4 ms·
I can definitely imagine lurkers creating accounts to show off their latest project, so auto-killing posts from newly created accounts doesn't seem like the bes
by kyro 16y ago
I can definitely imagine lurkers creating accounts to show off their latest project, so auto-killing posts from newly created accounts doesn't seem like the best way.
Perhaps make it policy that all RMS submissions be text submissions explaining the idea to give it a bit of authenticity, and every RMS submission with a link in the title be auto-killed. I don't imagine spammers would go through the effort of writing out a description of their service, asking for feedback, etc. Also, adjusting the flag threshold to 5 on text submissions could help. People tend to be more accepting and less likely to flag text submissions because the chances of them being spam are less likely (due to a higher degree of effort put into them as opposed to linking to some affiliate site), so a reduced flagging threshold might get rid of those submissions more quickly.
- pg 16y agoIf there was an established rule about who got to submit RMS posts, lurkers would know that and create accounts.
- pmjordan 16y agoAn option might be to send RMS posts from users with low karma into a slashdot-esque crowdsourced moderation. Randomly show it to 10 users with a high enough karma on any of the list pages (frontpage, newest, classic, etc.). It's then only made public if a high percentage of such "moderators" approve of it (not necessarily counting "approval" as an upvote, just meaning "this is legit"). The percentage could be pretty high, say 80%, and it could optionally be log(karma)-weighted or similar. 100% might be risky; I have no idea. I have to say I'm not a huge fan of the slashdot moderation system in general, but it could work within this sort of limited scope. Allow people to opt-out altogether via a setting if necessary. Tangent: I was amazed at the first spammy RMS submission I encountered. It had actually been upvoted. Spammers self-upvoting, or people wholesale upvoting any RMS they see without looking at it first?
- LiveTheDream 16y agoRating without looking at the underlying content is horrible. Perhaps it could be mitigated by tracking if the link was followed, weighting authenticated upvotes more heavily than unauthenticated ones (where "authenticated" means a click-through to the content was observed). You could track a link click either by setting a cookie client-side with javascript, or by linking to a trampoline page on HN that tracks the click, then redirects to the real URL.
- teach 16y agoI have, on occasion, voted up a link on HN without clicking through iff I have already read the article in question on, say, reddit. (I mouseover to make sure it's the same URL, though, and not just title and domain.)
- natep 16y agoAnd spammers could create lots of accounts, wait until each is mature, and then unleash it. How can you tell the difference between a spammer that creates a stealth account and a lurker that still doesn't have anything to say, but is creating an account so he can eventually participate fully?