Are the posted questions getting worse?

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Are the posted questions getting worse?

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Gail Shaw SSC Guru Points: 1004504 More actions · Answer 1

rodjkidd (11/13/2014)
Jack Corbett (11/13/2014)
Wow, the thread has been quiet lately.
Had a great time at the PASS Summit last week where I got to see many threadizens. Ran into Rodders the first night and pretty much every day after that. Even though I'm a bit tired from the week, I'm still energized from being around the SQLFamily.
😀
I'm still jet lagged!

Yup. Went to lie down and read ~3 hours ago (6pm). Woke up half an hour ago.

Edit: And, of course, now I'm wide awake.

Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability

We walk in the dark places no others will enter
We stand on the bridge and no one may pass

rodjkidd SSCoach Points: 15915 More actions · Answer 2

Gail,

So last three morning I've been wide awake at 3 am. First morning I went back to bed and got in late!

Yesterday and today, just stayed awake 🙂 does mean I've been in very early both mornings 😉

Steve, I should think so as well. That outfit wasn't quite bright enough for me to go blind 😀

Rodders...

Steve Jones - SSC Editor SSC Guru Points: 736212 More actions · Answer 3

:), to both

I got back on track with sleep fairly quickly. I think it helps only being 15degrees away from Seattle.

Luis Cazares SSC Guru Points: 183706 More actions · Answer 4

Help! The spam invasion returned. I feel like I'm drowning.

Luis C.
General Disclaimer:
Are you seriously taking the advice and code from someone from the internet without testing it? Do you at least understand it? Or can it easily kill your server?

How to post data/code on a forum to get the best help: Option 1 / Option 2

Ed Wagner SSC Guru Points: 287026 More actions · Answer 5

Luis Cazares (11/14/2014)
Help! The spam invasion returned. I feel like I'm drowning.

It comes in waves. Steve posted something about a week ago that there was a performance issue with the cleanup procedure. I'm sure they've got people working on it.

Tally Tables - Performance Personified
String Splitting with True Performance
Best practices on how to ask questions

Steve Jones - SSC Editor SSC Guru Points: 736212 More actions · Answer 6

We're still tuning stuff.

believe me, it's as much a pain for me as anyone else.

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1004340 More actions · Answer 7

Something REALLY bad just happened. There are no posts from today on recent posts for today. The only thing that's left is SPAM.

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

spaghettidba SSC Guru Points: 105732 More actions · Answer 8

During the weekend the spam rate was so high that it came in faster than I could report it.

Some things come to my mind:

1) Isn't there a captcha for registration? Looks like bots found a way to sign up automatically.

2) What about disallowing new users (let's say with less than 10 points) from posting links? No links = no spam

3) Why can't moderators delete spam posts directly? I have no idea whether some of the regulars are moderators or not, but that would help a lot.

What worries me is that legitimate questions are much less than they used to be a couple of years ago when I was one of the regulars. I wonder if one of the causes is the amount of spam we see these days.

-- Gianluca Sartori

Ed Wagner SSC Guru Points: 287026 More actions · Answer 9

spaghettidba (11/17/2014)
During the weekend the spam rate was so high that it came in faster than I could report it.
Some things come to my mind:
1) Isn't there a captcha for registration? Looks like bots found a way to sign up automatically.
2) What about disallowing new users (let's say with less than 10 points) from posting links? No links = no spam
3) Why can't moderators delete spam posts directly? I have no idea whether some of the regulars are moderators or not, but that would help a lot.
What worries me is that legitimate questions are much less than they used to be a couple of years ago when I was one of the regulars. I wonder if one of the causes is the amount of spam we see these days.

I know I'm not a moderator, but let's say that Steve can (and does) make people moderators that are capable of deleting posts. What happens when someone deletes a post by accident? Will they have the option of rolling it back by undeleting it? We all know it would eventually happen and then there would be an uproar. I think it's a great idea, but there would have to be some sort of undelete feature that goes along with it and it. It would also have to be accessible from the list view (and not just the view post screen) in order to be useful. How many moderators would open 200 spam posts one at a time to delete them?

The spam is must greater than it used to be. I think the site was "discovered" during the World Cup. That's when I saw the spam posts increase dramatically. Before that it was just the occasional post about buying kitchens in the UK.

Tally Tables - Performance Personified
String Splitting with True Performance
Best practices on how to ask questions

Ed Wagner SSC Guru Points: 287026 More actions · Answer 10

Steve Jones - SSC Editor (11/15/2014)
We're still tuning stuff.
believe me, it's as much a pain for me as anyone else.

Steve, let me know if you'd like help with any of this.

Tally Tables - Performance Personified
String Splitting with True Performance
Best practices on how to ask questions

spaghettidba SSC Guru Points: 105732 More actions · Answer 11

Ed Wagner (11/17/2014)
Steve Jones - SSC Editor (11/15/2014)
We're still tuning stuff.
believe me, it's as much a pain for me as anyone else.
Steve, let me know if you'd like help with any of this.

+1 Count me in if there's something I can do to help

-- Gianluca Sartori

Steve Jones - SSC Editor SSC Guru Points: 736212 More actions · Answer 12

Ed Wagner (11/17/2014)
Steve Jones - SSC Editor (11/15/2014)
We're still tuning stuff.
believe me, it's as much a pain for me as anyone else.
Steve, let me know if you'd like help with any of this.

Thanks. We've allowed a few people to delete things at times, but rarely. It's a lot of power, and it's easy to be emotional and annoyed and whack things.

After my deletion of this thread a few weeks back, I'm nervous about granting this.

Steve Jones - SSC Editor SSC Guru Points: 736212 More actions · Answer 13

Not sure what went wrong this weekend. The spam process should kill everything within an hour, so I've asked to track down what's going on.

Ed Wagner SSC Guru Points: 287026 More actions · Answer 14

Steve Jones - SSC Editor (11/17/2014)
Ed Wagner (11/17/2014)
Steve Jones - SSC Editor (11/15/2014)
We're still tuning stuff.
believe me, it's as much a pain for me as anyone else.
Steve, let me know if you'd like help with any of this.
Thanks. We've allowed a few people to delete things at times, but rarely. It's a lot of power, and it's easy to be emotional and annoyed and whack things.
After my deletion of this thread a few weeks back, I'm nervous about granting this.

I don't blame you at all about being nervous about it. While emotion creeps up from time to time, it has no place in rational decision-making of this type. If you have any reservations at all, don't do it for anyone.

I was referring more to the procedure that does the sweep. But you guys undoubtedly know your database better than anyone else.

Tally Tables - Performance Personified
String Splitting with True Performance
Best practices on how to ask questions

spaghettidba SSC Guru Points: 105732 More actions · Answer 15

Steve, spam deletion in a good thing, but preventing spam is better in my opinion.

I just registered to the site with one of my addresses and it simply asks to confirm by clicking a link.

It's a lightweight registration process and I'm sure it allows people to register very quickly, without annoyances such as captchas but it's damn too easy to exploit.

I hate captchas just as much as everyone else does, but they sure have a place in sorting humans from machines.

There are less molestful solutions, such as sweetcaptcha[/url]

-- Gianluca Sartori