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Alright, I realize that the wording of my previous question did not clearly distinguish what I wanted (and resulted in being downvoted into oblivion). I don't care (for this purpose) about live users who give bad answers. I am only referring to bots and bot accessories.

We (SE, in general) get dozens of spam/bad answers almost every day.

We get links to furniture. We get ads for hardware. We (over on rpg.se) get really weird postings for spellcasters and potion brewers to ward off vengeful exes or occasionally kill adulterers.

Maybe it only bothers me. But I see an update to an interesting question and go to check it out, only to find that it was some trifling bot. I see a message in chat, and it's just the smoke alarm, telling me about some trifling bot.

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  • 2
    Wouldn't this be better asked on charcoal even there it's going to be too broad though unless you're suggesting something specific we can do.
    – Robert Longson
    Commented Jan 15, 2019 at 19:16
  • @RobertLongson Well, I suggested something specific in another meta and I got downvoted into oblivion, so I'm reluctant to make a similar suggestion here.
    – goodguy5
    Commented Jan 15, 2019 at 19:18
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    @goodguy5 - Since I'm in CHQ often and see furniture or hardware ADs seldom, no potions for months, you should share will us. We often succeed in ridding SE of junk in less than a minute, occasionally less than a second; sadly sometimes an hour or two. So please share your misfortune with us: CHQ Chat. Thanks.
    – Rob
    Commented Jan 16, 2019 at 0:37
  • related: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/321346/2018-a-year-in-spam
    – goodguy5
    Commented Feb 8, 2019 at 18:52

2 Answers 2

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They are not bots; they are humans who get paid a miserable salary in exchange for posting spam. They're smart enough to solve the captchas Stack Exchange already throws at them and some even use proxies/VPNs to switch IP addresses if their old ones are blocked by the system.

That means that every attempt to hinder them further will be ineffective, unless new users with good intentions will also be affected by these measures. IMHO, the current measures (SpamRam, autoflagging and reporting to various chatrooms) are already quite effective; the most obvious spam posts like the ones advertising pharmaceutics and spellcasters are deleted within seconds of being posted.

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-6

If you are talking about bots, I think asking some questions only human can answer during the registration is a good idea. I know some sites limit daily activity, but that seems to be a bad idea. No one likes waiting until next day comes. But what about limiting links per day?

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    No it's an horrible idea to ask questions upon registration. It will deter tons of people, who can otherwise become very good users.
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Jan 16, 2019 at 9:09
  • @ShadowWizard I mean.... are any of us "very good" users, really? </nihilsim>
    – goodguy5
    Commented Jan 16, 2019 at 13:43
  • @goodguy5 of course not! :-)
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Jan 16, 2019 at 13:46
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    Captcha is already used, rate limiting is already used, link limiting is already used. This answer suggests nothing helpful that isn't already done.
    – Nij
    Commented Jan 16, 2019 at 20:16

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