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How do we stop the incessant forum spamming?
I have seen multiple forum members spam the hell out of discussions and many groups, advertising CE classes that have NOTHING to do with the discussions/groups they post in. This is immensely annoying, but I have seen no action taken to stop it.
Are there any forum moderators who address these things? Is there a way to stop this behavior?
I don't mind if people want to advertise a class, but NOT EVERYWHERE AT ONCE. Pick a place/group and stick to it. Don't bombard people who aren't interested in lomi-lomi with posts about your awesome new lomi class. Instead of generating interest, you generate enmity. It's tactless and unprofessional, and doesn't bode well for the supposed quality of your course. Only desperate, needy people take such a thoughtless shotgun approach to marketing, especially on a free forum.
How do we stop the incessant forum spamming?
*Rant over.*
Views: 274
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Laura Allen on
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It's not just classes, it's also products they're selling, I get it all the time.
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Permalink Reply by Darcy Neibaur on
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At the bottm of each page is Lara Evan Bracciante's link. She is the moderator of this site. Contact her. I also hate the influx of CE info. Way too much for me. They need to have just one group page on here just for CE education and notnhing else. Then those that want to be members of that group can be and have at it.
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Permalink Reply by Lisa on
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I'm with you Jason. I will even go one step further and also ask that people don't send mass "private messages" to promote a survey, business, product or service. If I have you on a friend's list it's for networking discussion not an open door to a sales call.
Choice to chime-in in 5...4...3... :)
I think one recommendation I would have is to have a more organized front end forum where services/products/etc would have a very unique and separate forum on the site where they can post up. But then there would be other forums for "general chatter", "marketing ideas", "anatomy & illness/injury Q & A", etc. you get my point. When the message board as a whole gets more organized it will get easier to find what you are looking for directly. And for those that want to jump in and say that's what the groups are for...the groups don't work. The group function doesn't operate as efficiently as an organized forum. As a marketer and designer, the group function is more a social function than a efficiency function.
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Permalink Reply by ABMP on
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Two options here, both of which have proven very effective:
1) Call your colleague on it. Simply reply, point out that this is considered spamming and that it's in direct violation of the network's established Guidelines, http://www.massageprofessionals.com/page/community-guidelines-1 (4th navigation tab at the top of the page). Most people don't realize that we have set such Guidelines, and will conform immediately once it's brought to their attention. If not...
2) Report spam. As Darcy noted, at the bottom of every page, there's a link to report an issue. I will also point out the Guidelines and give the member an opportunity to comply. If they do not, they are removed from the network. Please note: Many of the people are doing this within specific discussion groups or to their Friend list, and I'm not copied on those, so I don't know they're happening unless they are reported.
This is your network. You are empowered to help keep it clean and relevant!
Thank you!
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Permalink Reply by Stephen Jeffrey on
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Thanks for highlighting this Jason, I don't think the spammers have a clue just how much it annoys the 99% of other MBP users.
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And so it goes on and on and on.
If you look at these spammers my page they dont even take part in discussions on here!.
MBP is just one giant bill board!........... come on all yea spammers just one more ce class ......please
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So was said, Call your colleague on it. I did, and was repremanded for calling the colleague on it. So that does not work either. My comment was deleted off and the CE provider was told they could Spam. So goes the double standard. The guidelines says no advertising. In my mind that means exactly what it says. NO ADVERTISING. It is not being inforced except for some folks. I can tell you in the beginning days it was highly enforced and the World Massage Festival and Mike Hinkle was removed for advertising on his own group. The only reason he was let back on was if he stopped advertising except on his own page. Now anything goes. Sad.
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I dont mind them advertising within there own group (although if you read the supposed rules you are'nt even ment to start a "self promotional group") no short info and link, they just go plastering other groups with the whole CE program.
Such a shame MBP is coming to this.
Darcy Neibaur said:So was said, Call your colleague on it. I did, and was repremanded for calling the colleague on it. So that does not work either. My comment was deleted off and the CE provider was told they could Spam. So goes the double standard. The guidelines says no advertising. In my mind that means exactly what it says. NO ADVERTISING. It is not being inforced except for some folks. I can tell you in the beginning days it was highly enforced and the World Massage Festival and Mike Hinkle was removed for advertising on his own group. The only reason he was let back on was if he stopped advertising except on his own page. Now anything goes. Sad.
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Permalink Reply by Christopher Vallo on
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As a community, we should decide a few (which will eventually be more than few) people to police the forums, assistant moderators. They will be able to warn, edit, delete or even ban users and IP's from posting.
In most of the BBS, forum or social networking communities, it is the only way to keep the spammers in check.
A vote to "suppress" a post function can work as well, but that is more of a mob mentality which can result in majority censorship of information or ideas.
The problems with these ideas are:
Moderators get drunk with power
Cliques form (those get a pass or breaking the rules)
Inconsistently enforced rules and spotty moderation coverage.
While I am not active in on site, I will say it is constant sifting through the spam that has kept me from contributing more. Give me a reason to stay and I'll be happy to help with the problem :)
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