An Avatar Newbie!

[GreeneryFresh]

Hi to all! I just joined this site and its because I spotted the word "Avatar". I'm not a fan really but when I got to see the movie , I was impressed. It was quite possibly one of the best movies I've seen in a long time. By the way, I just saw it again days ago. Anyway, its great to be hanging around here and discover more!

[moonbeam]

Cool! It's great to have you! I hope you enjoy it here!

[Na'vi a Kepekmì]

Looks like the guy has been banned. Oh well.

[iron_jones]

He was so young

[SaphirJD]

There is no place for spam bots

[Na'vi a Kepekmì]

Originally Posted by SaphirJD

There is no place for spam bots

Then we should just close down the registrations, because nobody trusts the newcomers anymore... ugh
I think he was the first legit member in a while (no spam link or suspicious content), he was interested to the movie. Then the conclusions have been taken too quickly and the guy is now banned.

I agree that there's a constant wave of people who create junk accounts just spam advertising, but come on. Next time a newcomer posts, watch and analyse before taking a decision (sometimes it's quick, sometimes it takes a little more time). Otherwise, in 2018, Avatar Spamblogs and LN will probably have a surge of people, but almost nothing will happen here, because most of the new members will be banned.

[Eltu]

Unfortunately, I'm well familiar with this particular style of spamming at this point. Users sign up, actually do post valid points on the topic of the message board in question, then inject very specific question threads, and over the course of a longer period of time try to get people invested in the product/website/service they are promoting.

Here's a few good examples of similar tactics used on ToS by other users:
http://www.tree-of-souls.com/science...d_machine.html
http://www.tree-of-souls.com/science...new_ideas.html

The strategy is very easy to spot once it's known, though it still does amaze me how there's the dedication to legitimately post on the boards for quite a while before doing the subtle spam.

I do want to stress that trust and acceptance of newcomers is a huge priority for me (to the point where I wish to clarify that liking Avatar is by no means a requirement to participate on ToS), though there's a difference between trolling (which can be hard to confirm and gives a reason to give the benefit of the doubt) and spam (which generally is a very black and white issue).

[Na'vi a Kepekmì]

Yeah, I'm not 100% aware about that.
I thought it would be semi-obvious that something is spam.
But I wish to see people who are actually interested to this community, if not the movie.

[Dr. Na'vi]

Originally Posted by Na'vi a Kepekmì

Then we should just close down the registrations, because nobody trusts the newcomers anymore...

A lot of forum have these simple captcha questions, example:
add 7 and 5 to prove you are not a bot

Why not implement some harder questions that are related to this fandom?

Examples:
What was the working title for Avatar in 1995?
What was Jake's name in the 1995 script?
What is the name of the large planet that Pandora orbits?
What is the name of the ship that brought Jake to Pandora?
Who is the head of RDA on Pandora?
What is Trudy's surname?
What is the name of Neytiri's sister?
How do you say "thank you"/"yes"/"no"/"hello" in Na'vi?

Easy for legit fans, almost impossible for spammers (and trolls as well)

[Na'vi a Kepekmì]

Originally Posted by Dr. Na'vi

Easy for legit fans, almost impossible for spammers (and trolls as well)

Problem is that we don't know if they work in a network of spam advertisers.
They could easily look up the answers and still end up coming in.

[Eltu]

Originally Posted by Dr. Na'vi

Why not implement some harder questions that are related to this fandom?

For the exact reasons I mentioned above - I don't want Tree of Souls to be exclusive to Avatar fans, in a few senses:

• If you don't like the movie, but would be interested in discussing why in a respectful manner, you should be able to join.
• If you like the film, but isn't interested in being knowledgeable about it, that doesn't make you less of a fan.
• If you're not interested in Avatar whatsoever but would like to be a part of the community in itself (for instance, someone you know is a member), that should also be perfectly fine.

More to the point, what makes a "legit fan" shouldn't be a matter of trivia, or knowledge, or even enjoyment of the film - but rather simply feeling it is impactful in any manner whatsoever

[Dr. Na'vi]

Even if they do, we can come up with even more and harder questions, I am willing to help in this case.
All the effort just to display products/services to an audience <50 people? There has to be a tipping point somewhere.
With these questions in place, spamming can't be automated at least.
I'm sure the indian captcha slaves would rather skip 1 out of 1000 registration captchas than reading through some secluded fan wiki for 5-10 minutes.

[Dr. Na'vi]

Originally Posted by Eltu

More to the point, what makes a "legit fan" shouldn't be a matter of trivia, or knowledge, or even enjoyment of the film - but rather simply feeling it is impactful in any manner whatsoever

Of course it shouldn't, but I think it correlates to some degree.
My suggestion is a compromise unfortunately, but I think the positive effect heavily outweights the "false negatives", if there are any. If someone wants to register and doesn't care about the trivia: 5-10 minutes spent with google is a fair price for keeping the forum spam free IMO.

Also, existing members could just message you to approve a new account for a friend.

[Na'vi a Kepekmì]

Yeah, but I think it's hard to filter out the spam at the registration. The new spammers are patient and they can do anything to come in. It's not hard.

[Disco Scratch]

Originally Posted by Eltu

The strategy is very easy to spot once it's known, though it still does amaze me how there's the dedication to legitimately post on the boards for quite a while before doing the subtle spam.

What if they have extreme tactics like becoming a member and waiting for 10 years to gain everyone's trust then *BOOM* Viagra posts everywhere! "Do not be alarmed friends I'm just here to sell blue pills to fans of blue people and talk about our Lord and savior Jesus Christ." This should make us all suspicious. All we have to do is see who here doesn't seem like a true fan.

Originally Posted by Dr. Na'vi

A lot of forum have these simple captcha questions, example:
add 7 and 5 to prove you are not a bot

Why not implement some harder questions that are related to this fandom?

Examples:
What was the working title for Avatar in 1995?
What was Jake's name in the 1995 script?
What is the name of the large planet that Pandora orbits?
What is the name of the ship that brought Jake to Pandora?
Who is the head of RDA on Pandora?
What is Trudy's surname?
What is the name of Neytiri's sister?
How do you say "thank you"/"yes"/"no"/"hello" in Na'vi?

Easy for legit fans, almost impossible for spammers (and trolls as well)

I would literally not be able to sign up because I don't know any of that. On AF just to send a message to report a problem (like when my account mysteriously ended up deactivate and I couldn't login) I had to answer what year Jake arrived on Pandora. The future? I don't know what year AVATAR takes place!