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Spam accounts

by speeding_snail · #bugski
posted 358 days ago · shared by: 7
I noticed that there are several spam accounts at the moment. They post 2 links, show up in my feed and then I ignore them, because they always post the exact same links.

The accounts are in my ignore list (Which I don't seem to be able to find at the moment). Maybe a "report as spam" feature which lets users report certain accounts or posts as spam, and once they reach a certain threshold, they can be checked against each other for duplicate links etc.

Just a suggestion and a little frustration, since I really like the external posts feature.



by mk 358 days ago  ·  link
I agree. I don't need auto parts.

I'll be implementing a fix, probably tomorrow. The short of it is that if enough people ignore an account (in addition to some other activity info), that user will just not show up in the external posts at all. If the same ip keeps doing the same thing, that ip won't show up in external posts.

I'll re-add the ignore list too.

by sounds_sound 358 days ago  ·  link
i don't even have a car, or a vacuum cleaner :) I think your solution is really simple and elegant. in the context of spammers, the ignore button can act as a more active pursuit to get their accounts buried. it might be a good idea, then, in the faq under ignore to point out that ignoring people effects the entire site and not just ones feed. so people will know, for example, that when they see a spammer in their external posts, to take a second to actually ignore them, rather than just ignoring them.
by tommychips 357 days ago  ·  link
would it differentiate between same site and same URLs? If not could run into a reddit situation where new content sites are blocked, they show up with new content and new ways of showing them and get blocked because they are not affiliates. New to the site, tired of reddit. Like it so far. Hope I am being constructive.
by mk 357 days ago  ·  link
No, I have no desire to block specific sites.

Rather than a community space, I view Hubski as a communication platform, where each user builds their own space. In that sense, IMHO we are very different from Reddit. I want the individual user to control their experience, rather than moderators.

by thenewgreen 357 days ago  ·  link
It sounds like the process mk describes would not affect the sites the posts are coming from but rather the accounts posting the links. The only problem here is that a spammer can just continuously create new accounts and keep posting. I do not think that Hubski would be served well by blocking sites, there are other ways to handle this. I think mk is on the right track making it to where a number of "ignores" from active hubskiers flags an account to not make it in to the external feed. This way, it's the account that is actioned against and not the site the spam is coming from. They can continue to post the spam all day long but if nobody follows them and they aren't allowed to be in the "external feeds" of hubski users, they will have nobody to see their spam. Hence, their is little to no motivation to spam the site.

I actually am enjoying "ignoring" these obvious spammers. It feels like tidying up a place I enjoy being in.

btw, welcome to Hubski.

by caio 358 days ago  ·  link
In case you haven't found it yet, speeding_snail, the ignore list is at "controls". There you will find the number of users and tags you are currently ignoring.

I'm don't think i'm seeing any spam in my feed right now, but any measures to prevent it from happening are, of course, appreciated.

by speeding_snail 358 days ago  ·  link
Ah, there it is. I knew it had to be somewhere. I was just looking in the wrong place. (The name menu, assuming that the ignore list was public)

The spam posts were consistently from accounts that weren't older than a day, max 3 days, so the accounts were created specially for these posts. Seems even hubski isn't spam free anymore...

by cgod 358 days ago  ·  link
There has been spam for months, but ignore has never made them more then an occasional annoyance for me.
by mk 357 days ago  ·  link
Thanks all, I just pushed the update: http://hubski.com/pub?id=33806
by thenewgreen 357 days ago  ·  link
I actually called carpartswarehouse and asked them to stop. I'll start calling them everyday and wasting the time of their hourly employees. I'm going to spam them back.
by speeding_snail 357 days ago  ·  link
I don't know whose time you'll be wasting. Your own or theirs...
by thenewgreen 357 days ago  ·  link
You are right.
by khaaan 358 days ago  ·  link
i saw a few a while ago i think you also pointed them out at the time report as spam is a god idea

invite only? for hubski or even real names like Google

by thenewgreen 358 days ago  ·  link
I couldn't agree more. I too am sick of them. mk, any suggestions?


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