[wp-forums] What's with all the Bozo's?

[Jan Dembowski]

*Drinks coffee, wishes bozo was labeled "Time out room recipient for a 
while so to keep an eye on that account" and realizes that's probably 
too many characters*

Josh Lobe wrote:
>
> I've looked back through prior posts... and didn't notice anything 
> immediately obvious.
> I mean... a couple of these folk seem like genuine people.
>
> Can a BOZO happen automatically?
I'm pretty sure (99.44%) that can and does happen.

Occasionally someone will create a brand new account and the system will 
flag it as bozo immediately. The automated system does learn and if the 
account is from a domain or IP range that just spammed the forums for 
the last 25 days (oh boy does that happen) then the new account will 
also get picked up.

If it' a real person and they post well then someone will eventually 
uncode that account too.

*Drinks more coffee*

There's 2 ways for an account to be coded. One is that the automated 
spam system made a determination that they should be coded. When I see 
an account hitting the spam filter and only that one flag is set then 
I'll usually un-code that account if there is nothing in their post 
history that warrants that.

Then there is another flag that indicates a moderator or higher put them 
in the timeout room on purpose. That's usually for the reasons that Mel 
said.

> What's the threshold for a bozo?
> I mean, I'm sure harassment, solicitation, etc... qualifies.
> What about a genuine b-fest?  A vented frustration towards a 
> developer; or WP in general?
>
> I don't want to bozo anyone... don't have the authority, anyways.
> I'm just wondering if there isn't a 'glitch' somewhere in the system...

Coding someone's account doesn't do anything negative to that forum 
member. It just makes more work for the moderators though because all 
the posts do get reviewed.

When an account is coded it just means that someone has to approve those 
posts. It doesn't delete those posts but it does mean other members will 
not see those posts till they are released. If the member behaves then 
they will be let out of the timeout room unsupervised.

Thanks,

Jan Dembowski