Thread: Reduce spam? Prohibit dupe posts?

To the PTB,

This is simply an observation, but I notice that a lot of spam could be reduced by prohibiting dupe posts by making it a rule (or "strong suggestion") to employ the"Search" function before making a new thread.

Not that it bothers me too much, but not only have I seen people copy / paste whole threads from myself and other authors (on this site and from other forums), but it seems some people simply go through the open tracker section and regurgitate the same info that's already been posted within the last few days.



I see this happening (especially lately) almost daily and it makes the open sign up section look ungainly, and a bit messy.

Just mho...

Respectfully,
~::*LightOnTheLedge*::~

IMO, "to employ the"Search" function before making a new thread." suggestion is a bad idea because we have brand new members all the time and there should be a way for them to rank up and receive reputation, and asking questions and answering them is one of the ways how to do that. Otherwise we may just as well turn off the post count and rep because we already have all the information we need. Asking and answering is in human nature and of course we all want to be special and unique and one of the ways how to do that is to ask questions and create conversations so we can feel important and a part of the community.
As for the open trackers section. Post count is disabled there and also moderating that section takes a lot of time and effort, you can always offer your services by reporting dupe posts. :)

PS "employ the"Search" function before making a new thread" might seem scary to some users, as if we are trying to keep them away from posting.

I actually made a similar suggestion not too long ago, but mainly about the Help/ Seedbox discussion/ Bittorrent section.
The problem is that the search function isn't perfect and it's incredible hard to find something without having the proper settings or using Google with the syntax:
site:torrent-invites.com followed by the search query

In the OpenTracker section is time usually the determining factor, because some trackers close after even an hour or at least a day. It still should be sourced, because plagiarism is forbidden on other parts of the forum too.

The link to my suggestion: Enforce dupe thread/similar thread rule more strictly

Yeah, BTH the search function sucks balls with vbulletin. I end up simply using google for all the forums I'm on.

Silentninja hit all the salient points, but I think that a bigger contribution to spam is the stupid 'thanks!' posts, and those are already forbidden. The staff does a lot to work on that issue, but it isn't something that can ever be eliminated, as there are always new members coming in and learning the ropes of the place.