23 replies to this topic

[mhh]

The initial purpose of Potato Hell was, to have a space for users to not worry about things like double postings or posts without meaningful content. Also to have a place for things that usually have no place in the General Forums or anywhere else on Batoto for that matter. We decided that, while basically the same rules as in the rest of the forums should apply, we were going to be very lax in enforcing them there. 

 

However, recently we are getting more and more reports about "Spam" in Potato Hell. Persecuting some things while ignoring others isn't a viable option. This makes any fair moderation in Potato Hell almost impossible. 

 

Just finding a definition of Spam is not very hard. (Wikipedia even has an article about forum spam specifically.) 

But something us mods have been struggling to come up with is: "What should count as Spam in Potato Hell? And what shouldn't?" 

 

As Pototo Hell is meant as a sanctuary for Batoto users to do... let's say silly things, we dedicated that you should have a say in this as well. 

 

So... feel free to tell us what you think should count as "Spam" in Potato Hell and therefore be persecuted and what you think should be tolerated. 

[Kokai]

I think it's okay as it is. People who report spam in Potatoe Hell should get over themselves.

 

Recently a user (who I won't name) reported me for spam in a topic that's about saying random stuff. Why? It's because he didn't like what I said, eventhough it was neither offensive, racist, sexist or something along these lines. He reported me simply because he didn't like it.

 

It's not as much about spam in Potatoe Hell. It's about the misuse (or abuse) of the report function by some members.

[Lalbutt]

Haven't found anything so far that counts as spam o.o

 

Maybe wait for more than one or two people to report it? Unless it's blatant spam or advertising

[2hot4you]

I think it's okay as it is. People who report spam in Potatoe Hell should get over themselves.

 

Recently a user (who I won't name) reported me for spam in a topic that's about saying random stuff. Why? It's because he didn't like what I said, eventhough it was neither offensive, racist, sexist or something along these lines. He reported me simply because he didn't like it.

 

It's not as much about spam in Potatoe Hell. It's about the misuse (or abuse) of the report function by some members.

Its because you spammed 20 pages with 1 single sentence over and over. that definitely counts as spam xD

 

 

but yeah, apart from that, honestly i wouldn't pay attention to spamming a bit on there, it was made for that purpose after all

[Viscoun]

nothing should deserve persecution in potato hell unless it's a blatant violation of the core policies of this site. and even then i think minor infractions shouldn't be looked at that much, to be honest. considering how rigidly the "guidelines" on this site are followed and hence monitored, having a place to let loose yourself wouldn't be so bad. and that's pretty much potato hell's only purpose/merit.

 

there's little in potato hell that couldn't go in general discussion without a little stretching of the rules. but it's that small difference in degree of seriousness that differentiates the two. and i think a relaxing of mod regulation should go (and currently does go) with that difference.

 

so if i were a mod, i really wouldn't even look at a spam report if it were issued from a thread in potato hell. unless, of course, it does get really bad and many people report it in. if the report's from anywhere else, then of course do your duty.

 

tl;dr: things are fine the way they are. just don't let the more conservatives of the mods (*nudge*) take the system down.

[Kokai]

Its because you spammed 20 pages with 1 single sentence over and over. that definitely counts as spam xD

 

 

but yeah, apart from that, honestly i wouldn't pay attention to spamming a bit on there, it was made for that purpose after all

So what? It's still a random thought, isn't it? Random/Shouts is not a chat topic, even if people use it as such.

Furthermore, so what if I spent 20 pages saying the same thing? It would have been okay, if I had alternated between "bump" and "bla"?

Your lack of being able to draw logical conclusions is disturbing.

[Viscoun]

It would have been okay, if I had alternated between "bump" and "bla"?

 

of course XD

[101010]

Wait, isn't Potato Hell created for the sole purpose of mindless posting? Should be, because otherwise you'd post in General Discussion, Forum Games or somewhere else with actual rules. Let's also not forget that nowadays bulletin boards have good measures against harassing people by posting large amount of gibberish, because you cannot post two or more consecutive individual posts. Batoto has that too, posts get merged if they are within a certain (rather large) time frame. Therefore I think the vocal reporting minority should be hold responsible rather than the (clear) untroubled majority. Maybe contact them personally and explain to them what Potato Hell is about (and why it's called Hell xD)

By the way, back in the day we used to called flooding what you are referring to as ``spam''. Spam was strictly for commercial advertising. I am not sure about that, but I think this may be the word you are looking for.

[Rol]

Things are fine as they are in Hell, people complaining just don't understand the point of Hell.

[Natureboy]

People being deliberately annoying is a minor problem in Potato Hell and Forum Games. Just recognize that you are excluding others when you flood a thread with 48 pt fonts or repetitive spoiler pyramids. There are people who won't be able to play because of bandwidth limitations or device/display limitations when you do those things. These past couple of weeks I've watched more than one person bail because they couldn't wade through the annoying junk fast enough to find anything worth seeing. I've also lost patience myself a few times, signing out without a word because I was fed up.

 

In terms of self-policing (not moderation), I'd say: If you've engaged in thread-flooding in the recent past, then don't complain about how quiet or dead things are or how bored you are during lulls in activity. It's your self-indulgent posting that's driven people away who might otherwise stick around to play or provide new content worth looking at. You know who you are.

 

I think the Random Thoughts topic and LPW are useful outlets, and that heavy-handed moderation would probably do more harm than good both places. Nevertheless, if RT is to serve to help sustain a sense of community on Batoto directly (not on Skype or somewhere else) people have to exercise a little bit of restraint. If you want to play some posting game, why not try formulating it as a Forum Game--and see whether anyone else wants to play? By instead filling the most active thread in Potato Hell with your idea of a game, you're just driving down participation--making it more likely that no one will respond the next time you are bored and want someone to interact with you.

[Jabberwocky]

I say he who has never spam to throw the first report 

 

every thing is fine its probably just a few people that have not read or seen what potato hell was created for 

[greenguy]

I say he who has never spam to throw the first report 

 

from the gospel of John

[Good Emperor Late]

So, people report people for spamming in the spamming sections of batoto? Wat.

[Horn]

NatureBoy put it pretty well in words. I feel it's generally good, some off topic posts here and there are to be expected, but the annoyances come when a topic (particularly one devoted to some specific subject) suddenly craps up with several pages of absolutely nothing at all, by people who seem to be banging out posts just to let off steam, treating Potato Hell like some sort of punching bag. Though I suppose it doesn't happen as often as it can sometimes feel like.

Eh, honestly I barely even care. Some minor stuff annoys me, but that's more because of my own bitter grumpy self rather than being any actual issues. I know I sure have annoyed a ton of people with some of my antics...

Edited by Horn, 25 December 2013 - 12:25 AM.

[Raine]

Well to sum it up, I guess I would personally define spam in Potato Hell as the following:

• Flooding
• Advertising (proper spam)
• Anything derogatory and offensive

...And that's about it. Flooding is already being controlled with post merging, which means that if there are any reports about flooding "spam", then it must be pretty serious. The latter ones are pretty self-explanatory, and I see no reason to add anything else. If you don't like what you see, then simply don't participate. Simple as that.

[OMGWTFBBQPONIES]

...And that's about it. Flooding is already being controlled with post merging, which means that if there are any reports about flooding "spam", then it must be pretty serious. The latter ones are pretty self-explanatory, and I see no reason to add anything else. If you don't like what you see, then simply don't participate. Simple as that.

The "spam/flooding" (thanks 101010 for reminding the proper term for that; clears confusion) thing that I think caused the appearance of this thread was, as NatureBoy already said, some people abusing big fonts in their posts or creating self-propelled posting chains and pushing others out of Random Thoughts thread (that de facto has been partially adapted to chat thread). When it's just one person, they have to rely on others to post after them to continue, but when more people join, it turns into 'post as soon as possible' combo. Not really something requiring stricter control, just some more empathy (plus there are other, more 'mindless posting'-oriented threads that they're free to use).

[Raine]

(plus there are other, more 'mindless posting'-oriented threads that they're free to use).

Not quite sure why you posted this in a smaller font, but this is my point exactly. If people are complaining about others abusing it such through the use of big fonts and other things that cause disadvantage/discomfort, then make a new topic (i.e. Random Thoughts 2). Correct me if I'm wrong, but it is Potato Hell, therefore a duplicate Random Thoughts topic should be fine. If not, then just randomly post your thoughts on another topic in the Potato Hell board - because the context of the thread doesn't seem to matter there. And if one would like a proper discussion about it then, hey look, here's the General Discussion board.

[OMGWTFBBQPONIES]

Haa... I meant it, in context of that flooding event, as "please be kind enough to go to some other thread that's focused solely on post-spamming if you're planning to go overboard" (actually, I think forum games are more suited for that than hell, as hell is still a place to hold conversations, whereas in FG there's no discussion). Potato hell is much more lenient on going off-topic and stuff, but it's not devoid of rules (even if some of them happen to be more of unsaid agreements between posters than actual rules).

Or to put it using more 'harsh' words: you're suggesting that if some people start acting like d*cks to others (possibly because of having a bad day or sth), then we should let them be and hope they won't follow us onto other threads? They've been asked to stop/suggested to move to other place, one person apparently felt much more annoyed by that than others and sent a report, but because we're just a small group of regulars there, imho such problems are better solved without drastic measures.

 

Also, GD appears to be too strict when it comes to loose conversations, hence we dwell in hell.

[Rol]

A thread more suited to flood than Random thread ? Sorry but even if it is mostly used as a chat thread, it is still a Random thread, there is no other thread more suited to flood useless/random stuff.

Forum games aren't for flood, they're for playing games. You're probably thinking of Last Post Wins. And I don't see the difference between flooding in LPW or in Random. The only difference is that the people aren't the same.

[OMGWTFBBQPONIES]

If we're going after precedences, then LPW has been used for post spamming/flooding for most if not almost all of its existence, whereas some flooding events in random thoughts are more of cases of unrelated to each other individual events (with the one reported by you-know-who mostly killing the chat that was going on at that time).