UPDATE APRIL 6, 2019:I was able to reclaim my account successfully today! Thank you!
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It's not the ad slots that are the issue. It's paid sig spam, mostly from ICOs who couldn't care less about spam. In fact, more spam is better for them. More posts = more ad impressions. This needs to change
I could not agree more, but what's worse is these campaigns are also now not only rewarding those spamming bitcointalk but also external websites. This causes people to create fake social media accounts or use stolen accounts it appears. I can't believe the people managing ICOs don't realize this... as long as their advertising is spread they are happy even if it is through illegitimate means. Their bounty programs are essentially paying for spam on bitcointalk and externally... this only makes me more skeptical of whatever they are promoting.
Thank you for the offer hilarious. I will message you with a signed message so you can see what my old account is doing. I can sign a message from the first bitcoin address I posted (which I posted multiple times). I also own the original email used to register the account, and still have emails and notifications from private messages that I can attach a screenshot of. I've also used my real first name and can verify who I am. If this is happening with my old account it's bound to be happening with others.
I'm not sure if individual bans versus profiling accounts and collecting data for a mass ban of fraudulent users would be more beneficial. There seems to be a conflict of interest possibly as well with doing this at all. Part of the value of this forum is created by the massive amount of these bounty/ad/affiliate programs. It is prime real estate for businesses to reach those who have/know about cryptocurrency. The people running these ad campaigns would not be happy if a large amount of their campaigners were banned. Again, they must realize a large amount of their campaigners are suspect, but as long as it benefits them they look the other way. This line of thought is completely ignoring whether the ICOs/services/products they advertise are even legitimate in the first place as well. To be completely honest I'm not sure that the problems created by advertising can be ever solved here... or elsewhere for that matter.