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posted by martyb on Sunday September 05 2021, @08:56AM   Printer-friendly
from the See-dick-mod.-See-dick-sock-mod.-See-dick-get-banned.-Don't-be-a-dick dept.

Labor Day:
In observance of Labor Day (a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday in September) I am hereby inviting the SoylentNews editorial staff to enjoy a three-day weekend — Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Stories will be scheduled and released on a weekend-story-spacing schedule. The holiday marks the unofficial end of summer and it often marked by parades, sales, cookouts, and the like.

These volunteers give selflessly of their spare time to try and make sure we keep the stories coming. Please join me in thanking them for their generous sacrifice of spare time and experience to keep those stories coming!

Tor:
(short for The Onion Router) is in the process of rolling out an updated protocol. ThIs update is NOT compatible with prior versions. SoylentNews has had support from the early days of the site (thanks to NCommander, IIRC). As nobody on staff has experience in this area, our support will cease at any time - the TOR site is saying October. It was laudable at the time. Unfortunately, its more recent use seems to have been primarily by spammers. As such, we could lose access to Tor at anytime as our network "neighbors" either upgrade or find themselves no longer "adjacent" to back-level versions like ours is. You can still access this site using TOR with our normal URL.

Sock Mods
We have been methodically identifying and shutting down sockpuppet accounts. These are NOT allowed. Attempts to bypass the will of the community by controlling multiple accounts is forbidden. One user, one account. Do NOT use another account (or accounts) to upmod one-or-more accounts that you control. If you do not like getting downmods, take a look at the comments you post. Sure, occasionally, someone might mis-moderate a comment by accident (heck, *I* have done it!) In our experience, such errors are generally rare and are frequently followed at some point by others, offsetting moderations.

So: "Sock mods" are being tracked. We are methodically investigating cases. Accounts are being disabled, and never in isolation. It takes agreement by at least two admins, and usually more, for any action to be taken.

If you are generally a positive contributor to the site, such impacts to your karma are usually just "line noise" in the grand scheme of things.

Mod bombs:
In a similar vein, if you disagree with someone, do not attempt to silence them by using multiple accounts to mod their comments down.

We have seen cases of both "mod bombs" and "sock mods". We have held back on taking action until we are certain. Any action taken is first confirmed by at least one other staff member. Complaining about moderation is OFF TOPIC and tends to get moderated as such.

Limits
We've previously tried to set concrete limits. "Give them an inch and they'll take a mile." I have personally witnessed cases where one account downmodded another account 4 times in one day. For ten days in a row! That was just enough to avoid getting moderations reversed, but certainly enough to show a concerted effort to moderate the commenter rather than just the comment.

This will no longer be tolerated.

Admins can see who has moderated whom. We talk among ourselves. We discuss cases that come up. It's pretty simple, really: "Don't be a jerk!"

 
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 06 2021, @12:03AM (9 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 06 2021, @12:03AM (#1174836)

    Strange, then, that you are banning accounts for none of what you claim?

    Your user account has been banned from SoylentNews

    Your user account has been banned from SoylentNews, due to script flooding, or the posting of comments designed to break web browser rendering, that originated from your network or IP address. If you feel that this is unwarranted, feel free to include your UID (52) in the subject of an email to admin@soylentnews.org, and we will examine why there is a ban. If you fail to include the UID (again, in the subject!), then your message will be deleted and ignored. I mean come on, we're good, we're not psychic.

    Who has been using script-flooding, or browser-breaking? It thought it was all sockpuppetry and mod-bombing?

  • (Score: 4, Informative) by janrinok on Monday September 06 2021, @02:48AM (6 children)

    by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Monday September 06 2021, @02:48AM (#1174867) Journal

    If only site abuse took place with one type of attack at a time.... The site is under frequent attacks, particularly at weekends and on holidays. Behind the scenes the site is much busier than you might imagine.

    The bans that you seem to be referring to here are issued automatically in some cases when flooding takes place from one or a small number of sources. This is a form of DoS attack. It is being generated automatically and at high speed. In common with most sites we have measures in place to prevent such attacks being successful. Others use specially crafted HTML in a submission or comment as an attempt to defeat the database (emulating, say, the Little Bobby Tables [explainxkcd.com] attack) or the display system.

    If you are sharing a connection with someone who is carrying out such an attack then your account will be collateral damage as the IP address responsible is blocked for a period of time. If you want us to address this problem then we have to know your user ID so that we can separate your traffic from any other. Often the quickest solution is to log out, create a new route with TOR or a VPN, and rejoin the site again.

    Those who have been banned for moderation abuse have each received an admin-to-user message telling them of the action and reason. They have also been told not to use the account again.

    • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 06 2021, @05:22AM (5 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 06 2021, @05:22AM (#1174882)

      I have it on good authority that this is the standard sockpuppet death notice being sent out. Smell like TMB. Probably not meant for the purpose it is being used for, which only increases my suspicion of incompetence of our current admins. Get it right, for God's fucking sake! If you are banning for being a creature of a lesser god, just say so! The Nazis had no issues with sending Jews, gays, and communists to the ban camps. SN admins could have at least as much honesty.

      • (Score: 2) by janrinok on Monday September 06 2021, @08:32AM (4 children)

        by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Monday September 06 2021, @08:32AM (#1174901) Journal

        Paranoid much?

        I have it on good authority

        Well as we are not supposed to even know who you are, how am I expected to recognise the 'good authority' that you are referring to?

        Sock puppet death? - YES, sock puppets are not allowed. I don't believe that we have so far discovered even a good proportion of them but for now the abuse has stopped.

        If you are banning for being a creature of a lesser god, just say so

        That is not the reason, the bans for moderation abuse have been explained. The notices for the server automatically blocking flood and DoS attacks have been in place for several years. I cannot say what blocks are in force at the moment as I do not have access to the servers. If this is the first time you are experiencing them you are very lucky. They do not usually affect those who are logged in. Currently, nobody else has even mentioned them today.

        I dislike being likened to a Nazi - but if you have to stoop that low to compose the best argument that you can offer, then this discussion is closed.

        PS. change your routing - you are leaking.

        • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 06 2021, @09:13AM (3 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 06 2021, @09:13AM (#1174904)

          But none of the alleged account bans are for flooding or DDOS attacks, or anything like that. They are for political reasons. You ban because you do not like, and accuse modders of modding because they do not like. Such hypocrisy will doom this site.

          • (Score: 3, Informative) by janrinok on Monday September 06 2021, @10:05AM

            by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Monday September 06 2021, @10:05AM (#1174911) Journal

            Which bans are you referring to?

            Your user account has been banned from SoylentNews, due to script flooding, or the posting of comments designed to break web browser rendering, that originated from your network or IP address.

            I would say that was very clear what the ban was for - it is not aimed at a specific user but "from your network or IP address". Perhaps someone else is sharing the same IP address, perhaps via TOR or a VPN? If you are referring to the bans for moderation abuse - each account was sent an admin-to-user message explaining the reason. I assume that you if the bans affect you then you will have read it.

            Without knowing which account you are referring to then I cannot offer any further explanation. I would have to know the account ID to look at which bans are in place. If you have been unfairly banned then it can be rectified, but without knowing which account you are using I cannot help you.

          • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday September 06 2021, @03:49PM (1 child)

            by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Monday September 06 2021, @03:49PM (#1174994) Homepage
            Show us the evidence of your absurd claims.

            Do it publicly if you want, everything you've got, because we know you've got nothing.
            --
            Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 08 2021, @08:12AM

              by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 08 2021, @08:12AM (#1175798)

              Tu Quoque, FatPhil! Tu Quoque!

  • (Score: 5, Informative) by martyb on Monday September 06 2021, @01:11PM (1 child)

    by martyb (76) Subscriber Badge on Monday September 06 2021, @01:11PM (#1174930) Journal

    Your user account has been banned from SoylentNews

    Your user account has been banned from SoylentNews, due to script flooding, or the posting of comments designed to break web browser rendering, that originated from your network or IP address. If you feel that this is unwarranted, feel free to include your UID (52) in the subject of an email to admin@soylentnews.org, and we will examine why there is a ban. If you fail to include the UID (again, in the subject!), then your message will be deleted and ignored. I mean come on, we're good, we're not psychic.

    1.) The text you posted states CLEAR instructions on where to send an email and what it should contain.

    2.) The UID you posted here is NOT even your own. (that one belongs to janrinok)

    3.) Comments posted to the site DO NOT follow the instructions and will be ignored.

    4.) We are busy yet willing to help, but need the information requested EXACTLY as stated. (Otherwise: "Garbage In, Garbage Out").

    5.) Unless you are just trolling, in which case this comment and all like it are likely to get modded accordingly,

    --
    Wit is intellect, dancing.
    • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 06 2021, @08:19PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 06 2021, @08:19PM (#1175104)

      When even Martyb gets a bit "tetchy", you know the admins have royally messed up.