Reviving Rabbit Hole

submitted by LarrySwinger2 from self.Internet

I'm working on a few solutions to the spam problem. I've asked m7 again to add more content admins, and I have one solution where we don't need m7's help but still become able to filter out spam. But ultimately, we need a responsive admin. The clownflare problem unto itself drives users away, regardless of how effectively we treat the spam. We have to fight spam in smarter ways, and that can only be done with a website we ourselves control. For that reason I'm reviving Rabbit Hole.

I'm tweaking settings and implementing features in the background before I'll more actively promote it, but the website is functional, you can post there now. The most significant change so far is that I've added the Colorblinds style again. It now looks beautiful. This one doesn't use the full width of the browser window, and its colour palette is in accord with the mysterious feel I was going for.

More announcements to follow!

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[–]CheeseWizard 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Are Rabbit Hole and Matrix any good? Haven't tried those yet.

[–]99p 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

no

[–]LarrySwinger2[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Matrix provides a familiar experience to Saidit users and has a responsive admin who listens to feature requests too. He codes on it actively. Rabbit Hole tries to get the most out of a traditional forum where threads can run for a longer time, people can subscribe to threads, and anonymous posting is enabled.

[–][deleted] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

im always happy to have another privacy respecting alternative forum. Thanks.

[–]zyxzevn 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I have set some subs to "restricted" and it does wonders against spam.
It means that posters need to become a "approved submitter" to post. Which is easy to handle with a small site.

I think that this concept would work better on personal level instead of moderator level.
That means that you can personally have "approve" or "disapprove" posters at different levels (from "great quality poster" to "spammer").
Additionally you can subscribe to certain admins or friends, and borrow what people they approved or disapproved.
A new user will automatically subscribe to admins.
You can set your own level of quality or spam, to see if you missed something interesting.

It is not a "democratic" system where spammers and trolls win, but a system of trust. Feel free to use that idea on your site too.

[–]LarrySwinger2[S] 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Thanks! It's a good idea although the concept for Rabbit Hole was specifically to make it as low-barrier as possible while still dealing with spam. This is why I went with PhpBB, because it provides a guest post feature. Instead I will give any trusted user moderator access with the emphatic request to use it only to deal with spam. Some mechanisms are in place to keep automatic posts to a minimum, and whatever does go through can easily be handled by the users.

[–]HugodeCrevellier 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (10 children)

Whatever happened to user/magnora7?

[–]iamonlyoneman 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

nothing, he just doesn't camp on the internet like some people.

[–]HugodeCrevellier 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Some supposed guy in charge of this forum is ... 'not on the internet' for 1/2 a month?

[–]iamonlyoneman 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

It's his, he can run it how he likes. If you don't like it, make your own.

[–]LarrySwinger2[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (6 children)

Nothing, he's just inactive and seems to have given up on dealing with spam effectively.

[–]HugodeCrevellier 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

Maybe, if it's an actual single person, there's some health issue involved.

[–]neolib 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Sort of related comment from m7: https://saidit.net/s/VaccineInjuries/comments/cpxp/rebranding_long_covid/15zfd

[–]LarrySwinger2[S] 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

No, it isn't that. When we complained about the clownflare he said it was a necessary measure against spam (even though it isn't the right tool for that, it's only effective at stopping DDOS attacks), and he's very cynical about the spam issue in general. My comment isn't based on his last comment being two weeks ago, which isn't even that long. We've been having this issue for years.

[–]Jiminy 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

He could be having health issues, is suffering, and that's why his personality changed. No proof just speculation.

[–]LarrySwinger2[S] 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I've seen him change over time. He just became cynical over how far these attacks go (and he certainly isn't the only one, see here for another account someone shared yesterday). And a major hit for this site was that the co-admin stepped off. He's much more knowledgeable than m7.

[–]Jiminy 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I can see why it's depressing and frustrating. It reminds me of running a small business in the real world, not spammers but you have to Deal with constant small problems 24/7, it can lead to burnout. You can get employees or partners but most people you can't really trust.