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Shadowbanning for spammers

posted by PMYA on ideasforphuks

Shadowban users posting obvious spam instead of just banning them. Banning accounts just leads to more spam accounts, and we have no account creation restrictions in place. If they are shadowbanned, they might not create new accounts and they will carry on posting with their shadowbanned spam accounts.

If we are going to implement this, I think it is important to have a clear definition of what we mean by spam. I am not talking about people posting off topic things in the wrong sub, or people making a one off spam post trying to plug their youtube channel on /s/gaming or something, I'm talking about users like mallow and jacknight that are constantly posting stupid shit and not contributing at all.

Reddit's policy on shadowbanning is fucked up, but I think it could clear up any potential spam problems if it was used in the right way.

Edit: If this is implemented, I would suggest not putting this in the TOS or anywhere else. Don't let the shadowbanned spammers know that they have been shadowbanned, or it undermines the effect of shadowbanning.

Shadowban users posting obvious spam instead of just banning them. Banning accounts just leads to more spam accounts, and we have no account creation restrictions in place. If they are shadowbanned, they might not create new accounts and they will carry on posting with their shadowbanned spam accounts. If we are going to implement this, I think it is important to have a clear definition of what we mean by spam. I am not talking about people posting off topic things in the wrong sub, or people making a one off spam post trying to plug their youtube channel on /s/gaming or something, I'm talking about users like mallow and jacknight that are constantly posting stupid shit and not contributing at all. Reddit's policy on shadowbanning is fucked up, but I think it could clear up any potential spam problems if it was used in the right way. Edit: If this is implemented, I would suggest not putting this in the TOS or anywhere else. Don't let the shadowbanned spammers know that they have been shadowbanned, or it undermines the effect of shadowbanning.

12 comments

[–] InnocentBystander 2 points (+2|-0)

It's hard trying to come up with a restriction that is not going to be irritating for new users and stop spammers at the same time.

That's the core of the problem right there.
I don't see any solid way to combat spam that doesn't irritate some new users.
I think we need to find a balance that people can live with.

It's not an either/or thing. Whether new account restrictions are the answer or not, I don't see shadowbans being a significant deterrent to spammers. Some other means will be needed, so if we can find something that doesn't have the stigma of shadowbans, I think that would be preferable.

[–] PMYA [OP] 1 points (+1|-0)

I think the hierarchy system has some potential for reporting posts. A private sub for junior admins and above, where all reported posts got sent to, could be a good idea for spam removal/illegal content removal. A better log to view who removed certain posts would also be a good idea, for transparency. We don't have enough users to have moderators on all the defaults who are going to be readily available to delete spam when it appears.

Voat tried the janitor mod thing, which I suppose is a kind of similar idea, but it was not centralised like the idea described above, which meant that a lot of users suddenly had the power to delete any post on default subs. Instead of appointing people to individual subs, just appoint people to all reports from all subs, and maybe order them by importance, so flagged illegal content on a default is more visible than spam from a small sub, for example. I actually think spam would be removed far more quickly using this method.