Spammers

[Josh]

Just an FYI that we have had a bunch of people spamming the website lately. If you get any unsolicited advertisements or messages feel free to email [email protected] and we'll do our best to look into it.

Just for the record, the people sending the messages had previously been banned from this site. Recently we noticed a bunch of new accounts that had been buying a LOT of livestock and dry goods, way more than would fit in their tanks. We found out that these people were buying things here and reselling them online (and in one case in their store). Items from the freebie threads and products sold at a huge discount were then marked up and resold on Ebay, Craigslist, and in a retail store.

Personally I feel that this defies the entire purpose of this site and will gladly drop the hammer on people that egregiously try to take advantage of the generosity of our members.

-Josh

 

[NYreefNoob]

:smash: get em

 

[Awibrandy]

I'll definitely let you know!

 

[prattreef]

I might add, that I would be very wary of other boards where their own moderators gleefully and openly boast about being repeatedly banned from other sites and about how crafty they are at getting around those bans and rules. Kinda sets a nice tone of trustworthiness and class don't ya think?

 

[sakura51707]

i get spam mail, unsolicited messages all the time sent to my PERSONAL email account. i just either 1-ignore it or 2-check it out

secondly, members from this site are getting banned because they joined another website and decided to bad-mouth this one?! but it's okay to keep members or allow them to re-join under a different user name and moderators on this board that have constantly harassed, made personal threats and violent attack on other members which BLATANTLY BREAKS the rules on this site. AND may i add that all of these incidents have been brought to the attention of the entire administration yet NOTHING was done...that sets a nice tone of trustworthiness and class, don't ya think?

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

If people join after being banned and members here know about it please feel free to let us know and we will take the proper action necessary. If we don't know we can't help. If you receive spam please let us know and we can also take the proper action. Without your help we can't help you.

People are not banned here for being members of other sites. I belong to about 10 other reefing forums as well as numerous other non reefing forums and have never been banned from here. As Josh said people were banned because they were spamming other members here.

The person who threatened you was banned quite some time ago, iif they have rejoined under a new name please let us know who they are.

 

[sakura51707]

1-i, too, am a member on numerous reefing and non-reefing sites. i understand that you are trying to protect the members on this site from receiving spam mail and i fully support that decision. however i know for a fact and have proof that there are certain people with authority asking members why they are moderators on another site, if they plan on continuing holding that position, etc. how is this anybody's business if it has absolutely no relevance to MR?! and if josh has all of our best interest at heart, then why are people who have blatantly taken advantage of the generosity of our members STILL here?! i.e. someone re-selling someone's tank for $200 more than the original price after one week of being in their possession, a store owner buying everything and fully admitting to the fact that he resells these items on one of the for sale thread (excuse me only dry goods, not livestock...right!), etc.

2-can you please answer my question in regards to a certain moderator?
3-i honestly DO NOT want to point fingers as to which member came back under a different user name after being banned for making a violent threat and breaking the rules. BUT we all know who it is

 

[CHEMCHEF]

1-i, too, am a member on numerous reefing and non-reefing sites. i understand that you are trying to protect the members on this site from receiving spam mail and i fully support that decision. however i know for a fact and have proof that there are certain people with authority asking members why they are moderators on another site, if they plan on continuing holding that position, etc. how is this anybody's business if it has absolutely no relevance to MR?! and if josh has all of our best interest at heart, then why aree people who have blatantly taken advantage of the generosity of our members STILL here?! i.e. someone re-selling someone's tank for $200 more than the original price after one week of being in their possession, a store owner buying everything and fully admitting to the fact that resells these items on one of the for sale thread, etc.

2-can you please answer my question in regards to a certain moderator?
3-i honestly DO NOT want to point fingers as to which member came back under a different user name after being banned for making a violent threat and breaking the rules. BUT we all know who it is

I Dont:irked:---- NOBODY Should be threataning you or anybody here.

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

I agree ChemChef, having been threatened numerous times I agree. However if I were really scared of those threats I would take the proper action with the proper agency and be done with it.

 

[CHEMCHEF]

I agree ChemChef, having been threatened numerous times I agree. However if I were really scared of those threats I would take the proper action with the proper agency and be done with it.

Hard to argue with logic Chief. Your Right. I guess that is why you do what you do for a living and I do what I do.

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

I would also suggest they go to your resturaunt then PM you to give them the "Special Sauce" :lol2:

Sorry just lightening the mood a bit

 

[Josh]

however i know for a fact and have proof that there are certain people with authority asking members why they are moderators on another site, if they plan on continuing holding that position, etc. how is this anybody's business if it has absolutely no relevance to MR?!

It has absolutely no relevance. If you want to start a website go for it (my only warning is that it is usually not worth the headaches). I don't think anyone cares if you are a moderator on another site, in fact, if you go to MACNA you will definitely find me at the bar with all of the other site moderators commiserating on our collective problems.

The point is that there were people who instead of saying, "hey, here is a site I found" decided to blast it out in PMs and RBs (full of language much like one of those Male Enhancement emails we all get, it looked like it was written by a 3 year old). It just so happened that all of the people who were sending these messages were site admins (2 of them using fake accounts).

Coincidence? No. But be sure that they were banned for spamming, not their affiliation.

 

[sakura51707]

I Dont:irked:---- NOBODY Should be threataning you or anybody here.

Thank you Chemchef!
Again I WILL NOT point fingers at anyone but does this ring a bell "i will take the bottom of a beer bottle and smack your teeth in with it" ?!?!

Aside from this incident one of the moderators harassed me for 3 hours. When this incident happened, originally, I took the matter up with Josh and all the other moderators PRIVATELY via emails and private messages. NOW after no resolution even though i was promised to be kept up to date I am demanding an answer and if need be i will post all the remarks and let me be judged by my peers on this site

 

[sakura51707]

On a side note...
If I were truly scared by those childish threats I would have called and taken the matter up with the proper authorities. MY point was that the rules apply to everybody. Therefore if someone breaks the rules they should be banned. Not come back under a different username because that just kind of defeats the purpose..Just my opinion.

And I thought PMs (private messages) and RBs were actually PRIVATE and meant for the eyes of the author and the intended recipient...MY BAD!

 

[Josh]

On a side note...
If I were truly scared by those childish threats I would have called and taken the matter up with the proper authorities. MY point was that the rules apply to everybody. Therefore if someone breaks the rules they should be banned. Not come back under a different username because that just kind of defeats the purpose..Just my opinion.

And I thought PMs (private messages) and RBs were actually PRIVATE and meant for the eyes of the author and the intended recipient...MY BAD!

This is about SPAM, not your own personal problem with someone, stop taking the discussion off course.

It is near impossible to read PMs. As an FYI, the system has no built in method to read them, so the only way to do it is to go straight into the database and look at the data in raw format. I won't say that we never do it, there are times when people are doing things that may be illegal and we have no problem looking at PMs to verify that. If you spam someone, the system figures it out automatically and makes it pretty easy to determine who was doing it.

 

[sakura51707]

"The point is that there were people who instead of saying, "hey, here is a site I found" decided to blast it out in PMs and RBs (full of language much like one of those Male Enhancement emails we all get, it looked like it was written by a 3 year old). It just so happened that all of the people who were sending these messages were site admins (2 of them using fake accounts)."

15 minutes later......

"It is near impossible to read PMs. As an FYI, the system has no built in method to read them, so the only way to do it is to go straight into the database and look at the data in raw format. I won't say that we never do it, there are times when people are doing things that may be illegal and we have no problem looking at PMs to verify that. If you spam someone, the system figures it out automatically and makes it pretty easy to determine who was doing it."

hmmm....i'm confused.

 

[sakura51707]

Yes Chairman Meow!
I shall stay on topic and NOT make this a personal matter. I was merely using situations to support my argument which is this, the rules should be followed and applied to EVERYBODY!! If spamming is against the rules and people were banned for it...FINE. But so should people who go against the rules and make threats and harass others. That is MY point....THE END

 

[Josh]

hmmm....i'm confused.

What is confusing about it?

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

On occasion concerned members forward spam received via PM to the moderators with a little note of complaint.

 

[Josh]

Yes Chairman Meow!

I love Chairman Meow, I have him on my refrigerator, however I like the Obey sign a bit better: