Edit Spam Excess

[TempleBuilder]

Yes, multiple private messages are now being deleted from my inbox and replaced with empty space with no characters.
This is out of control.

It's super weird, I've never seen this before and I use private message a lot.

[Dataweaver]

Ugh. I just edited a post to change “is” to “of”, and it got tagged as spam. Probably because I had posted just before I edited.

[Rhywbeth]

Well, it's been what, five months? Still happening! All the little mistakes I make in my posts drive me neurotic because I can either leave them there or run the risk of editing and basically getting left out of a conversation I tried to join in.

Why is editing getting flagged anyway, I didn't think bots even edit posts.

[Cauthon]

Why is editing getting flagged anyway, I didn't think bots even edit posts.

My guess is that people can keep arguing via edits even after a discussion has theoretically been shut down, and this is to limit that? But even that's kinda me grasping at straws.

[ArcaneArts]

The error code is the same for an edit post spam as it is multiple posts in row not getting stopped by the counter, so there's that.

[Heavy Arms]

In the eternal arms race of spam vs moderation, there are spam bots out there that are designed to make normal-ish looking posts for a bit, and then go back and edit in spam if they aren't caught fast enough. So edit spam is actually a thing moderator tools have to address. From what I've heard from moderators elsewhere this wasn't a big problem for a while because the spam bots just weren't good enough to get around basic automated moderation, but the uptick in AI writing has made it much harder for automated systems to spot these things. Basically, spam bots have gotten a lot better in the past few years at getting around the first layers of "I am not a robot" defenses.

It's not as big of a problem on forums, but a lot of people that make anti-spam tech for moderators aren't so platform specific.

[Asmodai]

Sigh. If you see something you wrote wrong, just don't edit. It's just gonna mess your post up unnecessarily

[Saur Ops Specialist]

Sigh. If you see something you wrote wrong, just don't edit. It's just gonna mess your post up unnecessarily

Well, you could just post, shrug, come back to it later, and then edit it.

[Asmodai]

Of course, but that's not my first impulse. And I may as well remind others of that.

[Ragged Robin]

Well, you could just post, shrug, come back to it later, and then edit it.

I just did that and it locked my post. >(

[Saur Ops Specialist]

I just did that and it locked my post. >(

How much later? I had to wait a few hours. Which is kind of odd, since that doesn't seem like it would rule out spam or the like after someone figures out the window.

[Ragged Robin]

How much later? I had to wait a few hours. Which is kind of odd, since that doesn't seem like it would rule out spam or the like after someone figures out the window.

About 20 minutes

[Saur Ops Specialist]

About 20 minutes

If I were guessing, I'd assume at least 30 minutes to an hour, minimum.

[voidshaper]

I've started a new topic in the Wraith sub-forum - no edits, no links, no bad words - and it got instantly flagged as spam.

Either I have inadvertently tripped some word filter, or the adaptive thingy is getting worse, not better.

I think it is possible to set a post threshold (minimum number of posts) to exclude long time users from the filter in BB 5, would that be an option?

[TempleBuilder]

Uh, hey. Some of my posts in the law and ethics thread seem to be stuck in unapproved purgatory. Is there any chance someone can reapprove them?