So, N4G is flooded with spam...

That's right. N4G is flooded with spam. And I'm not talking about spambots, fake users or N4G advertising, I'm talking about the kind of articles that the community has been approving lately.

This kind:
http://gamecriticism.com/xb...

Now, there is an unspoken rule on N4G that whatever you do before approving an article YOU DO NOT READ IT. You simply read the title, and if it's appealing, you approve. Especially if it's related to the console war.

Lately however, we've been seeing some consequences of that rule. Articles like "X reasons to pre-order Y game" and "X reasons why Y console has something something" have been popping up all over the place.

Could we please stop approving those? Don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about top 10 lists or other ways for lazy journalism to manifest itself. I'm talking about spam.

If you look at the examples I provided, you'll probably see that they aren't about video games at all. They're about ads. Why else, would the articles be spread over several pages (in spite of being extremely short) and why else would the advertisements physically cover the text (at least in my browser)? Why else would they be full of spelling errors and give us nothing we haven't already read a million times?

It's one thing that long, thoughtful articles about video games don't get the credit they deserve because they don't have eye-catching titles. But couldn't we at least help the good journalists out a little bit, by not having them compete with spam?

My solution: Approve of articles less liberally.

You don't even have to read the entire text (although, that is the ideal). Just take twenty seconds to check the spelling, see if advertisements are flooding the site or if the article is spread over unnecessarily many pages.

If the text is lousy, please report it, but also downvote the article along with site. The way I see it, that's the best way to keep the barbarians at the right side of our walls.

And lastly, I have no idea how the N4G moderators work, but I would assume that if you have time to look into the comments section on N4G, you could every now and then take a quick glance at the actual articles that are being approved. There has been trouble with spambots before, but right now I feel like these articles are a bigger problem. That's my impression, anyway.

It's entirely possible that I'm underestimating the work that is being done to fight off these articles. Maybe the hopeless articles I see pop up on the front page every now and then are simply the few that made it past the gates, but let's do our best to shut the gates for these guys entirely!

So let's go out there and get this N4G spring cleaning on the road (even though it's still winter where I live), and let's treat these articles for what they are, namely:

Spam.

[DragonKnight]

I have to disagree with something. Top 10 lists need to be buried too. Sick of sites like whatculture.com coming out with 30 page lists for 30 games that have 1 game and a couple of sentences per page just to mount up the clicks. Those are spam too in my opinion.

[thorstein]

Well said, well said.

I get a page or two. But like you said, WC's content is about a paragraph spread over 12-15 pages. That is technically clickbait.

And I agree with the blog that some content is just blindly approved even though there are glaring errors in spelling, POV, grammar and diction.

The strange thing, 360, is that isn't even one of the worst offenders as of late. In fact, this one might have been one of the worst offenders this week:
http://n4g.com/news/1658150...

Based on the comments alone, stuff like this is unwanted in the N4G community. The article is universally lambasted by the community at large.

[DragonKnight]

We need to start showing the people that approve these crap articles what it's like to have the articles flooded with Lame reports to show that we don't want these articles on the site. The problem is that the approvals are never met with any kind of resistance until it's too late.

[XboxOneX]

We need to unite and stop this happening on N4G. If we keep allowing this then N4G will end up being flooded with useless articles and bait articles like 10 reasons the PS4 is the best console in the world and other stupid things. #StopTheSPAMN

[Blacklash93]

There's also a newer site called geekparty.com that primarily uses the same click-bait tactics and controversy-mongering content for its articles that whatculture.com does.

The opinion articles on N4G and the sites they are submitted for, in particular, need better examination before they are approved. So many of them, especially lists, are blatantly insincere and worthless. It's watering down N4G and all of its informative, worthwhile content.

[-Foxtrot]

If they can't get rid of them then at least allow us to post the list on N4G, maybe the first poster so other people don't need to click page after page

[SnakeCQC]

Aren't top ten lists n4g's bread and butter?

[rambi80]

We should be able to "bubble Down" submitters. If you submit crap, we lower your contributor rank (CRank). I think that would be interesting.

[360ICE]

You can kind of do that with sites by downvoting them. If they get a bad enough rating, they no longer appear on the front page.

[SolidStoner]

on N4G people do bad things for no reason! if you let them vote they will vote negative just because they didnt like the opinion or fact that article makes! what I was saying is that that people are too lazy and stupid to control things for real...

[360ICE]

@SolidStoner
You can already vote! You just click on the name of the website.

Other than that, you have some point.

[rainslacker]

I dunno about that. I see some contributers fighting amongst themselves over content from time to time.

I think just increasing the number of approvals for opinion articles would be more effective. Some contributers have more merit for getting articles approved, but for opinion articles, half of which are useless pieces like what you mention or other hit mongering crap, just requiring more people to approve it should help sort it out, or give it the time for others to report it as not news.

[annoyedgamer]

Perhaps the "low quality" report option from the blog section needs to make its way over to general news submissions. Not because a blogger has a website means it gives him a pass from quality control.

[Pandamobile]

Yes please. I've been annoyed with these kinds of sites and submission since day one here.

[Godmars290]

The bubble system was suppose to be gone some time ago.

And I'll have you people know though I rarely approve anything, checking the link to see if it works and that an article's spelling/wording isn't partially horrid is the least I do.

I've also had a few "Report WhatCulture because its WhatCulture" phases. But they never stick.

[360ICE]

To avoid spending all my bubbles, I'll address most of you here:

@DragonKnight
There are some good Top 10 lists. Gamesradar put a lot of work into theirs. However, I absolutely agree that the crappier ones are generally not worth approving.

@thorstein
I saw that text. The tendency is that articles that are critical of games the community favor tend to get harder punishments. The text your linking to isn't the worst I've ever seen, as I think it kind of makes a point, put there is some intrusive advertising.

@annoyedgamer
100% agree! While I favor labeling some of these ad-heavy articles as "spam", there are plenty of articles that deserve being slapped with a "low quality" label.

[tanukisuit]

I actually talked to a Mod (I won't say who, because I don't want to get them in trouble or whatever) about some suggestions to cut down on all the duplicate accounts/spammers (like putting a 24-48 comment ban on newly created accounts). Sadly, it really came down to the owners of the website refusing to take action. I'm assuming that means it would interfere with this website's traffic.

[urwifeminder]

More Driveclub , Destiny and The order articles please there just is not enough of them for my liking.

[maniacmayhem]

I don't mind The Order since the game hasn't released, that seems to be building anticipation as well as hype and Destiny articles tend to talk about new content, raids or something about the actual game and gameplay.

But Driveclub, all we seem to get is ""Astoning", "Brilliant", Jaw-Dropping" Pictures of the Grass!" type of articles every single day. It's almost getting to the point where Driveclub articles are being spammed to this site.

[Volkama]

Screenshots of old games really don't have any place on the news feed, but they still consistently get hot enough to break the 50degree barrier. Someone must enjoy them (or Abrael really manipulates the system).

Shame they aren't easier to filter out.

[360ICE]

So shameless pandering just hit new heights (lows?) today. Remarkably from a site that was already among the worst offenders.

http://n4g.com/news/1660344...

I'd... down vote.

[xabmol]

Yes please!

Stop approving articles with five or more pages that only have two sentences per page. PLEASE & THANK YOU!

I mean if there's an article with five pages and fifteen paragraphs and pictures per page, I would understand, but the articles of late... Just terrible.