3 ms·

Can you provide some context, please?

by debacle 15y ago

ColinWright 15y ago
Sure ... One particular user submitted the same site repeatedly, and usually submitted the same page multiple times in a short time span with small changes designed to thwart the HN duplicate detector. Some of the pages were of marginal interest, but after seeing so many of them I and a few others got a bit fed up of wht was clearly just blog spam. the articles aren't exactly of "deep interest," nor are they particularly aimed at hackers. So I started to flag the ones that were especially simplistic. Clearly a few others felt the same as I did and also flagged them, because they started to disappear. Since then every few days a new username is registered and submits a page from the same blog. Sometimes it's a page that's been submitted before, sometimes it's new. Sometimes it's a link, sometimes it a text submission, and then a link as a reply, but it's following exactly the same pattern. It's not deep, it's not hacker news, it's not new, and it is blog spam. As a simple matter of course now, every time I see it turn up I check the link, then flag the post. And that's the context. Here's a search to show you the submissions: http://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/all&q=mathema-tricks.blogspot.com&sortby=create_ts+desc http://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/all&q=mathema-tri... If you have any questions I'd be happy to answer them. If you think I'm behaving unreasonably then I'd be happy to hear your reasoning. Added in edit: I forgot to say that the pages also frequently had errors. While I agree that these sorts of techniques are actually useful in some contexts, I got really tired of the poor presentation, mistakes, and constant spamming. Added in further edit: I have upvoted you, as it was a question worth asking - thank you.
mooism2 15y ago
It seems like every post from this blog gets autoposted to HN.
ColinWright3 15y ago
I replied here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3911147 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3911147 However, my actual account seems to have been banned, so to see it you'll need to turn on "show dead" in your profile.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- debacle 15y ago
  I did see it. Not sure why you have been banned, but your response was very helpful.
  - ColinWright 15y ago
    I emailed PG and have now had a reply saying that the account had been fat-fingered. These things happen - he's restored the account, so all is well.
    - J3L2404 15y ago
      Well, I'm an idiot.
      - ColinWright 15y ago
        What makes you say that?
        J3L2404 15y ago
        First of all I apparently can't read a train schedule. ;) Secondly I thought whoever keeps posting the same math blog you've been flagging had started yet another account, CW3, and I posted a comment, which I thankfully deleted, saying how CW3 is such a jerk. In my defense I would not expect you to be hellbanned.

Can you provide some context, please?

by debacle 15y ago

Can you provide some context, please?

Sure ... One particular user submitted the same site repeatedly, and usually submitted the same page multiple times in a short time span with small changes designed to thwart the HN duplicate detector. Some of the pages were of marginal interest, but after seeing so many of them I and a few others got a bit fed up of wht was clearly just blog spam. the articles aren't exactly of "deep interest," nor are they particularly aimed at hackers. So I started to flag the ones that were especially simplistic. Clearly a few others felt the same as I did and also flagged them, because they started to disappear. Since then every few days a new username is registered and submits a page from the same blog. Sometimes it's a page that's been submitted before, sometimes it's new. Sometimes it's a link, sometimes it a text submission, and then a link as a reply, but it's following exactly the same pattern. It's not deep, it's not hacker news, it's not new, and it is blog spam. As a simple matter of course now, every time I see it turn up I check the link, then flag the post. And that's the context. Here's a search to show you the submissions: http://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/all&q=mathema-tricks.blogspot.com&sortby=create_ts+desc http://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/all&q=mathema-tri... If you have any questions I'd be happy to answer them. If you think I'm behaving unreasonably then I'd be happy to hear your reasoning. Added in edit: I forgot to say that the pages also frequently had errors. While I agree that these sorts of techniques are actually useful in some contexts, I got really tired of the poor presentation, mistakes, and constant spamming. Added in further edit: I have upvoted you, as it was a question worth asking - thank you.

mooism2 15y ago

It seems like every post from this blog gets autoposted to HN.

ColinWright3 15y ago

I replied here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3911147 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3911147 However, my actual account seems to have been banned, so to see it you'll need to turn on "show dead" in your profile.

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
debacle 15y ago
I did see it. Not sure why you have been banned, but your response was very helpful.
- ColinWright 15y ago
  I emailed PG and have now had a reply saying that the account had been fat-fingered. These things happen - he's restored the account, so all is well.
  - J3L2404 15y ago
    Well, I'm an idiot.
    - ColinWright 15y ago
      What makes you say that?
      - J3L2404 15y ago
        First of all I apparently can't read a train schedule. ;) Secondly I thought whoever keeps posting the same math blog you've been flagging had started yet another account, CW3, and I posted a comment, which I thankfully deleted, saying how CW3 is such a jerk. In my defense I would not expect you to be hellbanned.