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[–] jammi 0 points 5 points (+5|-0) ago 

Anti-spam isn't censorship, imho.

[–] [deleted] 0 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago 

[Deleted]

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[–] Azriel777 ago 

Voat just needs a public trashbin that everybody can check and view what and who gets blocked, and have a way to overrule a mod if enough people vote it back in. Balance of power is key, we do not want any slimey shadowbanning because that is one of the biggest censorship tools reddit has. Its purpose started out to block spam and it quickly got abused by mods and admins to flat out block anyone and anything they did not like for personal or shill reasons.

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[–] jammi ago 

I think those posts pretty clearly qualifies as spam, just like the GNAA stuff on Slashdot and such.

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[–] Jansen ago 

If it's site-enforced I'd agree. But how about using a spam filter and once the "Downvote" copypasta is detected, a red "!" in a warning triangle pops up next to "Report Spam".

Clicking that will prevent everything setting off the same spam-filter trigger from showing it on YOUR user?

It would demand more effort from the individual user to block spam but it wouldn't be close to censorship.

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[–] Chih 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

I'm worried if this would turns into an arms race, of sorts. Ban this wall of text (how? will come back to that...), it will get changed slightly. Ban v2, there will be v3, etc.

So ban the accounts that do it? They make new ones. Ban IPs? That could be problematic for people who share connections (not just households, I'm thinking universities...)

And with the initial restriction of downvoats, new people like me essentially count on older users to use their downvoats to clean up spam. And back to the first point, how do you ban a wall of text? Do you check each new post to see if it's a copy (then check for v2, v3, etc... that's gonna eat up resources), or do you focus on post structure and a handful of keywords (which would open the possibility of false positive bans, not good for a site that values freedom above all)?

I'm no expert, but I can't think of any way to make this feasible without unintended consequences. I mean, you could try to temp-ban people who get too many downvoats, but that would be abused. You could consider letting anyone downvoat a post once it hit a certain threshold (-10? -15?), but that also would be gamed over time. Apply selective pressure to spammers, they will evolve to flourish in a new paradigm. Apply widespread pressure, and regular users will shoulder the burden as well, and lessen the idea of a community free of meddling.

In the end, that copypasta is the Westboro Church of Voat. It's here, it's going to continue to be an annoyance. It will trick new users into thinking there is a controversy where there is none. And all the average user can do is hide their hollow protest from site with their downvoats. Me personally, I write it off as the 'cost of business' of being on the internet, along with pun threads and rickrolls.

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[–] ketsuban [S] 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

You have a good point. It would be very difficult to enforce.

I have a feeling that at least, if there is a filter that says "contains these words in this order" (in an undisclosed way as to make them guess) in the fashion of the copypasta, that they might at least write new copypasta. New copypasta would at least be more amusing to read.

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[–] Chih ago  (edited ago)

New copypasta would at least be more amusing to read.

I definitely agree :D

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[–] weezkitty ago 

It's blatant spam and should be reported and removed as such. Posting the same link and crap over and over is basically the definition of spamming.

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[–] johnparish 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

I am not sure if Voat has that capability. Still in Alpha and such.

Normally I would be against that, but considering it is just one guy with no life, if it is possible I support it.

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[–] ketsuban [S] 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

Just one guy? I'd be interested to know if it's just one, or a group of 3 or so people.

I'm against it because it's baiting new members.

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[–] johnparish 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

I meant against censoring a copypasta. If it was anything besides the MH101 guys I would be against it.

Maybe it is three, I just get the feeling either way it is all centered in one mans basement.

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[–] Netto 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

I've been reporting them as spam, that does something right?

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[–] khuang91 ago 

What is the pasta?

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[–] ketsuban [S] 0 points 3 points (+3|-0) ago 

https://voat.co/v/funny/comments/215454/652274

These users are creating new accounts just to spam this. As you can see, (at the time of writing) this account is three hours old.

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[–] pcguy2 ago  (edited ago)

Is the Spam function automated? Maybe after more than 1000 points worth of people click Spam, then its hidden?

EDIT: To clarify, I mean that people whose total points total 1000. Maybe indexed to a percentage of total points, or 100x average user points?