Reduce threat from malicious posters

[Capricori]

I don't know how many malicious posts have appeared recently featuring a certain command, but if the problem is that bad, would it be possible to issue trusted members of the forums with a 'semi-moderator' status, that would allow them to move malicious posts/threads to the Jail, until a full moderator could take further action?
The mods are doing a great job of catching this, and my idea would probably be difficult to implement (who do you trust? how much power do you give them?), but if it saves one person wiping their hard drive... it has to be worth discussing, at least? :)

I have another idea to stop being accidentally destroying stuff, using aliases, but that's an OS matter, so I'll post it in the Hardy Heron ideas forum :)

Regards,
Capricori

[Tomosaur]

It would be entirely possible to modify the rm command to catch certain dangerous removals (for example, catching the '/') but that kind of negates the point of the -f option. Aliases wouldn't be a terrible idea - but again, people would possibly need to update scripts and such.

Education is really the only way to solve the problem, and unfortunately, only the users at risk can decide to educate themselves if they want to.

[PriceChild]

Erm... so you think we need more moderators?

[p_quarles]

it has to be worth discussing, at least? :)
Based on the preliminary forum council agenda for next month, it looks like a similar idea is already planned for discussion.

[PriceChild]

Based on the preliminary forum council agenda for next month, it looks like a similar idea is already planned for discussion.linky: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ForumCouncilAgenda

[Capricori]

Erm... so you think we need more moderators?

Sorry, I didn't mean to cause offence..
As I say, the mods are doing a great job, but I imagine it's a lot of work.
I saw a malicious thread earlier that had half a dozen replies warning people not to run the command, and this was within a couple of minutes of the original post.
There's no need for more mods, I'm just talking about sharing the load a little? :)
Again, sorry for any offence I may have caused.
Regards.

[PriceChild]

No no, sorry I didn't convey my opinion well.

I was not meaning to sound angry... I'm just thinking that if certain members had permissions to move threads, then they would be moderators?

[Capricori]

I'm just thinking that if certain members had permissions to move threads, then they would be moderators?

I clearly haven't thought out the finer points of this idea before posting :)
My line of thought was - giving a large number of 'trusted' users the ability to move threads would mean that malicious threads could be moved quicker. It would still require the attention of a moderator, but at least the thread would be out of public view until a moderator could take more permanent action.
I suppose they would be semi-moderators, able to keep the place friendly, but without the power to ban people, or make huge changes to the forums etc. Sort of like a caretaker :)

[Nano Geek]

I clearly haven't thought out the finer points of this idea before posting :)
My line of thought was - giving a large number of 'trusted' users the ability to move threads would mean that malicious threads could be moved quicker. It would still require the attention of a moderator, but at least the thread would be out of public view until a moderator could take more permanent action.
I suppose they would be semi-moderators, able to keep the place friendly, but without the power to ban people, or make huge changes to the forums etc. Sort of like a caretaker :)+1

[bapoumba]

To be able to move a thread, or edit/delete a post, you have to have mod privilege in the sub-forum. For ex, LoCo mods can move/edit/delete in their own sub-forum.

I'm not 100% sure regarding the way permissions are set up, and if you can technically give partial mod rights. The threads have popped up about anywhere, so these rights should be forums wide.

I am not sure this would make much sense to have partial and full mods, as the same amount of trust would be required.

[Nano Geek]

To be able to move a thread, or edit/delete a post, you have to have mod privilege in the sub-forum. For ex, LoCo mods can move/edit/delete in their own sub-forum.

I'm not 100% sure regarding the way permissions are set up, and if you can technically give partial mod rights. The threads have popped up about anywhere, so these rights should be forums wide.

I am not sure this would make much sense to have partial and full mods, as the same amount of trust would be required.But if it can be done, it might be interesting to have "junior moderators." A few members who have been around for awhile and who have behaved themselves well. They could have the ability to edit, but not delete posts, and possibly put a user on restriction until a real mod can look into it.

There's the chance that it would be misused, but I think it would be good experience for the jr. moderators, and it would (hopefully) relieve some of the stress from the main moderators.

[PriceChild]

I am not sure this would make much sense to have partial and full mods, as the same amount of trust would be required.
But if it can be done, it might be interesting to have "junior moderators."
As a moderator, I've always really really liked the way the staff are set up here.

When you become a mod... you're given access to the entire board(1) and let loose so to speak. You feel trusted and there is no impression of "we're watching you" from the higher up staff, pressuring you.

I haven't been here long enough, but I'm pretty sure there used to be a hierarchy of mods, standard ones and super ones which surprisingly didn't end well.

If you give mods the ability to "move" threads you're giving them the ability to effectively wipe the entire board clean, (probably requiring a database restore for the hassle it would mean doing it manually, but I've never tried) and so why not give them the ability to ban as well if you trust them... then that's basically everything.

I believe the staff are doing an excellent job, all post reports are normally seen within 30 minutes in my experience (often in single figures) and dealt with.

More staff must be a good thing, and I'm sure we'll be looking for some fresh blood with the run up to the Hardy LTS.

(1) There are a few exceptions such as frafu on accessibility discussions and 23meg/maniac musician on a couple of the dev forums.

[Capricori]

Ok, I think my idea may be the kind that is good in theory, but not so good in reality. :)
It's true that the existing mods are doing a great job. These forums are the best I've seen, in terms of dealing with spam and malicious posting.
I'm sure the malicious posting problem will die out when people realise that their posts won't be up long enough to cause real damage.
Thank you for humouring my idea at least :)
Regards.

[Tomosaur]

How about a 'karma' system - kind of like the little digg buttons on Digg comments. If a person makes a bad post, then people can voice their disapproval, and, after a certain threshold has been reached, that post is then hidden.

People should be able to view the comment if they want to - but they should have to open it by clicking a button or something like that. It would be even better if users, when 'digging down' a post, had to give a reason, which could be one of several presets, for example:

'Malicious advice',
'Bad advice'
'Derogatory comments'
'Spam'
'Off topic'

and so on. Whichever reason most people select when digging down, would show up on the hidden post's placeholder - something like 'This post has been hidden - marked as <reason>. Please click here to view the comment'.

I don't know if this would be possible to implement on the current forum software, but I think it could help the situation, and would drive people to be more considerate if they have the risk of their comments being hidden away. Of course, you just have to look at Digg to see that such a system itself is open to abuse, but I think the way Digg has implemented it is terrible anyway. The thumbs up / thumbs down icons kind of give the idea that they're there in a 'I love this comment, I don't love this comment' sense, rather than 'This comment is dangerous / bad for some reason, it should be hidden'.

[Nano Geek]

How about a 'karma' system - kind of like the little digg buttons on Digg comments. If a person makes a bad post, then people can voice their disapproval, and, after a certain threshold has been reached, that post is then hidden.

People should be able to view the comment if they want to - but they should have to open it by clicking a button or something like that. It would be even better if users, when 'digging down' a post, had to give a reason, which could be one of several presets, for example:

'Malicious advice',
'Bad advice'
'Derogatory comments'
'Spam'
'Off topic'

and so on. Whichever reason most people select when digging down, would show up on the hidden post's placeholder - something like 'This post has been hidden - marked as <reason>. Please click here to view the comment'.

I don't know if this would be possible to implement on the current forum software, but I think it could help the situation, and would drive people to be more considerate if they have the risk of their comments being hidden away. Of course, you just have to look at Digg to see that such a system itself is open to abuse, but I think the way Digg has implemented it is terrible anyway. The thumbs up / thumbs down icons kind of give the idea that they're there in a 'I love this comment, I don't love this comment' sense, rather than 'This comment is dangerous / bad for some reason, it should be hidden'.I think I heard that something like this was implemented very early on in these forums, but it was misused and was eventually turned off.

[PriceChild]

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ForumCouncilAgenda

[Tomosaur]

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ForumCouncilAgenda

Ah right, cool :)

[evilregis]

A reputation or rating system is exactly what I logged in to suggest when I saw the announcement about malicious commands being posted around the board.

It's nice to see that on the agenda already and that the forum is acting quickly on it.

Good work, all.