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IMPORTANT - Spamming Issues NW3S Members Need to be Aware of

 
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Markingtime
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Posts: 2103
Location: Newberg, Oregon

PostPosted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 11:08 am    Post subject: IMPORTANT - Spamming Issues NW3S Members Need to be Aware of Reply with quote

Open post to all members. Please take a moment to read this message.

Over the last year NW3S has banned several members for spamming and/or solicitation. We take banning seriously and no less than 3 senior members here deliberate on someone being banned or the revocation of privileges (such as PMs) which is 1 step from being banned. It is not done without adequate proof of violation(s). Except for some blatant, premeditated violations, all the banned members were warned about their actions but in the end left us no choice.

Anyone that was banned did so to themselves by refusing to follow very simple and easy to understand rules. Some were banned, even after being given a warning, as they thought their actions wouldn’t be noticed (ie – telling people to not mention their solicitation).

Spamming is against our rules. Our rules are no different than most all forums in that respect. Our specific Rules are here: http://www.nw3s.net/forum/rules.htm #6,10,12 apply

Furthermore, international forums, particularly ones that make money, take it even more serious than we do (we are actually more lenient that many other forums on this). Spamming can cost money from lost visitors, ad counts, and/or advertising; so, you can be sure they do not tolerate such acts. Usually, you can read a forum's rules by selecting the Home page, going to the FAQs, and then Rules. Or, like us they, have a standalone rules page and links. Here is a generic example, from another site (a related national site), for those that somehow are either told or believe spamming/solicitation is acceptable or it's ‘no big deal’:

Spamming:
This type of posting could possibly result with privileges to our board restricted or denied without notice. Excessive advertisement of other forums is also spam. Soliciting for members of this site to go and join another site is also considered a form of Spam. Mentioning another site for reference or as an information source is acceptable but direct solicitation aimed at our members to bolster some other site's Membership is inappropriate and subject to Moderator disciplinary action.


This only affected a few here; however, it has gotten to the point that our membership needs to be aware of the issue to protect our good members' memberships. For those that would ignore the rules (ours or other sites') or believe it does not apply to them and it is worth doing, all I can say is: burn your bridges at your own cost.

Spamming our membership, either through PMs here, email, or any other method, will get you banned. The only way the people that do this have access to the membership database is from the privilege of being a member here or at another site. Whether you want to sell lottery tickets, promote a porn site, get members, or some other website or venture on the internet – it is spam. It WILL get you banned. Sometimes permanently. Most all of us really despise spam in any form. At least those of us who do our own work and do not steal content or the benefits of the hard work and dedication from someone else.

Why is this a big deal? Well, rather than do the work themselves to get membership, search engine rankings, articles, content, and reputation they instead want to basically steal from a site that did the work and spent the time (and money). These spammers even have the audacity to be adversarial or rationalize their thieving ways towards the very site they stole content, materials, or membership from. Truly lame. And as already mentioned, for some sites, it actually costs them money in lost advertising or view counts.

So if you enjoy the content and resources of NW3S, that is great, we love to hear it. That is a main reason this site exists – the sharing of information by the members and for the members. If you are spammed let one of our staff know. If you see our content being replicated without permission also please let us know. If we have to find this for ourselves (and we eventually do) it is not favorable to those involved as the act is malicious and intentional.

NW3S is always here when its members need help, good advice, discounted parts, or anything else we can provide. We run a good site and do not accept juvenile behavior, nonsense posts, spammers, or other garbage. All of our members, at least those that are mature, appreciate this professional yet friendly environment. As a member here you can help yourself by refusing such spam as well as protect your membership by making sure you do not fall for, or support, the spreading of unsolicited information or reprinting of anther individual's intellectual property. Do not patronize the people that do this sort of thing. Recognize it for what it is as well as the ethics of the people that do it.

Please feel free to ask questions within this thread if something isn’t clear. However, be advised that this thread is not a debate on our rules, or open for someone to argue or play word games with our people here. (This is not to say a member cannot question the rules or petition the senior leadership from changes or modifications. NW3S operation, rules, and day to day operations are run in a democratic fashion. What the above means is that this thread is not the place to do so.) It’s all about intent and I think most anyone here can clearly see the intent of our rules.

Lastly, if you find yourself somehow banned, or have privileges revoked and truly don’t know why, then contact one of the staff or site by email. Also, please note that some, but not all, of our bans are permanent. You generally have to be a troublemaker or blatantly refuse our rules (which are agreed to as a condition of membership) to have this occur. Yes, people are allowed back if the behavior or action which got them banned is corrected. Again you must address your petition to have your account reinstated to our leadership panel and it will be looked at by no less than 3 senior members for a decision. Usually within 24-48 hours.

Thanks for reading a lengthy post but one that has become necessary to put up in the best interest of our membership.
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Mark
94 VR4
There's no replacement for displacement.
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Craig
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 20, 2011 8:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Let me add to the above (and also address recent committee actions). This is for a limited audience but easier done this way. We will gladly answer any member in good standing here. What we won't do is be drawn into a petty argument elsewhere just to try and satisfy a banned members need to retaliate or defend against false statements from someone that had to have their account here turned off for blatant violations.

Many forums have the same rules. Some even have more. The difference sometimes is that NW3S actually enforces them rather than worry about lost advertising clicks or load referral counts for payouts, etc. Spamming, juvenile outbursts, offensive posts, and general troublemaking is unacceptable. The majority of our members like this BS free environment.

We deliberate in depth before banning anyone. Contrary to what some banned members might state to twist the truth or misstate the facts to serve their own animosity, we do not restrict or disable an account without good reason. If that were the case then the member could easily request to be heard or to have their account reinstated instead of posting their total innocence elsewhere. Such false statements are just retaliation, or rationalization for their actions, or just plain sour grapes about getting booted. Some people feel the need to burn their bridges all the way I guess.

And in the case of discussion and/or notification, the person is usually given the opportunity to address things prior to any action being taken. The last person to get banned was even contacted by phone by our Oregon Moderator who took his time to reach out to be more than fair. At which time the member verbally admitted to knowing the rules in question and purposely violating them (spamming via access to the PM memberlist). Only to later claim elsewhere that he did nothing wrong and was never contacted. Rolling Eyes

Our rules are there for good reasons. If a rule is not clear then it is easy to ask for clarification. Or it is easy to petition the moderators to change a rule, eliminate a rule, or add a rule. The very same concept which is the basis for our democratic society! Very simple. What isn’t acceptable is just violating them for one’s own personal gain or just because you disagree. Or a recent popular reason - thinking we would not catch on or notice.

An example I’d like to address is our rule for “no threads that are just a single link” (See Rule #2). As with all our rules there’s a reason for that. More than some might think. It is to stop spam for starters. Our members should not have to guess what some link goes to or what it is about. We also are not a link farm to increase click through landing page counts for people’s youtube or whatever. Plus, even though we screen well, a link can also be malicious in nature.

So to be clear: Threads started in this fashion are usually always deleted. This is not “censorship” as some have tried to claim when their thread gets removed. This is the member being too lazy to write something in the post or spamming and blatantly refusing to follow Rule #2. It has nothing to do with any particular site, some magic censorship filter, or anything else equally ridiculous.

If any member ever has a question the staff here is more than happy to answer. Asking a moderator is very easy. Just like our rules are easy. In the same fashion we won’t tolerate anyone purposely skirting the rules or abusing their PM privilege by spamming the memberlist.

If someone cannot follow the simple basic rules here that are in place for the benefit of all members as a whole then let the chips fall where they may.
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