hhplace needs an amendment to its TOS.

kneehighs · 27th January 2006, 18:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by spam-to-delete

The links are placed here to gain Page Rank with Google, not for real traffic.

1. Lets all write Firefox an email. Ask him to restrict posting rights to registered forum members only.

2. Ask him to amend the TOS to hhplace to include the following, or something of a similar vein:

"Any use by you of any other subscriber's information, personal or otherwise, for any commercial purpose or to obtain direct financial gain (e.g. mass marketing) is prohibited. Any such use shall be deemed to be a violation of these Terms of Service. hhplace.org is to be used by you for your personal use only. Commercial uses of hhplace.org are strictly prohibited unless prior written consent from hhplace.org has been granted. You agree that you will not use hhplace.org for chain letters, junk mail, 'spamming,' solicitations (commercial or non-commercial) or bulk communications of any kind including but not limited to distribution lists to any person who has not given specific permission to be included in such a list."

It will take 3 minutes to write a pm.

Dr. Shoe · 27th January 2006, 21:12

It's a good idea, I'm getting fed up with it too.

Danielinheels · 27th January 2006, 23:47

1 - fine with me; this would greatly dissolve the need for #2

2 - users who actually register to do this usually don't stay around very long to check back for comments on their spam - it's almost like trying to talk with a tele-marketer about how their weekend went.

most of the spammers that DO post here somehow aren't registered users - that is, there's no way to click their name to see a profile (not that it would contain much anyway). since our users are from all over the world, we'd need forum admins in all corners that would be around here regularly in order to fight the problem as fast as possible. for example:

you have jeff and firefox, who are 1-2 on the hierarchy

then you'd have various "sub-admins" from different parts of the US, a couple locales in the asian-pacific area, maybe even 2 more people from europe. together we can help keep our forums free of spam without abusing our power.

Shafted · 28th January 2006, 00:20

I agree that something needs to be done to secure the site against non-registered users posting. Lately the mods have had an exasperating task trying to keep the forums cleaned up. I think that as long as non-members have read only access, well still get good exposure and those that want to post will join.

kneehighs · 28th January 2006, 00:28

On #2...

Did anyone in here take out fire insurance on their home? If your home didn't burn down, are you upset that you made a bad financial decision? If you bought insurance on your car last year and you didn't have an accident, do you consider your money wasted?

Its exactly the same thing for changing the TOS--but it's free. It gives our Admins the stautory authority to judiciously discipline the offending poster. Its speculative at best to assume they won't come back, but we can be PREPARED if they do. Doing #1 can help us expect the best, but also doing #2 can help us be prepared for the WORST.

Shafted · 28th January 2006, 00:32

#2 would have to be researched to see if we could really get any kind of protection from international law.

kneehighs · 28th January 2006, 00:34

That angle assumes a TOS has to be legally enforceable to be useful.

A TOS amendment could be useful without having to be legally enforceable.

jo · 28th January 2006, 01:20

Spammers do not read the ToS. You can write all the rules that you like, but they will not be read.

Spammers posting here probably aren't typing in the messages at all, but rather have an automated system that seeks out PHPbb and vBulletin forum systems from search engine results and then simply automatically posts the spam to each one found.

What is needed is for moderators to be here every day, whacking the spam as soon as it is posted - appointing a few more people with privileges to edit and move guest posts would be a good start.

The spam stuff that I reported a month ago, by PM, hasn't been touched at all, and is still there, right where it was originally posted. One of the sites mentioned has spammed more than a thousand forums.

kneehighs · 28th January 2006, 01:36

Changing the rules can't hurt, it only helps. Its easy and cheap. And it gives the mods a reason to delete spam posts as needed, should there ever be a problem in the future. And it also gives us a reason to motivate the mods to delete spam posts as well.

Also, if they didn't read messages, then why did the "spam-to-delete" guest respond like he did?

Its not like re-writing the consitution of the U.S.A. Its a simple addition to the TOS that is virtually effortless.

Shafted · 28th January 2006, 01:48

I'm guessing that "spam-to-delete" is actually a forum member who is trying to mark those threads for easy deletion by the mods.