they should receive an instantaneous temporary ban, coupled with either a warn point, a stern talking to, or both.

How a spam topic is defined should be with any one of these five simple criteria:

• One or two replies before being locked.
  
• Locked under the grounds of having "no discussion value".
  
• Opening post is only one sentence.
  
• Opening post is poorly constructed, incoherent, or badly spelled and/ or punctuated.
  
• Topic subjects seem childish, ridiculous, pointless, or generally badly thought out.
  

So, what do you think? Is this - considering current circumstances - a good and fitting policy, or would it be a little too much of a rash and radical decision? Do tell.

[Badnik Mechanic]

Isn't that what already happens?

[eXtaticus]

Isn't that what already happens?

If only...

[Blue Blood]

Not being staff members we don't know about any 'stern talkings to' or warnings, we only see the eventual aftermath. You're kind of assuming these don't happen. The staff here have a tendency to be lenient to keep up a nice atmosphere, and the way they're handling things right now is fine. There are some people who just don't seem to try to understand and follow the rules, but it's not hard to ignore (report) them and wait for the offending topics/posts to be dealt with. It's just not a massive bother at the moment.

Edited September 26, 2010 by Blue Blood

[Nepenthe]

I'm not sure if this is as big a problem as you're making it out to be. There has been a bit of an influx of such topics, but only by the newer, more inexperienced members who either stop posting to some degree or get banned anyways. Said influx in topics also isn't overwhelming either; The majority of posts here are up to snuff. And finally, as Gnasher and Blue Blood said, people are probably already disciplined sufficiently for such topics. It's a little niggle, but it doesn't warrant anymore action than what's being done now.

[Diz]

The staff here have a tendency to be lenient to keep up a nice atmosphere,

There we go.

For a while now, the staff have been much less strict than before, as mentioned, to keep a nice and friendly atmosphere, being light-hearted and all of that. We used to be much more strict, and despite perhaps it then being easier to act as a moderator on stuff, I personally feel it scared a lot of members so much that they did not want to post at all (myself, even).

I am not so active in the Sonic the Hedgehog-based sections these days, but I have a bigger problem with members derailing and eventually forcing a topic to be locked, instead of a topic that actually can be saved by being followed by efforted posts, and if not, then at least the unnecessary rudeness (which often seems to appear here).

Having said that, the suggestion is cool, and perhaps parts of it should be implemented (I believe we actually could use a system like that as of late, perhaps not as harsh, ie. no immediate ban).

[Velotix von Skruviktorrius]

Once, this place had a reputation for being the most heavily moderated site in the fandom. It did the job but it seems to have worn down the staff a little too much over the years. It's better the way it is now.

That said, the negrep spam (What I like to call the "Douchebag Downvote Bonus") in the Sonic forums has been pretty bad lately, which is discouraging me from posting there, silly as that may sound.