It’s a fairly regular occurrence to see a post from someone who is clearly a bored student home for the summer. There are also obvious fake posters who will link a website because they want you to buy something. I try to flag these posters. It’s a waste of everyone’s time to respond to bogus posts, and it means that people with genuine questions are missing opportunities to get the help they seek.
Might be useful to spot these people before they fool well-meaning posters into responding. I myself have been drawn into several bogus threads in the last few days. Here are some tips to spot frauds on CC:
The poster has two accounts and answers questions on the other account’s thread. Or the poster is careless and responds to other threads with the same information they have already provided under the username of the alternative account. If the two user names are similar, it’s not always easy to catch.
The poster is already banned, but makes a new account. These people can be spotted by clearly having a lot of knowledge about whatever topics they were involved with before being banned. Regular posters have the best chance of noticing this.
Similarly, a new poster will effectively say the same things that the previously banned poster also said. Hard to spot.
A brand new poster joins and immediately begins posting prolifically on many unrelated threads in many different fora. The poster will probably ask many questions in order to generate responses, and may give many complimentary responses. This is not always a fake poster, but it is suspicious.
A poster misrepresents him/herself. They claim to be a parent, for example, but are, in fact, a student. They usually give themselves away somewhere in the thread.
You can sometimes spot a previously banned poster just from their writing style. We had a poster here who I could recognize without even looking at his screen name. If he ever came back, I’d know him in an instant simply from the way he writes.
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
To be clear on concept, the thread is asking for tips on how to identify them. This is not a thread for naming said posters, directly or indirectly, or discussing individual threads that may have been started by these posters.
As always, if you suspect a poster as being someone other than what they claim, flag a post and let a moderator review.
I think the mods can spot a previously banned poster by virtue of their IP address/geographical location, especially if a member has flagged them to the mods’ attention.
Obvious spammers don’t last long either. Posters who are here just to pull our legs might be a little more tough to spot, but they usually do eventually reveal themselves. The way this site is moderated, my impression is that it doesn’t happen all that often. Admittedly, however, I really only visit the cafe and the Parents Forum. Student centered forums may see a little more rowdiness that I’m not aware of.
@Nrdsb4 , I am sure the mods can easily spot bogus posters, but remember they are volunteers and don’t look at everything that’s posted. That’s why it’s important to flag posts.
I have flagged many posts over the years and I see posts from possibly bogus posters almost everyday. Especially in the summer, when students have more time on their hands.
Imo, it’s very hard for most adults to willingly write like kids. It takes a lot of awareness of kid styles, the strengths and weaknesses. It would be a shame to assume some bright kids are really adults. But the fakers usually slip up somewhere.
And I’m not sure a quick flag is best. Imo, it asks a mod to review when there may not yet be breadcrumbs to follow.
Most of all, I don’t want us to get paranoid that there are fakers under every bridge. I had that reaction recently. There are enough legit posters who don’t know what they’re talking about, make broad claims based on a random anecdote or some limited experience, give misadvice, false praise, etc. Those can be dangerous for a kid or parent honestly and humbly trying to put the pieces together.
I’m OK with users flagging and asking if a poster is new. As mentioned upthread, there is one who has reregistered about a dozen times, but he posts in a forum that I don’t frequent as often.
Having said that, yes, do not assume that every new user lives under a bridge. And don’t accuse users on the thread of living under said bridge. Either ignore or flag.
Given the ease if IP address masking with the many proxy services, its not as easy to spot repeat banned posters just by IP addresses these days. Thats why IMO, flagging them when they don’t pass the smell test is appropriate.
OK. But how do we flag someone who’s clearly bored, looking for buddies, not working this summer, and not self aware enough to recognize how annoying?
Oh, that does describe many posters.
Some new posters jump in almost intrusively, without getting a feel for the community. It almost feels like they are eavesdropping in conversations and it feels quite uncomfortable. Some seem to shotgun the forum with many, often irrelevant threads and posts, which don’t add to the conversation or the forum. Seems that flagging them helps, as this, from the rules, seems to apply
This message board should be welcoming. Sure, some posters can be annoying but ignore them if they bother you so much. If anything, some of the comments I’ve seen here and elsewhere gravitate towards bullying. Now, that “makes other members unwelcome or uncomfortable”. Too much complaining on CC these days. It feels like middle school.
If a thread sounds implausible, ignore it or flag for the mods. Don’t over-analyze. If you can recognize previously banned posters based on their grammar, you may be spending too much time on CC.
I’ve decided I’ll take a courteous and grateful know-nothing new poster over a superior and agitative know-it-all long term poster. Each are annoying in their own way but neither normally needs reporting. And each can be ignored.
In response to the thread title, an example I’ve seen is when a new member is caught posting conflicting information about themselves from their responses in other threads.
I’ve seen Senior Members or Mods quote something of theirs from another thread and ask for a clarification w/o being too confrontational but more in a manner like - “Your posts are confusing to me and, if you want me to help you, I need to know which posts are more accurate.”
I’m sure it’s frustrating for Senior Members or Mods to be taking the time to help someone only to find out a poster is fabricating info. For me, it’s helpful bc I can then decide to not respond to this poster. Like @doschicos suggests,
Imo, this thread wasn’t started about getting our knickers in a twsit over some random newbie who is less graceful in his writing or less knowledgeable.
It’s about a few thorns in our sides who slip under the radar. And then take up space and other poster support. None of us can tell from a thread title that we should be ignoring.
Nor do these thorns get quickly banned. They have to show their cards, first, in an obvious way. They don’t come on CC announcing they’re a beast. But they do prey on the good nature of other members.
Thank you for starting this thread. The Parent Cafe is especially vulnerable to kids coming on here posing as adults with some “problem” that seems just a little off. I can usually tell by the number of postings, because really, why would you join CC just to ask a personal question? Frequently these types of posts are responded to by well respected, senior members of our community, until the OP gets banned. I used to get frustrated by this, wondering how others could not see how they were being manipulated, but then I changed my attitude and just regarded that type of thread as entertainment. Probably the same way the OP was regarding it. ?
I lurked on CC for a long time before I joined - when my D was starting 8th grade, I think. I think quite a few current posters would have treated me with suspicion and told me to get a life but I’m grateful for the real old timers who did not. It doesn’t hurt to be kind.
