Enough with the spam already

This is just going to be a short blog about a growing problem I have noticed occurring in N4G's articles, over the last 6 months or so I have seen an increase in false advertisements being posted by fake user accounts attempting to either gain hits or scam legitimate users.

I wont post any examples with links for fear of encouraging the practice, but here's a message I received from a fake account only an hour ago.

"babyrita 1h ago
hi
My name is Rita never married. l saw your profile today and after going
through it many times then l made up my mind to
contact you as my friend. so l want you to write back to me through my email
address so that l will give you my picture and for you to know who l am.
([email protected]) l hope to see your mail ok. lt is from
me,
miss Rita"

We've all likely received these kinds of spam messages in our personal emails junk folder, but I think it is unacceptable to put up with this kind of crap on a gaming website.

I feel this kind of junk mail and spamming may become a bigger concern if more is not done to prevent it, the mods here already have enough to deal with regarding the many user complaints (legitimate or not) without having to respond to reports of fake user accounts spamming articles and such.

I'm honestly not entirely certain on how the management of N4G accounts is handled, but it seems to me that it's all too easy for anyone to create an account and start spamming articles, then have their account closed and move on to opening another. If I remember correctly I recall being told that the email address of a problem user is logged and restrictions are placed on them if they create a new account, but the Internet being as it is these days getting a new email address is no problem for most, the solution seems to be to increase the difficulty of signing up for and creating an N4G account, it mite put some potential users off but it would also turn away many potential problem users who intend to create fake accounts for purposes of spamming or creating duplicate accounts.

I think we'd all like to have less duplicate accounts and spammers but since this isn't an ideal word all we can do is attempt to discourage it, maybe there's another way to tackle this issue that I haven't mentioned.

So with that being said, what do you think? do I have a point or am I just making mountains out of molehills?

[Valenka]

It's a well known fact that there will always be spam profiles created on websites like this. Even if the staff install one of those CAPTCHA systems to deter spambots, there's always a way to circumvent it.

With that being said, however, is it not bad taste to write a spam blog about spam? N4G is about gaming - spam is not gaming. :P

(that was a joke, in the event that someone decides to take it seriously)

[zerocrossing]

I can accept that spam accounts are an inevitability but I think something more should be done to discourage them, as it stands now it looks like it may become more of a problem.

Thanks for commenting.

[Tetsujin]

I never had a personal SPAM message, however my complaint is more of the fake accts in random stories that post their propaganda. I always vote down, and report every time they appear.

[Christopher]

Spammers are a huge issue. There's only so much that can be done to prevent them entirely before we start adversely affecting our users.

Having said that, lots of issues on how to prevent spammers have been discussed and more thoughts from users is always welcomes. If you get a PM like the one zero describes above, please don't feel like it's a waste of our time to report the user from their user page as such and/or submit a ticket via the 'Contact us' link below.

Thanks!

[zerocrossing]

Like I said earlier, I'm honestly not sure what more can be done about this outside of making it more difficult to sign up for and create a N4G account, but that would likely end up adversely affecting users.

Anyway thanks for commenting.

[steve30x]

I had one of those spam private messages yesterday and blocked the person who posted it

[zerocrossing]

Yeah, I blocked and reported it right away.

I was a little shocked though as it was also the first time it happened to me, I would hate for it to become any more of a problem.

[steve30x]

Thats the third time I got one of those since I joined this site a few years ago.

[DragonKnight]

Lol, I've never received a message like that. Why don't random non-women want to try and get my personal info? WHAT DO YOU HAVE THAT I DON'T!!!

But yeah, the spam is simply due to the traffic of the site. Bots are programmed to go to the high traffic sites and post their spam everywhere, plus there are those people getting paid very little (but evidently enough that they'll do it) to create phony accounts and spam everywhere.

It'll never be completely undone unfortunately. As users, all we can do is report it everywhere we see it.

[GreenRanger]

"babyrita 1h ago
hi
My name is Rita never married. l saw your profile today and after going through it many times then l made up my mind to contact you as my friend. so l want you to write back to me through my email address so that l will give you my picture and for you to know who l am.
([email protected]) l hope to see your mail ok. lt is from me,
miss Rita"
I got that exact PM the other day but the user had been banned by the time i logged in and saw it.
It was probably Rita Repulsa.