Quote from: nullius on April 10, 2021, 06:16:01 AM

I request guidance on what to do if a user repeatedly reposts deleted content in self-moderated threads—especially if the user reacts to self-mod deletions at a speed which raises reasonable suspicions that the user deployed a spambot to defeat self-mod.

I do not like to run to staff for help with this. The whole point of the self-moderation feature is that topic starters are supposed to handle these problems on their own: Anarchy, self-help, etc. However, the abuse-handling tools for self-mod are quite limited compared to the tools available to staff. Moreover, a self-mod topic starter cannot sit on top of a topic 24/7 to control abusive behaviour.

N.b. that this is a persistent problem. The same user has repeatedly defied my self-mod rules before, and created a Reputation topic devoted to calling me “a cunt” because I banned her from my topics (!). I never complained in Meta before, because it was not a Meta issue; I just dealt with it. Whereas the user is obsessed with forcing her way into my self-mod topics; her escalating, seriously abusive behaviour motivates my question now.

On the flipside, I am asking because I admit: I am a little bit evil. Well, more than a little bit. If this behaviour is fully consistent with the forum rules, and if I am assured it will not cause any reaction from staff, then I may be tempted to obtain my own spambot, and hammer the hell out of “very self such moderated” threads habitually started by the user who did this. Yes, that user is a hypocrite who deserves a taste of her own medicine... Anarchy, self-help, etc. Of course, I would not engage in such grossly abusive behaviour if it is against the forum rules! Wink

The below quote illustrates the problem, but only partly. The user rapidly reposted identical content 21 times; she only stopped after I started publicly counting the deletions in another thread. If deletion had been done by staff, that would surely result in at least a temp-ban—regardless of whether the user disagreed with the deletion. The reasonableness of the deletion is irrelevant to the abusive behaviour.

Observe the timestamps; they do not reflect my own relatively slow speed in manually responding to reposts. I could only catch a few of these fast, by sitting there and repeatedly reloading the page; who has time for that? Staff and administrators should have access to the corresponding deletion logs which show when each post was deleted.

Please advise of whether I should report this type of abuse, and how—or should I handle this on my own, whatever that may involve?

Thanks.

-quote snip-

AFAIK you should publicly (in such a way that both a moderator can verify and the user in-question is sure to notice) warn the user to stop posting in your self-moderated thread (e.g. making a dedicated post in your self-moderated thread as well as editing in said warning into the OP). If the user doesn't heed the warning, you should report his post(s) and the user will be (temp)banned.