Award spam points to users to encourage reporting of spam and bots
Title
Award spam points to users to encourage reporting of spam and bots
Short, concise description of the idea
To encourage users to report spam and bot accounts award "spam points" to users when an account they reported is suspended for spam or bot reasons.
Full description of the idea
Spam and bots come in waves on LJ, and by the time a new wave comes along many users are either disillusioned because of the length of time it takes to remove some of these accounts or remain unaware of how to report these accounts. The idea here is to encourage users to report suspected spam/bot accounts with something more than just a cleaned up service.
Whenever an account is suspended for spam or bot reasons, award a single "spam point" to any user who reported that account for spam or bot reasons. These points are used to tabulate a high score table, showing the most active spam/bot reporters. The drive to compete should encourage more reporting. To discourage abuse and to encourage careful consideration of reporting, remove a point from a user's total whenever an account they reported is cleared of spam/bot activities.
An ordered list of benefits
- More reporting of suspected spam/bot accounts will bring egregious violators to the attention of Abuse more quickly.
- The possibilities of abuse by false reporting are increased.
- Awarding users with "spam points", in addition to a cleaned up service, may cause LJ to lose its common carrier protection.