NationStates Jolt Archive

While I was perusing through the Mod forum, I kinda noticed the Two locked threads by Fairy tinkarisen. While I didn't participate in the Auction thread, I was wondering why it was locked.

it was mentioned that it was due to post 153 being spam, but then again, it was the only post mentioned?

granted alot of posts near the end was one sentence long, and some did have some smilies, but was it really spam?

There are theads in General that don't fall under discussion or debate, that remain open, and others that went so far off the original topic that also remained open untill they drifted off to the graveyard and I've seen other threads (like the one that gave Tinks the "Queen of General" Title) that were similar and ended up going to it's conclusion.

So my question is, was the Auction thread locked because of those one sentence posts? or because the tread was started by Tinks and the Mod who moved it, took her history of spaming into account as well?

just curious.

While I was perusing through the Mod forum, I kinda noticed the Two locked threads by Fairy tinkarisen. While I didn't participate in the Auction thread, I was wondering why it was locked.

it was mentioned that it was due to post 153 being spam, but then again, it was the only post mentioned?

granted alot of posts near the end was one sentence long, and some did have some smilies, but was it really spam?

There are theads in General that don't fall under discussion or debate, that remain open, and others that went so far off the original topic that also remained open untill they drifted off to the graveyard and I've seen other threads (like the one that gave Tinks the "Queen of General" Title) that were similar and ended up going to it's conclusion.

So my question is, was the Auction thread locked because of those one sentence posts? or because the tread was started by Tinks and the Mod who moved it, took her history of spaming into account as well?

just curious.

I'm curious about this as well, not because I wish to appeal the decision but because I'm curious about what exactly qualifies as Spam. How was this thread different than the most unlikely NS couples thread that several mods and I, myself, participated in (in other words I'm not bashing the thread) or the NationStates Hall of Fame or the Collection of all the things people have said about me (Czardas' thread) or a half dozen others that could possibly be construed as Spam? What put this one over the top?

That's BS.

Ooh, look... in this thread (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=442570&page=1&pp=15) most posts are a single sentence long. Posts 169 and 171 can be repeated without touching the keyboard. That thread is spam. [/GMC]

:rolleyes:

I've seen other threads (like the one that gave Tinks the "Queen of General" Title) that were similar and ended up going to it's conclusion.
thats because that was back in the day before the mods started locking things left, right, and center :(

Note to the Mods: I am not accusing nor am I objecting to any actions taken. I am mearly asking for it does seem rather... well odd.

Note to the Mods: I am not accusing nor am I objecting to any actions taken. I am mearly asking for it does seem rather... well odd.

I would like to also make that note. My question is not an attack on the mods. I would just like to hear a better explanation of how these things are decided. JuNii and I both like to lurk in the moderation forums because it allows us to better understand the rules of the forums in general. We are only asking for a clarification of those rules.

While I was perusing through the Mod forum, I kinda noticed the Two locked threads by Fairy tinkarisen. While I didn't participate in the Auction thread, I was wondering why it was locked.

it was mentioned that it was due to post 153 being spam, but then again, it was the only post mentioned?

The thread was locked because of the excessive use of smilies without adding any sort of content to the post, as well as an extreme amount of off-topic chatter, not limited to just post 153.

granted alot of posts near the end was one sentence long, and some did have some smilies, but was it really spam?
After taking some time to review the thread, yes it was. A large portion of posts didn't contribute anything to the actual 'bidding'.


There are theads in General that don't fall under discussion or debate, that remain open, and others that went so far off the original topic that also remained open untill they drifted off to the graveyard and I've seen other threads (like the one that gave Tinks the "Queen of General" Title) that were similar and ended up going to it's conclusion.

Can't say I know much about that. I wasn't a moderator then.

So my question is, was the Auction thread locked because of those one sentence posts? or because the tread was started by Tinks and the Mod who moved it, took her history of spaming into account as well?
Well, the thread was moved because of the lack of actual bidding, and more of the excessive chatter and use of smilies. Past histories are always taken into account as well, but that doesn't mean that if someone else (who has no history of spamming) started the thread and it fell into the same situation as Tink's thread, which was a lot of spam posts, it wouldn't have been moved. Regardless of who could have posted it, it turned into a spamfest, and was moved to spam.

The thread was locked because of the excessive use of smilies without adding any sort of content to the post, as well as an extreme amount of off-topic chatter, not limited to just post 153.

*Snippage*

Well, the thread was moved because of the lack of actual bidding, and more of the excessive chatter and use of smilies. Past histories are always taken into account as well, but that doesn't mean that if someone else (who has no history of spamming) started the thread and it fell into the same situation as Tink's thread, which was a lot of spam posts, it wouldn't have been moved. Regardless of who could have posted it, it turned into a spamfest, and was moved to spam.

What sparks the decision to cull Spam out of a thread or to move the entire thread to Spam? I've seen thread devolve into as much spam fairly often. Did it have something to do with the value of the core topic? The core topic seemed to me to still be advancing despite the rather obvious spammy posts (some of which were by me, in fact). Again, I'd just like to clarify the rules. I'd hate to think that some of my posts were responsible for the move.

What sparks the decision to cull Spam out of a thread or to move the entire thread to Spam?
You appear to be looking for a 'set-in-stone' ruling where none exists. The thread will be dealt with according to content, context, poster history, poster interaction history, the mod who drew the case, and quite frankly the mood of the moment. If I'm finding spam thread after spam thread after spam thread, particularly with the same participants, my reaction is likely to get progressively harsher. To me, that's plain and obvious. I don't understand why anyone would expect it to be 100% consistent.

There is no such thing as a 'spam speedometer', which will trigger a certain punishment when you exceed 55 mph. There is no possible way that we can apply a series of "if A, then B" bits of case law to the thousands of possible permutations that might or might not be considered "spam". We will use our judgement on each case, and that may involve locking, moving, deleting, warning, or doing nothing at all, based on our best estimate.

You appear to be looking for a 'set-in-stone' ruling where none exists. The thread will be dealt with according to content, context, poster history, poster interaction history, the mod who drew the case, and quite frankly the mood of the moment. If I'm finding spam thread after spam thread after spam thread, particularly with the same participants, my reaction is likely to get progressively harsher. To me, that's plain and obvious. I don't understand why anyone would expect it to be 100% consistent.

There is no such thing as a 'spam speedometer', which will trigger a certain punishment when you exceed 55 mph. There is no possible way that we can apply a series of "if A, then B" bits of case law to the thousands of possible permutations that might or might not be considered "spam". We will use our judgement on each case, and that may involve locking, moving, deleting, warning, or doing nothing at all, based on our best estimate.

I'm not looking for it be set in stone. I was curious as to some of the criteria. Nothing is shocking that repeatedly crossing or skirting the lines earns you less leeway. I was just curious as to if the original purpose of the thread AND/OR if the thread appears to meeting that purpose is taken into account when making the decision of how to deal with rulebreaking. It appears you are saying yes, which is what I suspected, but wanted clarification on.

For the record, I was initially annoyed with the decision, but I'll accept that it was less that I thought it was unfair, and more because it sucked and I liked the thread. My participation is thread had nothing to do with any objections to the decision. I save those for IM messages where I can call you guys names ;)

... Well, the thread was moved because of the lack of actual bidding, and more of the excessive chatter and use of smilies...
Oh boo hoo, you can't have one thread in General that's actually fun. You have no idea how much you (the mods) are ruining/have ruined the forum.

Why was Colodia's thread http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=443217 moved to Spam? There have been lots of other threads like this that weren't moved to Spam... why pick just this one? Another case of "excessive chatter"?

*sigh*
I see that it's have a go at mods day here again for the second year running.......

Yes, yes it is.

Yes, yes it is.
Actually, it's not. I just don't agree with Tink's thread being sent to Spam, the reasoning given above is BS... I don't get why they chose this thread to send to Spam over some other threads in General, which are no less spammy. And I don't like how Tink's thread in Moderation asking about why her thread was sent to Spam was locked (and one of her posts deleted) and then she gets a two-week forumban for making another topic and calling the mods "self-righteous arseholes", which is exactly what they're being.

Well, the thread was moved because of the lack of actual bidding, and more of the excessive chatter and use of smilies. Past histories are always taken into account as well, but that doesn't mean that if someone else (who has no history of spamming) started the thread and it fell into the same situation as Tink's thread, which was a lot of spam posts, it wouldn't have been moved. Regardless of who could have posted it, it turned into a spamfest, and was moved to spam.

Since when did posting a simple warning to cut down on spam become unfashionable?

As i've used as an example, I started a "Most beautiful woman on NS" thread earlier this year. It got over 1100 posts in three days. It wasn't moved- when things started getting out of hand, Cogitation helped me out and told people to keep on topic. It worked there- why couldn't a similar action be taken in this instance? I don't object to stopping spam. None of us want to be flooded with it. I simply feel that the thread in question could have been kept alive without resorting to such a measure. By moving it, many of the people who had signed up in the previous thread and interested in it were unable to find it, thus making it pointless and ruining Tink's work in getting it set up.

Also; as the spam was contained within one thread, how is it a concern to anybody? If there are a couple of smiley posts, what does it matter? Server load clearly isn't an issue, as moving it to spam means that the one line posts and smiley posts can still continue there unabated. I can understand if the thread begins with a smiley post or a pointless "why?" etc...but the original post wasn't spam. The only thing that came out of moving it was disappointing a lot of people.

Why was Colodia's thread http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=443217 moved to Spam? There have been lots of other threads like this that weren't moved to Spam... why pick just this one? Another case of "excessive chatter"?
Yes... it was a paragon of intelligent discourse:

Where did I put that popcorn...

Here it is!

Can I get a choc-ice?

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I Don't Know What We're Yelling About!!!!!!!!! Aaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggghhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!

Jolt has a spam forum. You want to spam? Use that.