Newbies sending private messages that only say "hi"

dokool · Post by **dokool** » Wed Apr 27, 2005 9:00 am

From: ladyofthewesternland4ever
To: dokool
Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2005 9:56 am
Subject: hi

hi

LenWidleheyt · Post by **LenWidleheyt** » Wed Apr 27, 2005 10:06 am

I got one from her too

. I responded before reading this thread. I usually try to be kind to super-n00bs who want to make a friend, but this is starting to look like spam. We'll see how it turns out... It's the first "hi" PM I've got, so I'm not "experienced" with them, but I guess there would be ways of telling whether they're just out to spam and irritate people, or if they actually want to start a conversation (which I don't mind at all; do you?). If they have an introduction of some sort in their profile, have made a few coherent and relevant forum posts, or have an interesting journal entry or two, there's a much bigger chance I will take them seriously.

By the way: searching for "ladyofthewesternland" in the member search yields four (4) results

. Why is that a popular name?

Arigatomina · Post by **Arigatomina** » Wed Apr 27, 2005 4:28 pm

Got one from - "ladyofthewesternland4ever".

Can't you just ban the entire ip so the person can't make duplicate accounts? Or are we still debating on whether or not to ban for repetitious and excessive spamming?

This is robotic - the member doesn't even try to be creative about it.

megaman917 · Post by **megaman917** » Wed Apr 27, 2005 5:00 pm

She's one the people who sent me one too.

I'm not suggesting that she be banned, I rather she be stopped. Is there a way to suspend or take away her PMing or forum privilages?

O-Kagachi · Post by **O-Kagachi** » Wed Apr 27, 2005 5:01 pm

ill just give her some yummy spam of my own

Brolly345 · Post by **Brolly345** » Wed Apr 27, 2005 5:06 pm

Yeah, I got those from the same people.

Do I care?

No.

I just asked them what they wanted and that was it. No one wanted anything specific. I don't think this merits a banning. They have since stopped doing it to me.

O-Kagachi · Post by **O-Kagachi** » Wed Apr 27, 2005 5:07 pm

its annoying because they're hitting multiple people, multiple times.

downwithpants · Post by **downwithpants** » Wed Apr 27, 2005 5:10 pm

if you don't want her to pm you, tell her that you're not interested in chatting.

she's not intending to spam, she just wants to chat.

Arigatomina · Post by **Arigatomina** » Wed Apr 27, 2005 5:38 pm

downwithpants wrote:if you don't want her to pm you, tell her that you're not interested in chatting.
she's not intending to spam, she just wants to chat.

Link her to the chatroom, then. This is a forum. o.O

We don't have PM-blockers, like we would with email accounts, so it's up to the mods/admin to do something. I don't believe she wants to chat. If she did, she wouldn't be posting the exact same thing over and over and over and over again without attempting to start a discussion on *anything*.

I'm more inclined to see it as an older member having fun. Or a new member enjoying the right to spam and then watch the complaints rise up. Note that I didn't get spammed till I posted in this thread. If it were a lonely person PM'ing people who happen to be viewing the forum, it would be different. I received my PM when I wasn't even on the forum (not that I show my 'status' to non-mods anyway). How do you chat with someone who isn't online?

.
.
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If we're going to be nice and tolerable, can we get a PM-blocker and a list of members we don't want PMs from? Or a safe list of people we want to receive PMs from? Some people get *emails* when they receive a new message.

Flint the Dwarf · Post by **Flint the Dwarf** » Wed Apr 27, 2005 6:17 pm

Arigatomina wrote:If we're going to be nice and tolerable, can we get a PM-blocker and a list of members we don't want PMs from? Or a safe list of people we want to receive PMs from? Some people get *emails* when they receive a new message.

I think Sarah (of the Boring persuasion) brought this up before. I also saw it brought up by InsaneKeyblader of all people, and neither the mods nor admins said anything either time. I think it could be a good option to have. Or at the very least let users flag a PM for being spam. I don't really mind spam at all... it takes hardly any time to read and delete it.

Link her to the chatroom, then. This is a forum. o.O

Some people prefer PM or e-mail chatting to AIM or IRC. Although I do agree that a few of the members intend simply on spamming. Waste of time and energy, I think, but you get all sorts on the net.