We have just enabled a new feature which many of you will grow to appreciate, we are sure. The new feature is a link at the bottom of every forum message the is labeled "TROLL/SPAM". If you have at least 1,000 posts to your credit you will see that link and will be able to use it. Please use it to deal with Trolls and obvious spamming. After a certain number of clicks by you and your fellow experienced members, the message will be hidden and reported to the moderators. You will only be able to click it once. Abusers of this TROLL/SPAM system will be detected and may lose access to that feature.

 

We just made that announcement. Here is the intent; to give our experienced members in good standing a tool that allows them to help keep the trolls and spammers out of the community. You can still use the report button, but if you think you see a troll in action and other experienced users agree with you, you won't need to wait on us. And, it applies throughout all of the forums, where we might not monitor as frequently as we should. Use it with good intent. If we find it being used for personal agendas and competitive reasons, we'll move very quickly to remove the power to use this from the individuals that are abusing it.

It seems like a good idea, but I find the post count requirement to be a bit confusing. I've been reading these forums pretty much daily for 10+ years and made multiple contributions to the file library, but since I don't post a whole lot I am not "experienced"?

It seems like a good idea, but I find the post count requirement to be a bit confusing. I've been reading these forums pretty much daily for 10+ years and made multiple contributions to the file library, but since I don't post a whole lot I am not "experienced"?

 

 

I agree:

 

It's a bit like "I will submit 20 more useless posts in order to qualify for (...)". (474 more posts in your case, Robert! :lol:)

 

Power to more people, Tom; duration of membership should make up for (some) of those "missing" posts!

The best way to deal with trolls is to completely ignore them. This seems like s moderator function.

While I agree that some members who have less then one thousand are experienced I think that might have to be decided on a case by case basis, 1000 posts is a good number and the duration of membership Olli was suggesting is a good idea

 

Tom I think it's s fantastic idea and I'm sure most of us will use it responsibly ( we'll have to see about that in the PMDG forum though lol)

 

Thanks Tom

Post count is the only way we have of judging experience in that feature. We have no ability to set "membership duration" as a criteria, so post count is as good as it gets.

That's perfect then.

Not available to those with Commercial tags?

I guess I will continue to use the "Report" feature for the next ten years then.

This is value added not in my opinion. Post count is a joke if you really look at the quality of a lot of what is posted by some of the crowd.

Oh, man... I so wanted to hit the troll/spam button for this post so bad!!  :lol:

 

Barney Fife here, reporting for Troll Patrol duty. :lol:

 

Problem I see with it, is that the accusation of "Troll!" is thrown around quite frequently during any argument in which someone has managed to make a fool of themselves, and the only resort left to win the argument is to accuse the other guy of being a Troll.  Or else, when a tough question is asked, or a touchy subject is breached, and the wagons get circled by the faithful, you frequently see accusations of Trolldom.  Some sections are more prone to this than others.  It's already possible to impale some poor s.o.b. with a barrage of "Dislikes", or to step it up to the level of "Report", so is a stronger form really necessary?

Do keep in mind that a single "Troll/Spam" report won't accomplish anything at all except to increment a counter. It will take X number of such reports before anything at all is triggered.

Not available to those with Commercial tags?

 

I will look into that. You should have it if you have a 1,000 plus posts.

 

Ed, you should see it now.

Ah... there it is... not that I have much use for it... but it is amusing to see it there.

 

And I can troll/spam myself! LOL

You have a lot of faith in us Tom to act wisely with this added power.  :Worried: