Please do not take this out on Nuw, he did not ask for our numerous comments.
As for them being spam, yes I will agree there were a lot of pointless reviews in there, but there was also conversation going on. We were getting to know each other and becoming great friends. Besides what else was there to do when a chapter is in the validation process for over 5 days now .... (please do not think I am trying to be mean/short, I am just making my opinions heard.) My previous account had active since these forums opened and I highly respect the mods and all those who work on them.
Doc
I appreciate that, Doc. I completely agree that most of the "reviews" that have been going on in my WIP over the past week have been spam. Honestly, it never even occured to me that it was causing a problem for MNFF. Had I realized, I would have immediately asked the parties involved to stop and if that didn't work I would have taken it to the Mods. I want to apologize profusely to the Mods and everyone else for any problems I or my readers have caused.
www.aim.com is your friend. It's free, easy to download and allows you to get to know people in private. Funny thing, though, in the time I'm certain it took several mods to delete thousands of spam reviews, several fics could have been modded, thus shortening the amount of time waiting for validation (or rejection, as the case may be.) Not that great writer/reader communication doesn't happen in reviews, but when the conversation moves beyond the fic, it's probably time to move the conversation beyond the fanfic site. *shrugs* This isn't an IM client, nor is it a blog site, it's rather disrespectful to treat it as such.
I think it's fair. I put a lot of time and thought into my reviews. As nice as review are, doubvle reviews are pointless, and so are reviews that have no relevance to the story. You're not complimenting the author as a person, you're complimenting them as an author when you write. If you have the same music tastes, then use AIM or email. If it's the same shipping tastes, and you're commenting on how well they pulled it off, then I think that priase aimed at helping the story is great.
No one likes spam, and those who work to up their review count with pointless reviews need to stop and read them over again.
Spam is our enemy. And I mean everyone's. Tonight I came home from work with 2 hours to give MNFF -- time I planned to spend in the queue, modding fics. Instead I spent the entire time deleting spam.
I'm not the only mod that spent their time and energy there tonight. And we aren't yet done. It makes me frustrated that the authors in my category will have to wait at least one more day for moderation, but that's the way it is. The ship has sailed on this incident.
No one was banned and the story wasn't deleted when it would have been much easier to have done so.
Everyone, please just try to use good judgement and don't abuse the site.
What about when a review accidentally gets posted more than once? I know on several of my fics, the reviews have ended up coming through twice or even thrice. And it's happened to me a couple of times that I try to review a story, but my computer has messed up and the same review ends up getting printed multiple times. It's extremely annoying, for sure, but it's not deliberate, and it isn't something that can always be prevented. Surely there won't be penalties for that?
Mistakes happen. Spam isn't a mistake. If you have a computer issue that posts reviews multiple times, why not just email a mod and let them know it happened? They post their contact issue and they're a great group of people.
"I'm not the only mod that spent their time and energy there tonight. And we aren't yet done. It makes me frustrated that the authors in my category will have to wait at least one more day for moderation, but that's the way it is. "
I see the point of your frustration, but also realize the numerous amounts of reviews occured because we were waiting for a story to validate for about 5 days and the mods were not working on spam issues at the time. It is not fair to place the waiting blame on that. Also, I find the title of this news topic a little offensive, we did not post alot to get reconition or to be famous. 90% of it was us talking and being friendly to each other.
Huge Mugglenet Fan
Doc
You will note, that we did not single out a fic when this news post was made. It was made personal by your responses. The fic that is currently being worked on is not the only offender on the site. Though it is the most extreme case I've ever seen.
We have never claimed to offer instantaneous validation. The wait on MNFF is 7-10 days ideally when things are going smoothly. When validation is faster, we're ahead of schedule. Moderation takes time. If you don't want to wait, there are a pleathora of other Harry Potter fiction sites that do not moderate their content.
I am not questioning the validation process, I love it that Mighty Mugglenet ensures its fans and readers with the best quality material on the web. I also love the posting guidlines mugglenet fanfics have set. I was only expressing my feelings/thoughts that all the blame is being put on this.
sincerly
, Doc
Just let it go, Doc. We messed up. We're sorry. Let's just learn from it, put it behind us, and move on, okay? I personally love MNFF and just want to see everything back to normal. The Mods do the very best they can.
I have lost an evening of modding deleteing hundreds of spam reviews many of which were made by you. If someone else is responsible for placing these reviews so that my evening was spent removing them, please identify them, otherwise I would suggest you step away from this argument as I'm still deleting your spam.
As someone who prefers to write well-thought out reviews, I appreciate this gesture. I have a few questions to ask, though:
How does a forum member report spam? Can they PM a mod on the forums or post a request in the Ask a Moderator thread?
Also, are one line reviews like "OMG great story (etc etc)" considered spam (on the main site)?
Send a link of the offensive reviews to your favourite mod. It's that simple ;) There's more than 6000 fics on this site. Mods can't police them all, but when responsible members notify them (via email, or PM) they can drastically cut down on the abuse.
As an author, I know I don't consider the one-liner SQUEE! reviews to be spam. They're heartening to see! I think the mods are more concerned with the people who are using the review function as a chat forum, or as a platform for espousing their beliefs rather than as a place to comment on the fic at hand.
One cannot love a site and not feel some stewardship for it. The mods are there to guide us along, but this is such a great community because we work together and follow the rules. I would propose that those who think it's acceptable to carry on 3000 plus review conversations do not love the site, nor the fic, as much as they love themselves.
Wow, I'm being Captain Oblivious here; I didn't even know there was a spam problem. If I ever get a lot of reviews from one person, it's either an accidental double post or someone reviewing all the chapters of a story. Condolences to the spammed parties. BOO SPAM!
I’m nearly as shocked at the enormity of the spamming problem as I am by the consistent complaints that stories are being validated more quickly than the seven to ten days authors are asked to expect. Perhaps if the validation process took the full ten days, spammers and complainers alike would have time to discover email and umodded sites.
I'm with captain oblivious up there^. I had no idea any of this was going on. But then again i don't really do all that much reviewing except when i absolutly love a story, so i guess its my own fault that i know nothing. you know what? i think i'm just gonna shut up now.
We should make an Obvlious team. I never saw this coming. O.o
On the other hand, if the Mods weren't so very serious about this, it would almost be funny. 101 Ways to Aggrevate a MNFF Mod ... only it probably wouldn't be validated since it doesn't directly have anything to do with the Potterverse.
*Note: I am under the influence of Nyquil and probably shouldn't be allowed near a keyboard. Taking Busheloflaughs advise and shutting up now*
I think that people should definitely consider the fact that just as they go away to their day and live their lives, fully expecting to come back and see their chapter validated shoul aslo consider that these mods are human. Thye have jobs. Some sleep while you're awake. No mod is there at your every beck and call, and they have issues in real life, too. Complaining about the queue not going fast enough isn't going to speed it up, and spamming on review lists to make chat with the author while it's being validated isn't going to really make it go any faster. Yes, beautiful relationships have been formed on MNFF, but the review space is for reviewing the story, not the author.
How does one go about reporting this sort of thing?