And newbie jail didn't protect against that, it just delayed them a few days. I remember I graduated newbie jail pretty quickly.
A few days? I think it was initially four hours browsing time and few posts but then was reduced to just one post I think before being removed completely. There are pros and cons to it but it probably turned many users away instantly and only confined the spam to beginners and help for a short while before they quickly broke free.
You guys think newbie jail during your times was bad? When I registered, they didn't even have newbie jail yet and I was free to post anywhere. Then it was implemented a few weeks later, and I got thrown in newb jail. The worst part was that we had to request to get out, and the rule was to give a reason why you deserve to be let out lol. You can tell the truth, or just BS anything. Mods had to whitelist people manually, and were slow to do it.
One of the most inefficient systems implemented right after registration.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=15911.msg251582#msg251582