Author Topic: Odd first posts lately?  (Read 3195 times)

Miss Piggy

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Odd first posts lately?
« on: April 27, 2018, 09:23:16 AM »
Has anyone else noticed a series of odd first posts lately? I've seen two types:

1. Hi. I'm so-and-so. Here's some random thought. Oh, and here's a link to my blog.

2. Hi. Can you help me solve my plumbing (or other very non-financial topic) problem?

These just seem like odd ways to "introduce" yourself to a new community. Or maybe it's just me.

Bracken_Joy

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Re: Odd first posts lately?
« Reply #1 on: April 27, 2018, 09:32:50 AM »
If anyone posts self-promotion in a first post, I just report it to the mods.

Re: the DIY stuff, I've actually ended up here looking for specific plumbing and electrical DIY questions. I wonder if people just end up here on a google search, and want to tap the knowledge here? I'll admit it's a little confusing, but at least that one doesn't feel "skeezy" to me =P

Miss Piggy

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Re: Odd first posts lately?
« Reply #2 on: April 27, 2018, 09:36:57 AM »
Re: the DIY stuff, I've actually ended up here looking for specific plumbing and electrical DIY questions. I wonder if people just end up here on a google search, and want to tap the knowledge here? I'll admit it's a little confusing, but at least that one doesn't feel "skeezy" to me =P

Does one no longer have to take the "Mustachian Quiz" before being able to post? I totally see what you're saying, but it seems odd to me that someone would choose a financial forum as their first stop for posting a plumbing question, when there are plenty of viable plumbing forums with actual plumbing experts. (Yeah, maybe MMM forum wasn't their first stop...but there are definitely better places to go for certain types of DIY problems.)

Frankies Girl

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Re: Odd first posts lately?
« Reply #3 on: April 27, 2018, 09:45:55 AM »
Sure the MMM quiz thing is still active, but this site is likely high enough for the Google Analytics to make it attractive to google the answer for the spammier of posters.


But mostly these are either clueless: oops, I'm not really a spammer, but this is kinda spammy (the "hey, here's my blog" crap) or just desperate DIY folks that stumbled over the MMM forum in a random "how do I fix this" search.

But good ways to recognize really stupid spammers:

First posts from folks that start talking about random shit that really has nothing to do with the forum, and post a link to something they're "considering" purchasing or have recently purchased. This is totally spam crap. No one comes into a forum brand spanking new and wants opinions on shit that they just bought from some random site that just happens to sell the shit for a markup over what you could get it just about anywhere else...

First 3-10 posts are "hey that's great" or "I'm following this - super info!" nonsense garbage. Most forums have a lockdown on the ability to add pics/links until a poster has a few posts first... so they do this shit to get their post count up and then start spamming. Unfortunately, this forum lets you post pics or links from the first post so we get LOTS of spam here.

Low post count poster (spammer) that bumps an ancient post from a year or more because they needed to add their spam link - folks on here in general are terrible about looking at the dates on posts. I've seen spammers bump threads that are 3-5 years old... and then regular members pile in to give their opinion on the subject even tho the spammer's post was deleted and the OP of the thread likely is either gone for years or got their answers from the first round back when the thread was relevant. This is a personal pet peeve of mine, because usually it's good forum hygiene to remove any of the new posts after you remove the spam that bumped it that would keep that necro thread from dropping back into its grave, but they don't tend to remove the newer posts from those members that didn't pay attention to the age of the thread. :(



The mods are doing a great job, but flag any shit posting that looks spammy if you see it because there is just so much they can do on here themselves. They can decide if it warrants removing - but at least it's a way to help keep the forum clean of spammy crap. When in doubt, alert the mods and let them decide.

slappy

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Re: Odd first posts lately?
« Reply #4 on: April 27, 2018, 11:00:50 AM »
I haven't seen anything too odd, other than that one about needing medical care and how they could raise $30k in a short amount of time.

I have seen a few questions being asked that make me wonder if the person did any research at all or has even read any of MMM before posting. Personally whenever I want to post in a forum, I usually skim the past few pages of posts to see if my question was already asked. Mostly because it's easier than creating a post and I'm lazy. But clearly not everyone does that.

RedmondStash

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Re: Odd first posts lately?
« Reply #5 on: April 27, 2018, 11:57:23 AM »
What is this MMM quiz of which you speak? This is the first I've heard about it, and I've been on the forum and reading MMM's posts for a few years now.

I don't believe I took any type of quiz before I started posting. I did read through the forum rules, and I don't recall anything about a quiz.

thebattlewalrus

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Re: Odd first posts lately?
« Reply #6 on: April 27, 2018, 12:03:17 PM »
What is this MMM quiz of which you speak? This is the first I've heard about it, and I've been on the forum and reading MMM's posts for a few years now.

I don't believe I took any type of quiz before I started posting. I did read through the forum rules, and I don't recall anything about a quiz.

Was just thinking the same thing, don't remember taking it :)

Bracken_Joy

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Re: Odd first posts lately?
« Reply #7 on: April 27, 2018, 12:10:00 PM »
I don't remember a quiz, but there is an anti-bot test that's something like, "what's the fourth word on the post titled
  • " or something like that? If I'm remember right?

QueenAlice

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Re: Odd first posts lately?
« Reply #8 on: April 27, 2018, 12:15:47 PM »
I think it asked me where Pete lived when I registered for the forum

marty998

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Re: Odd first posts lately?
« Reply #9 on: April 28, 2018, 04:50:40 AM »
I think it asked me where Pete lived when I registered for the forum


When I joined had had to write "badassity" as the answer to a question (IIRC).

ender

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Re: Odd first posts lately?
« Reply #10 on: April 28, 2018, 07:48:44 AM »
If anyone posts self-promotion in a first post, I just report it to the mods.

I used to do that regularly but when I've commented in threads about it being spamish people consistently argue with me so I've stopped...


Bracken_Joy

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Re: Odd first posts lately?
« Reply #11 on: April 28, 2018, 08:04:06 AM »
If anyone posts self-promotion in a first post, I just report it to the mods.

I used to do that regularly but when I've commented in threads about it being spamish people consistently argue with me so I've stopped...

I don't bother commenting in the threads. I just give the mods a flag for it- they can decide if it violates the rules or not. Above my paygrade ;) But the mods can't see everything all the time.