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Dman979

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26 minutes ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

So, speaking of spammers, a new user’s first few posts need to be mod-approved in order to weed out bots. 

That being said, have y’all ever seen any first posts that that you thought were legitimate users but still left you saying...

[Boi]

Yes, there's been quite a few actually. Here's some that come to mind.

December 13, 2016

December 13, 2016

April 27, 2013

 

 

 

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40 minutes ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

So, speaking of spammers, a new user’s first few posts need to be mod-approved in order to weed out bots. 

That being said, have y’all ever seen any first posts that that you thought were legitimate users but still left you saying...

Some are no-brainer obvious ones, others are less immediately obvious.

Bear in mind that there's an eternal arms race between the Good Guys (i.e. websites trying to provide a quality environment for their users, like the KSP forums) and the Bad Guys (spammers).  It's the old cycle:  Spammers spew their bilge.  Website comes up with techniques to counter the spammers.  Spammers try to figure out a way around those techniques.  Website responds.  And so forth.

So spammers are always looking for ways to try not to be too obvious to the authorities, so it's no accident that some are less obvious than others.  ;)

We have our ways.  But obviously we're not going to discuss anything about how spammers are identified our countermanded here, since this is publicly visible and the bad guys are reading this, too.  I'm sure you understand.

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10 minutes ago, Snark said:

I'm sure you understand.

I was thinking more posts from actual humans who’s facepalm-worthiness exceeded even that of spambots. ;) Like someone who’s first post is so full of leet-speak expletives you’re not even sure where to begin. 

ie: we want more amusing mod stories. :D

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34 minutes ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

I was thinking more posts from actual humans who’s facepalm-worthiness exceeded even that of spambots. ;) Like someone who’s first post is so full of leet-speak expletives you’re not even sure where to begin. 

ie: we want more amusing mod stories. :D

Yes, there have been some. But I can't share them of course, because all moderators are bound to confidentiality (which, incidentally, is why it's unlikely you'll ever see us publicly defend ourselves when accused of being evil).

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27 minutes ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

I was thinking more posts from actual humans who’s facepalm-worthiness exceeded even that of spambots. ;) Like someone who’s first post is so full of leet-speak expletives you’re not even sure where to begin. 

ie: we want more amusing mod stories. :D

Remember, the forum is here for the benefit of users, not the moderators.  Users want freedom.  Freedom is good.  So as moderators, wherever possible we try to let people just do what they want to.  Less moderation is better moderation.  Our preferred reaction, to any situation, is to take no action where possible.

That said... certain patterns of user behavior cause problems for other users, and therefore aren't okay.  So that's why there are forum rules, so that users know what is or isn't okay.  As with moderator activity, rules impinge on user freedom, so we believe fewer rules are better, and we try to keep the rules to a bare minimum and only include the specific things that bitter experience has shown us we have to have.  A rule only makes it into The Rules if it's clear that not having it is worse for everyone than having it.

So, to get back to your original question:  People post all kinds of stuff.  Some of it's serious; some of it's silly.  What's interesting for one person may be cringe-worthy for another.

And honestly, there's so much user traffic that we few moderators simply don't have the bandwidth to get emotionally invested in what every new poster posts.  ;)

So, when we're working through the approval queue, we generally don't care much about the content-- there's too much of it, we can't afford to care.  All we do is look it over to see "does this break any rules?"  And if the answer is no, we approve.  And if the answer is "yes", then we'll address as appropriate (usually with a friendly PM, since most cases involve people who are simply clueless rather than malicious and there's no point beating them up over it.)

36 minutes ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

so full of leet-speak expletives you’re not even sure where to begin

Yes, in that particular case, that would be rule-breaking (2.2.g for profanity, 2.3.b for l33t-speak), so we'd hide it and drop them a friendly note explaining what the problem is.

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1 hour ago, Deddly said:

@Kuzzter has the most rep, I believe. If you get creative and spend as much time and effort as he puts into his posts, maybe one day it will be you :)

*whistle*

I actually thought it would be more.

So, what's the difference between a Moderator, Global Moderator and a Moderator Emeritus?

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1 hour ago, HansonKerman said:

*whistle*

I actually thought it would be more.

So, what's the difference between a Moderator, Global Moderator and a Moderator Emeritus?

Since people asked this so often, we've chanted the job titles. :) Now they're moderator, senior moderator (more experience), and lead moderator (because we make policy decisions and stuff). Moderator emeritus is a one-time title for our departed (not dead, just traveling) comrade, former lead moderator Sal_vager, who did as much work as 5 ordinary mortal moderators. 

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39 minutes ago, Vanamonde said:

we've chanted the job titles

 

5 hours ago, Deddly said:

it's unlikely you'll ever see us publicly defend ourselves when accused of being evil

See? See? Right here! Proof that mods are ebil! Nothing good has ever come from ominous chanting! :sticktongue:

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5 hours ago, HansonKerman said:

So, what's the difference between a Moderator, Global Moderator and a Moderator Emeritus?

 

On 2/2/2018 at 8:38 AM, Snark said:
  • Moderators have the power to maintain the forum.  Move / hide posts, issue warns, approve queued posts.
  • Global Moderators are like Moderators, but grumpier.

;)

Also, what @Vanamonde said.

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