Handling spammers and trolls - please read
We are, at the moment, expereincing a number of spammers and trolls getting though the "safety net". Not many, but enough for it to be noticeable. Here'a a few guidelines on how to handle these pesky buggers:
1. Use the report button! Sit back, wait for the moderator kill team - we will be there asap.
That's it really; report the offender - and we'll take it from there.
The "do not" list is slightly longer:
1. Do not answer or comment on posts from either spammers nor trolls. This is exactly what they want! Giving them a chance to further their "business" on this forum.
2. Do not click on links posted by spammers (or trolls for that matter), most of the time it will be links to some or another business (earning the spammer money every time someone clicks) - but other times it may be links to malware, pornography, illegal medecine, replica watches - or even worse stuff (not worth mentioning here)!
3. Please do not start threads, meant to direct the attention of the mods. to the spammer/troll - this is free advertising for them! Please use the report button.
4. Please do not PM the mods directing out attention to the spammer/troll. Again; please use the report button.
How to recognise a spammer/spambot:
1. Often they will have a very "generic" or "out of context" username (like a "misspelled" celebrity or movie/comic book character name) - very often it is simply a random combination og letters and/or numbers.
2. One or several links, unrelated to bushcraft (again; don't click!) in posts, signature and/or profile.
3. Short posts without substance, like "I agree", "Ditto", "What the person above me said", etc. - often followed by a link
4. Long posts of "generic" and/or "out of context" nature. These posts can sometimes be somewhat adapted to the topic of the forum - other times they are simply blatant advertising. Again; there are usually one or more links included in the text.
5. Copies of posts and threads from other users - or even from other forums, with topics similar to this. These are getting more and more common - and are harder to spot. The tell tale sign is mostly the aforementioned links - which, for this particular type of spammer, are often hidden in the signature.
How to recognise a troll:
1. A troll can be hard to recognise, especially in the beginning. The "rule" of "generic" and "out of context" usernames apply to some extent, but this is by far not always the case. Some trolls like to (almost) copy the username, signature and avatar of existing users.
2. Trolls are only here to annoy and enrage! Trolls are online pyromaniacs; they like to light the forum on fire, watch it burning, while occasionally stoking the fire with a new inflammatory post.
3. For hardcore trolls, trolling is a game - a pasttime really! There are troll communities out there - and a forum can be targeted by a veritable "troll invasion", if it is rumored that the forum is "responsive" to trolls. Therefore it is of utter importance not to "feed" the troll! Doing so, by answering their infammatory posts, will just be like punishing a kid by giving him his favourite candy - and it may ultimately attract more trolls. Even worse; some trolls will start stalking individuals - who go into clinch with them - over PM, e-mail, other forums, Facebook, etc. This is rare, but it happens.
4. Trolls are not always snotty 11 year olds, incapable of formulating basic sentences! Some are, at least physically, grown up intelligent people - who are capable of formulating themselves quite aptly.
5. Not all trolls know they are trolls - it is just in their nature to be taking a proverbial dump on the living room floor of people they visit.
6. Trolls, especially those who know they are, cannot be educated or "put in their place" - only a whack with the ban-hammer does the trick. Ironically banning at troll is also fuel on their fire; often you will see the same troll join again and again (maybe even with more accounts at a time = sock puppeting), under different usernames and ip adresses.
When we, the mods, recieve a reported post notice in our mailbox, we adress the matter asap. Often the spammer/troll is permabanned, with all posts deleted, at once. But, if we are in doubt, we discuss the matter in the mods' forum.
We are not making public notices when we ban users - neither are we going to in the furture. Please do not start threads questioning the banishment of a user - rather, if you have any genuine concerns; shoot a PM to one of the mods. He will pass it on to the other mods/post it in the mods' forum. We will deal with it appropiatly.
