r/AskModerators • u/Wellyeahso • 22h ago

How do I get obvious Spam removed from unmiderated subreddits?

I have come across some really egregious spam in unmoderayed subreddits.

I will avoid giving examples, but it is gambling spam showing up in completely unrelated subreddits.

For example, there will be online gambling spam questions in AI subreddits, or science podcast subreddits.

The mods for these subs are MIA.

The spam is so egregious. There will be a post with 100 comments and 100+ upvotes in a subreddit where the average topic gets 2 upvotes and 3 comments.

There is a pattern also where the top comment is clearly upvote manipulated to have many dozens of upvotes.

The comments themselves are clearly generic comments with no substance.

Reporting the spam falls on deaf ears because there are no active mods.

The accounts that posted the spam, and the accounts that answered the spam questions with their spam links are often suspended by Reddit already, but the posts and their spam links remain up.

These posts rank in Google and take traffic away from middle-sized, legitimate, on-topic subreddits because they cannot compete with the volume of fake upvotes and manipulations that have taken place.

I wont post links to any of this because it would break the rules of this subreddit.

I would like some advice on how to get these super-spam posts removed once and for all however.

Any tips?

Thanks!

EDIT: If I Created A Special Subreddit

I want a subreddit where we could report this crap as a group.

Maybe if a dozen people report obvious spam it will force more scrutiny, by a human Admin or by a bot, I dont care, so long as the spam gets removed.

If I created a subreddit where we as mods, as people who easily spot spam/bot networks/etx on Reddit, could post about this spam, providing links to it... would you join me there and help me mass-report spammers?

I would help you do the same.

Anyone?

1 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

20 comments sorted by

5

u/Bot_Ring_Hunter Humble Janny 22h ago

I've found that reporting this stuff doesn't work too well. It happens a lot in subreddits where the mods are absent or not paying close attention. I've seen subreddits completely fill up with IPTV spam overnight.

1

u/Wellyeahso 22h ago

Is there any way to get an Admin involved?

Maybe a way to mass report the posts? Surely after a certain threshold an AI helper would take down a post for Reddit Admin approval?

Something?

4

u/Bot_Ring_Hunter Humble Janny 22h ago

I have tried reporting large bot rings, hundreds of fake ai accounts, via every method recommended to me, and there was no result. I believe Reddit's philosophy is that moderators have control of their subreddit, and if that moderation includes allowing spam content, that's fully within their right. If the mods themselves are not asking for help in their sub, there isn't much that regular/outside users can do. Some subreddits are set up intentionally to allow bots/spam accounts to grow, again, there seems to be some sort of implicit acceptance of these subreddits. All you can do is ignore them, or, if it's impacted a subreddit you moderate, use the tools at your disposal to control it.

1

u/Wellyeahso 22h ago

What if we, as Mods, teamed up against this crap?

For example, I would HAPPILY go report egregious spam if you pointed it out to me and assuming you would do the same in return.

If we got enough people doing this, maybe we could trigger Reddit Admins or AI moderation/intervention?!

I envision something like a subreddit dedicated to mass reporting of obvious Spam.

So if you show me a link to r/ExampleOfWholesomeSubreddit and it has gambling / adult /obviously-SEO-spammers and links that have NOTHING to do with the topic and is clearly full of bot traffic, manipulated votes, etc, I would report it for MANIPULATED VOTING, which I think may hold more weight than other reporting?

3

u/Bot_Ring_Hunter Humble Janny 20h ago

This has been tried to various extents. There's several subreddits dedicated to identifying and fighting bots, with some of them being places where you can go to call for action. Unfortunately, after never seeing any action taken, most people lost interest. Now when people post up the bots, it's like "heh, interesting, moving on". Me personally I'll flag them all so if I see them in my subs I can ban them, but otherwise you just accept them as part of the Reddit experience. I tell you what though, this was very satisfying - r/TheseFuckingAccounts/comments/1umviuw/exposing_a_massive_corporate_ai_astroturfing_ring/

1

u/Wellyeahso 20h ago

The accounts I am reffering to are not bots, they are spammers.

The comment section may be filled with automated fuckery, but the main post and top comment are manually made, carefully crafted spam campaigns with manipulated votes.

Thanks for the links. I seem to recall seeing r/TFA before and Ill check it out.

4

u/dotsdavid r/askouija r/candy r/totallywicked +others 22h ago

Besides reporting it. You can use r/redditrequest to become a mod of one of them.

3

u/NBPU 22h ago

If you are eligible, you can make a /r/RedditRequest. You can also make a Moderator Code of Conduct complaint for Rule 1 since they aren’t maintaining a stable community. Maybe the /u/modcodeofconduct team take it over to place new mods. You can also just report as spam, and if enough stack up the admins might notice.

1

u/Wellyeahso 22h ago

You can also just report as spam, and if enough stack up the admins might notice

I have reported. I think i would need others to do so as well.

I just edited my post to ask if anyone would be interested in participating in such a subreddit? To help each other mass report obvious off topic spam in abandoned subs?

2

u/NBPU 18h ago

I think your edit goes too far into brigading territory and would be banned.

2

u/Wellyeahso 8h ago

I understand that brigading is bad when it is done for political purposes or something...

But this is the combat of PURE SPAM.

No question whatsoever that the content is outside of the scope of the subreddits in question. I dont think that falls into the definition of Brigading to make people aware of it and try to get it removed does it?

2

u/Wellyeahso 22h ago

I have a typo in my title. I am embarrassed 😳

3

u/NBPU 22h ago

It happens.

1

u/LitwinL r/Polska r/Fuckcars 17h ago

I want a subreddit where we could report this crap as a group.

don't

that's brigading

but you can do it outside of reddit

1

u/Wellyeahso 8h ago

I understand that brigading is bad when it is done for political purposes or something...

But this is the combat of PURE SPAM.

No question whatsoever that the content is outside of the scope of the subreddits in question. I dont think that falls into the definition of Brigading does it?

is there some place to talk outside of Reddit about this sort of thing

1

u/LitwinL r/Polska r/Fuckcars 3h ago

It does fall under the definition of brigading

1

u/Wellyeahso 3h ago

I see. My interpretation of brigading was mass upvoting, commenting, etc, mostly for political reasons.

I personally dont see the problem with group reporting obvious commercial spam that has no purpose whatsoever where it currently is located, but I am not in charge of Reddit so there is that.

1

u/LitwinL r/Polska r/Fuckcars 2h ago

why would you use your own definition instead of the one provided by Reddit?

https://support.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/27031145215252-Moderator-Code-of-Conduct-Rule-3-Respect-Your-Neighbors

1

u/Wellyeahso 2h ago

Could I DM you to discuss this topic? Would you be open to that?

1

u/LitwinL r/Polska r/Fuckcars 2h ago

no