Honestly, I don't like the spam thread at all. But it is MUCH better to have the one post with all that in there than having bunches of posts each day with spam in them.
I guess my biggest 'problem' with the spamming is what Deb25 mentioned. I would assume (if I were a brand new member) that anyone with a high post count knew a lot about cat care or the community here as a whole. It seems as though that's been replaced with just spam posts though, that neither assist with cat care or supporting other members.
If short posts stopped counting towards the post count, I would still post a 'Happy Birthday' or a 'Congratulations' or "Cute kitty" message, whatever the case may be. I'm under the impression that those kinds of posts are still going to be okay? Are they considered spam? I like being supportive where I can, and I consider those posts as non-spam, but maybe I'm mistaken?
I also feel guilty about bumping posts about the Members Gallery now and then for new submissions. I've realized that I can remove my 'bump' messages though (which lowers my post count), and repost my bump, which makes me feel a little bit better about the whole thing. I hate to think I'm spamming. (Although I was guilty of spamming in the alphabet and question game when I was a brand new member. Those first 100 posts were hard to get for me.
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And it might help getting more people to post in the DTs if the spamming was gone. I rarely post in them myself, but I do read them most everyday.
If I had to vote on keeping the spam threads or getting rid of them, I'd vote to get rid of them, as I find them useless.
Sam if your opinions didn't count the thread would have been yanked and you would be left wondering why? This thread was brought up because of complaints from long-standing members collected over time about how so many boards do NOT allow Spam so why do we? It finally got to the point where it couldn't be ignored and so it was decided collectively to ask for members opinions input etc... Look again at the subject line of this thread- Spam: Input Requested.
being one of the current infamous naughty spammers, i think that the thread is just dandy and it's my favorite place to go everyday. i have tried the DT thread and didn't care for it; i like the mix of people in the SPAM one better. without it, i don't know if i'd spend as much time at the forum.
BUT.... in our defense, i would like to point out that the very first post in there is from a woman who started spamming just to reach a certain number of posts, giving me the impression that it was ok to do and condoned by the board. were the single smileys a bit overboard? yes. but had i known that it wasn't ok and upsetting people, i would have stopped a couple of days ago. none of us spammed to get people upset...or to steal your glory of your "honestly" earned titles.
i'm glad to hear that no retroactive punitive measures will be taken however...just thought that i'd give a portion of my two-cents here.
There is a difference. Most boards don't allow spam because it interfers with the board and the threads. We aren't spamming individual threads. If you don't like the spam thread, don't read it, don't look at it, don't even think about it. Go on your merry way and enjoy the rest of the site.
We aren't harming anything, we're having a chatroom without java script.
What you fail to understand is every time you or someone else posts in the thread, it bumps the thread to the top of the board, pushing other threads more important to the bottom. This is an interactive forum- that is why the complaints started coming in. One more thing, we can't ignore the SPAM thread because we are moderators. If we ignored it, we wouldn't be doing what we VOLUNTEERED to do.
Let me rephrase this. Stickies are for serious issues, Spam is not considered serious. I am in the line-up that HATES Spam. I typically delete over 200 pieces of spam every day in my email bins. I deal with spammers over the telephone, I don't read the SPAM threads unless there is a complaint about them. I have a high post count, I don't spam and I get questions all the time from people with animals in distress that are both members and non-members alike. I have seen boards go under because of trolls and spam. That is my view on this issue.
It is a wee bit mind boggling to see new members with a super high number of posts counts - heck I have been here since May 2002 and I just made it to the 2,000's - LMAO. Even though I am guilty for spamming a time or two in that thread, I wouldn't miss it if it went away - I don't hang out in there anyway. Now that I know about the DT I think I will start popping in there more often ... (learned something new - cool)
Phew, I suggested that this thread be opend less than 12 hours ago and look at it now
Ok, a few things I'd like to say -
True, the spam threads started specifically as a means for members to bump up their posts count without spamming other threads. We didn't frown and while not promoting it, it was just fine. What we are doing here is re-evaluating this approach. We may or may not change the policies following this discussions, but I don't blame anyone for using the spam threads to bump up their post count - as this was the original aim of the spam threads.
Your opinion does matter. If it didn't matter this thread wouldn't have come into existence. For me the forums are a community. We sometimes need to decide on rules or enforce them without consulting members. Still, where possible, I prefer to get feedback from you - the people who make this community, before making a decision.
Bandwidth is an issue for the board, but not necessarily for this debate. Not exactly bandwidth per se, but rather the number or requests the data base gets simultanesously. It's a bit techincal, but we may be having a problem there which occasionally slows down the boards. Due to problems our hosting company is experiencing right now, we can't even make sure that this is the problem. The spam thread is not what makes the problem - so for the sake of this argument, I prefer to ignore the technical aspects.
A chat room is not an option for the near future. For various reasons, one of them being that it's hard to moderate them (and we have a commitment to our hosting company as well as advertisers, to keep our pages moderated).
I think people who spam to get their post count up will find ways to do it, even if we get rid of spam threads. Even if we set up a minimal number of characters as a requirement to make a post count. I also think, that these measures will have some effect, but it's more a question of setting up a policy and letting everyone know about it. I wouldn't want to start policing this issue. I would hope new members will respect the policy.
Right now, what I have in mind is this - a change of approach which means we ask people to stick to meaningful posts and not spam the board just to get their post count up. What is meaningful and what isn't is debatable of course and I'm all for giving as lot of leeway. If someone makes 500 one word posts that say nothing - than we may edit them out and contact that person. I think I prefer to close the current spam thread - not because there's anything wrong with it, but because newbies reading the first pages will get confused about this new policy. I'm all for continuing the chit-chat tradition in a new thread - it's just those first posts there encouraging people to spam that I want out of the way.
I wouldn't delete it altogether and wouldn't touch people's post counts, even if they were acheived through spamming (that's why I wouldn't delete the thread). I know post counts do mean a lot to people and I think that if we apply a new policy now, it shouldn't affect the past - just the future.
I'm still not sure about setting a minimal character requirement for a post to count. I think length isn't that hard to acheive and it doens't necessarily make a post more meaningful. I think that people who are active in welcoming new members, wishing happy birthday or giving cyber hugs should be given credit for those posts. They are to me an important part of what makes the community what it is.
Right now, this is just my 2 cents. Please keep giving your input. Nothing is decided yet. I'm also going to consult other forums owners to see what others are doing.