Quote from: nev1d on May 13, 2018, 05:56:49 PM

I think that the number of bots will not decrease, they will spam in other topics.

My thoughts exactly. I've already noticed an increase in useless post and plagiarism on the serious (tech) boards.

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This can reduce the number of participants in bounty campaigns, which is good for us, but bad for the newcomers who signed up for the forum just because of this.

Bounties are big business. And I'm pretty sure most participants don't use one account only. Why would they, if they can earn 10 times more by spamming from 10 accounts?

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You're right, 1 Merit earn is not so difficult, so the system has the right to life.

Only 15196 accounts have received 1 or more Merit points. That's less than 1% of all forum accounts.
The users posting in bounty threads, typically haven't earned a single merit.

Quote from: nev1d on May 13, 2018, 06:15:42 PM

Quote from: jackg on May 13, 2018, 06:01:43 PM

Although, they are adding to the number of ad impressions on the site so...

The forum gets a good PR for them

I wouldn't call it "good PR". But if page hits are the goal, the bounty board could be totally separated from the rest of the forum. Don't require anything for posting there, but instead raise the requirements for the rest of the forum. And don't count bounty posts for activity and post count anymore.

Quote from: theymos on May 14, 2018, 01:16:46 AM

What do the people who operate these bounties think of the newbie invasion?

I have partially managed a few campaigns, and if I'd run one on my own, I'd like it to be self-moderated with zero-tolerance for spam. But that would mean my campaign is gone from the first page in minutes, and 25 pages down the next day. The reduced exposure would make the campaign a failure, which means there is no market for running clean campaigns.
I'd love to reject all spammers, but it's currently not feasible to do.
Unless a clean campaign would be able to buy a sticky in the bounty thread, that could actually work to earn the forum some income from campaigns that actively fight spammers.
I do think a clean bounty campaign where people promote with real accounts instead of Facebook and Twitter accounts with 5000 other bounty spammers as friends and followers would be a better way to promote something.

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Also, people should not be required to post in order to get paid; that's already against the rules.

But it isn't enforced, so they keep doing it. Or they find a loophole posting "proof of whatever", or "facebook/twitter.com/myspamaccount"-links.
Would it be an option to "reset" that board, close all threads, and enforce strict rules on new threads from now on? Make all threads there self-moderated by default, and close all threads that don't clean up spam within 24 hours.

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An idea I had in this vein was that upon registration you'd have to pick one of two paths:
- "I want to discuss things"
   = Banned from all money-making/spam-hotbed sections until Jr Member
- "I want to make money"
   = Banned from the more serious sections until Jr Member
   = You have to pass a quiz before posting which tries to inform you about basic forum rules, how not to get banned, maybe some basic English knowledge, etc. (Quizzes are pointless to stop dedicated spammers, since an answer key will quickly be compiled, but it may help in cases where clueless people are ending up here.)

Playing devil's advocate: "so you're saying I just have to create 2 accounts instantly to be allowed to do both?"

Quote from: cryptoishot on May 14, 2018, 04:40:44 AM

As an alternative, may I suggest to put every newbie (including me

in a sandbox section of the forum?
Reputable members can enter that sandbox section and give merit to newbies who post reasonable things.

It's been suggested before (reinstate Newbie jail), but I doubt many reputable members will be willing to waste their time shifting through thousands of spampost just to find one post worth meriting. I certainly won't do it, every time I try to find a Newbie to merit, I end up reporting them to be banned.

Quote from: hilariousetc on May 14, 2018, 08:45:23 AM

Can't hurt to try something like this. At the very least, upon sign-up users should be required to read the rules and linked to some helpful guides like the Activity FAQ and how to earn here etc so it'll stop the same old questions being asked time and time again (and usually in the wrong section).

Most people will just click "yes I've read the rules" instantly. Barely anybody reads EULAs, partially caused by the fact that they're too long and there are too many of them.

Quote from: pugman on May 14, 2018, 10:59:23 AM

How about just enforcing bounty managers to do their goddamn job. They literally just sit around doing nothing and get paid for that. Damn those lucky bastards.

It gives a perverse incentive to everybody involved: it's cheaper to run, less work, more exposure, and as a bonus: nobody complains! Unlike when you reject spammers and cheaters, which means you spend many hours running the campaign, and as a result you can expect people complaining.

Another thought: charge amount X (say 100$) to open a thread on the bounty board. Use that money to pay moderators.
The thread owner will still be required to stop spam, and if Y (say 50) posts in his thread get deleted by moderators, his thread is closed.