So sorry to the mods. But, and not to be mean/rude, but helpful, I read the rules through 3 times when I first joined MNFF and saw nothing about 'spam.' I didn't even know that was what it was, either. I could have missed it, but if it is not there please add it. There may be future members that will make the same mistake. Thank you, mods.
~Moony
As a mod, the most offending post to me was the one about making this story the third most reviewed, or something of the sort. There are authors that work very hard to produce quality pieces of work, and members who leave reviews on said work, who deserve to be listed as that honor.
I am NOT in any way suggesting that the fic in question is not a high quality story. I'm quite certain that it is in fact as another story the author was just recently selected to be featured. That is the purpose of these features, to bring quality authors and fictions to the spotlight, whereas they may not get that attention otherwise.
Now, hopefully, everyone is aware that this is unacceptable and will not be acceptable at any point in the future. Let's get back to the important parts of this site, namely writing, reading, and appreciating others' hard work.
Well said Phoenix,
Once again sorry to all of the mods for all of the hard work we put you through!
To err is human, to forgive divine.
My sincerest apologies for something that was neither intentional nor malicous. We value your efforts as Moderators and are truly sorry for the incident.
I include myself in the apologies. We just got used to mystery stories getting validated so soon, that we got desperate for the time for that chapter. And then some of us started some sort of a conversation. Sorry to all the mods. Never, ever meant any harm.
I absolutely agree! No website should have to deal with spam! I didn't know about this problem yet so thannks for telling us all! : ]
I certainly didn't know the situation had gotten this bad! It's good that it has been partially resloved. I agree with Moony in that we should have a warning about spam in the Terms of Service, right by flaming. ;) It's a very sensible idea.
There is a review on one of my stories that I'm fairly sure was accidental, as it looks to be one of those cases where the reviewer's computer was being slow, so they clicked "Submit" twice. Are these reviews considered spam? I know I should have asked to have one of the reviews deleted, but (joining Team Oblivious, here) I didn't realize spam was such an issue, and I didn't want to bother any moderators.
Can I join the Oblivious team? I had no idea any spamming was going on. I only review when I actually have something to say about the story. If there was a specific line that I loved or the story was exceptional, I'll review. Spam is never good (even when you don't know it exists) and I am glad the mods are doing something about it.
~KitKat
I imagine that the mods will add a bit to the ToS for those whose sense doesn't run to common. However, a lot of the people I'm seeing here have been around a while. Click on News Posts Archive. You won't have to dig very deep to find several warnings against spam in general and a very specific note in the 'Spring Cleaning' post about spammy reviews and the consequences of making them.
Wow, if I hadn't read that Mallory is looking to ANOTHER APPEAL on banning the HP Books in libraries, I would say that the people who did this to annoy people (and I mean going out of their way for that one and only purpose) were the stupidest people I've heard of today... long live MNFF!
I didn't know there was a spamming problem, either. I am glad you're telling us about this, and I defintely want to keep on the look-out for those types of reviews popping up with my own stories. I do have a question, though: what exactly constitutes spamming? Stuff like "great, update soon" or something else?
I have only one comment to add -- there are plenty of things to do while waiting for a story to be updated. Write a story. Read a different story. Watch a movie, watch TV, play sports. That arguement doesn't make any sense, unless you're confined to a computer that only accesses one story on MNFF and nothing else, which I highly doubt is the case.
"great update soon" doesn't count as spam. God knows I love my one-liners just as much as the next author. Accidentally posting the same review twice doesn't constitute spam either, because a) it wasn't intentional, and b) it still had something to do with the story.
The Review Page is just that: A page for reviews where you tell the author what you thought of the chapter, even ask about things you didn't get, give them suggestions to improve and concrit, squeee over the lovely writing style, or the wonderful characterization etc.
Holding chats and conversations that have nothing to do with the fic because you are too impatient for the next chapter to come out, however, is not reviewing, and therefore has no place on the review page. Go find some other fics while you wait. See if the same author has other fics you could read. Send them a PM or E-mail if you want to chat about other stuff or get yourself on AIM or some other messaging service.
The reason it's not in the "rules" is because it's expected that when you type something in the "review" section you're actually going to leave a review not chat about ranodm things to kill time and clog up the archive with things that have nothing to do with fanfic.
If you have, say, one review that got posted twice by accident you should probably contact a mod and get it deleted just to keep things tidy, but it's not the end of the world as we know it, but if it's people holding conversations on your review page, then yes, you have to tell a mod just like you would do if you got a flame and you can do that through E-mail or through PM on the forums.
Um. I'm really oblivious here. What do you guys consider 'review spam'? I'm really sorry if I did it.
I sencerely apologize to all who were affected by my (partially, I didn't see how many posts I could do [I don't think so]) review spam. I honestly didn't know that what I wrote was spam, but now that I look back, it's pretty obvious that it was.
I am sorry for making any Mods' lives harder and more irritating.
THIS WAS NOT NUWANDA'S FAULT!
I agree with Ms_Wolfsbane up there, and with all of my friends. I greatly apoligize for my part in the spamming. We did not realize that we were being inconsiderate to other authors and reviewers who wanted their story on the Top 10 Reviewed List. We simply thought that the story in question was great, and deserved to be noticed. We also did not realize all the extra work we were causing for the moderators. SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY! Thank you, mods, for not deleting the wonderful story or any of our accounts. My friends have said it before, and I will say it again, this was not the authors fault! He, like all of us, did not know that this was spamming and that it was against site rules. Again, I greatly apologize on the behalf of my friends and for my part. Mods, thanks for doing a wonderful job!
Having been at least peripherally involved in the "spamming", I'll apologize wholeheartedly to the mods.
I'll also observe that their own efficiency inadvertantly contributed to the situation. Said story had actually been validating every two days or so, which led to risen expectations. ;)
I am NOT complaining about that. Again, you all do a wonderful job, and Happy Holidays to you all!
a question- if we've spammed a story maybe once in the past, are we in danger of having accounts deleted? Because that would be bad... or is the rule going into place starting now?
"Authors who do not report such spamming promptly will have the spammed story deleted as well."
I don't think this is fair, because some authors don't check their reviews - (okay not many but...yeah)
Plus, it isn't the authors fault if their stpry is getting spammed. Well it might be, but...
Okay that is just my thoughts.
I'll shut up now :)