Policy on spam like threads in com cafe

[KiwiNZ]

"tiny article" ...it was a full page and few adds
It was tech related
It was posted once , it was not flooded
It did not use a zillion smilies , large font or animated text

It was a simple post to draw attention to an article of interest.

[Bodsda]

People find interesting articles, and want to get other people's opinions on them. They link to them, and then people read the link and respond to the thread. Why is that bad? It's starting conversations.

No it isn't. It is waiting for someone else to start a conversation. He might as well have not bothered with a link and just written

What are your opinions on the Windows malware online banking articles?

Hell, that is even more convenient then the link. At least I have some idea of what the thread is about before I attempt to wade through countless ads.

[Bodsda]

"tiny article" ...it was a full page and few adds
It was tech related
It was posted once , it was not flooded
It did not use a zillion smilies , large font or animated text

It was a simple post to draw attention to an article of interest.

Tech related does not mean it should be on the forums. It is in no way related to open source and serves little purpose other then to incite more anti windows comments

[KiwiNZ]

Tech related does not mean it should be on the forums. It is in no way related to open source and serves little purpose other then to incite more anti windows comments

Did you even read the article ?

Just in case here is the last paragraph " If you've never used a Live CD and are interested in learning how, or if you just want to take a Linux operating system for a test drive, check out my tutorial on this topic here."

[Bodsda]

Did you even read the article ?

Just in case here is the last paragraph " If you've never used a Live CD and are interested in learning how, or if you just want to take a Linux operating system for a test drive, check out my tutorial on this topic here."

So he mentions the word Linux and suddenly it is vital to open source? It is less related then the Internet censorship scare we had a while back, which incidentally was closed and the objectors silenced/ignored/overruled - again

[KiwiNZ]

So he mentions the word Linux and suddenly it is vital to open source? It is less related then the Internet censorship scare we had a while back, which incidentally was closed and the objectors silenced

Here is two other paragraphs from the article

"
In direct response to this series reported and published by Security Fix, the SANS Technology Institute, a security research and education organization, challenged its students with creating a white paper to determine the most effective methods for small and mid-sized businesses to mitigate the threat from these types of attacks. Their conclusion? While there are multiple layers that of protection that businesses and banks could put in place, the cheapest and most foolproof solution is to use a read-only, bootable operating system, such as Knoppix, or Ubuntu. See the SANS report here (PDF).
Also known as "Live CDs," these are generally free, Linux-based operating systems that one can download and burn to a CD-Rom. The beauty of Live CD distributions is that they can be used to turn a Windows-based PC temporarily into a Linux computer, as Live CDs allow the user to boot into a Linux operating system without installing anything to the hard drive. Programs on a LiveCD are loaded into system memory, and any changes - such as browsing history or other activity -- are compeltely wiped away after the machine is shut down. To return to Windows, simply remove the Live CD from the drive and reboot."




Clearly you have not read the article before posting here and reporting the thread as spam.

[Bodsda]

Here is two other paragraphs from the article

"
In direct response to this series reported and published by Security Fix, the SANS Technology Institute, a security research and education organization, challenged its students with creating a white paper to determine the most effective methods for small and mid-sized businesses to mitigate the threat from these types of attacks. Their conclusion? While there are multiple layers that of protection that businesses and banks could put in place, the cheapest and most foolproof solution is to use a read-only, bootable operating system, such as Knoppix, or Ubuntu. See the SANS report here (PDF).
Also known as "Live CDs," these are generally free, Linux-based operating systems that one can download and burn to a CD-Rom. The beauty of Live CD distributions is that they can be used to turn a Windows-based PC temporarily into a Linux computer, as Live CDs allow the user to boot into a Linux operating system without installing anything to the hard drive. Programs on a LiveCD are loaded into system memory, and any changes - such as browsing history or other activity -- are compeltely wiped away after the machine is shut down. To return to Windows, simply remove the Live CD from the drive and reboot."




Clearly you have not read the article before posting here and reporting the thread as spam.

Clearly you have selectively read the parts of this thread that back up your opinion and dismissed any thoughts of compromise long before this discussion became annoying

[KiwiNZ]

Clearly you have selectively read the parts of this thread that back up your opinion and dismissed any thoughts of compromise long before this discussion became annoying

I have not.

What I have tried to point out that as staff we look at the full picture before making a decision.

[Bodsda]

I have not.

What I have tried to point out that as staff we look at the full picture before making a decision.

As far as I was concerned this thread ended on post #2 -- A helpful post informing what to do and what would happen. By post #4 I was told that there was basically no point in reporting these threads as you have no intention of acting upon them.

Threads with nothing more then a link are annoying and needless. Even a copy & paste would have been more useful

[lisati]

Now now children! Do I detect a risk of a flame war here (it hasn't quite got that far yet)? How boring things would be if we all had identical interests and expectations!

What I call spam isn't quite the same as what others call spam, which is why many email filters do some kind of statistical analysis based on what they have been taught. My definition of spam is closer to the more generic term "junk" mail, which can refer to "any old rubbish from people you don't know", than, say, Spamcop's definition, which appears to be based on the idea of "unsolicited commercial email".