Comments and other policy changes on FTR

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Hello everyone,

as you know, since its start, For the Record had “free” comments. Anyone could comment without giving their name or address whatever. Until last night that is.

In the night, one or several individuals (hard to say with the proxy servers) spent hours spamming nazi shit in all the comments (stuff like “Gas the Jews”, “Gas the Polish” and other “nice comments”, usually reserved for random battle chat). I don’t know who it was, but before starting to use proxy, that guy (or one of the guys) used the same IP address as a commenter, that identified himself earlier as “EXN0M member”, bashing me for making a post about some of their members’ vile rants. This leads me to believe it was a “revenge” of some sort from one or more of their members.

Lately, I’ve also seen the increase of blatant spam, trolling and other dumb shit. It’s been tiring and to top it off, the WordPress ban filter seems to be buggy too (it banned people that shouldn’t be banned). Therefore, from now on, you will have to register in order to comment here. This change is permanent. I try to give FTR as much time as possible in order to live up to your support as readers, but I don’t have the time to browse comments all the time to remove the heaps of garbage that seem to appear lately.

Furthermore, this will be only the first step. I am working on implementing a system, where you will have to use either your Facebook account, your Google account or your Wargaming account to identify yourself. Basically, Disquis with a twist. Gotta discuss that with Edrard.

In short, I intend to do a big house cleaning. What was acceptable when this site had 1000 hits per day is not when it’s 100 times more. Ban system will also be fixed and improved (I am considering banning proxy servers altogether to reduce spam – at this moment, the spam filter sorts out like 1000 spam messages per day). By the way, the new design should be ready next week. It’s very simple, I hope you will like it.

But as for the comments: make no mistake – while I do believe in freedom of speech in general, this is my site and my rules. I am not obligated to allow free speech here. With that being said, there are basically only two simple rules here:

1) Nazi and communist propaganda equals immediate permaban.
2) Obvious spamming (“first!”, “donkey!”) will be punished – as I wrote, its amounts last week became intolerable.

I don’t mind offtopic discussion (it’s not like I’ll invite BigBadVuk or anything to police the comments…).

I am truly sorry it had to come to this, but this site is no longer a backwater blog it was months ago. Some of you actually requested this change. I hope it helps.

-SS

145 thoughts on “Comments and other policy changes on FTR”

  3. Why would you even bother controlling all this spam? You should’ve implemented mandatory registration a long time ago.

    • Because at start it was necessary to appeal to viewers. Now, when FTR has it’s place in WoT community, there’s no need to bear this once necessary evil.

  7. I can now see a very, very big drop in amount of comments. You almost murdered comenting for the short period of time in which spmmers prepare “Donkey” accounts…
    I am fine with Google accounts, at least it is NOT Facebook:)
    Keep up informing us on Q&A, comments are secondary. And thanks on telling publicly why you did the changes, it feels nice to know the reasons.

  8. This is good.
    Just a question?
    My WordPress account has been active for years and it’s even linked to DisQuis and Facebook, and linking with facebook would force me to show stuff I have no interest in. Is it possible for you to leave WordPress login as an option?
    Thanks

    • Possible. Since I decided to do this only in the morning, I’ll have to see what’s what. For now we have basic outlines and software to do it. Implementing it is another matter.

    • What I meant is having to login here through facebook would not be what a I want, it would expose my real self, not UNREALBR, my internet self but my RL self and that is not wanted. Same with Google (Android issues)
      Thx for all you’ve done for WoT all this time.
      You sir, deserved a truckload of money!

        • You can just disable anon comments in the WordPress configurations and maybe even disable the login methods you don’t want through the GUI or editing the code.
          I would offer help but I only have the basics in me, which I think would not be enough.
          But, keep it up man! Your blog has helped me A LOT in the past 6 months!!!

  9. Well, finally got un-lazy enough to register, so good change. :)

    Regarding last night… what do you expect, that’s EXN0M we are talking about. I’ve had a couple of games against them in CW, they are so horrible, it almost makes you Alt+F4 from the game… some people in this world…

  10. This is a good thing, made me log in, now to just remember the site which changes my profile pic…

  13. Ah, good idea SS. This is a lot better for less spam. But are SerB quotes now also seen as spam?
    Another thing, I barely post on here, but is first also spam if it gets hidden in a very long message?
    Because I never annoy of it, well I used to, but you get over it and just look over it. All I annoy myself of now is everybody reacting to first comments saying first. Donkey goes to far, agreed though. This forum is probably even read by younger WoT players.

    Something completely different: Could logging in with steam please stay? I like logging in with Steam and logging in with Facebook or worldpress isn’t really my thing.
    So, could we please keep the steam thing and maybe limit the rest?

    - Adinouvo

    • Setting up a troll account on facebook or google is time consuming and either FB or G+ staff monitors accounts fro being fake and you get SS who’ll be banning those accounts here to.

      It’s just not worth it to set up a troll account.

  20. I would had preferred FB account login cause I am already getting tired of making accounts for each site then forgetting passwords and other info to log in!

    • For all sites where you dont share sensitive personal information you should use one password so you dont forget it.

  24. Ok, regged. However, I need help with something dumb. How the hell do I set an avatar? Either I’m blind, or that option is not on the ‘edit my profile’ page.

  26. Its good that you have done this, you put alot of work into YOUR site to US information.
    You dont need or deserve those inconsiderate asshats smapping you and stressing you out.

    Keep up the good work good sir

  27. Well done, this is a change I can live with and appreciate… like I do appreciate the great work you (and others) put in to make us who like this game get the info we crave :P

  28. Looks like more quality posts will come. About time to get those rats from Germany’s sewers (Neo-Nazi’s) and those Hammer and Sickle believers away.

    • The most of “those rats from Germanys sewers” are not from germany. Its a little bit narrowminded thinking nationalists can only be germans.

      • Yup, there are a surprising amount of people in the US who identify as Neo-Nazis. There was even some controversy when they tried to stage a parade through a neighborhood that was mostly made up of Jewish people, blacks, and other minorities.

    • You need to use OpenID option and input your accounts OpenID URL. A bit of a hassle, if you ask me.

  30. And this is what happens when persons who think they’re being funny(at the expense of other people) abuse their rights.

    Though it doesn’t really do any bad for us.
    It helps us root out those persons :]

  31. Good job with this Silent. You should have done this after the first “donkey” comment spamming that occured. But this is a good idea. Whoever wishes to comment, he can always use his facebook account(like myself) or anything else :)

  32. Yes, it works!

    But, I’m worried that we would get a bunch of fake accounts just for the trolling purposes.

    • And they would get banned, as intended.

      I do believe WordPress has the option to ban by IP, another solution…

  33. Being unable to change my profile picture is the only thing I didn’t like in this change…

    …Otherwise, I’m glad. No trolls like Kellomies will come, I hope.

  35. “1) Nazi and communist propaganda equals immediate permaban.”

    Does this mean that any discussion on this subject is forbidden? Because if someone would argue in an off-topic discussion that communism is a good doctrine,or that it has good parts,it could easily be considered commie propaganda,(same for nazi).

  36. Good Work.
    Regarding the login,
    As for FTR being a site mostly about WoT, I think Wargaming Acc seems rather reasonable.

    Other question,
    Will Polls require losgin too, or will they stay open for all
    (Since their information not being worth the effort)?

    Anyway,
    Keep up the good work

  37. I have been following your blog for almost a year and it just keeps getting better! Seriously these articles really help pass the downtime at work. Who could really make a valid argument against stopping fascist communist spam? Keep up the great work!

    • Graphics? Hopefully next week. But as for the complete overhaul – I am now thinking of creating a completely different portal (not under the “FTR” brand) for Wargaming and War Thunder news.

      • Frank, some input from me:

        1. FTR is a good brand. A very good one, in fact. You should keep it, if you want expanding, it’s from wot-news, as URL that is, because your cooperation with Edrard is another thing – if you two can work out the address thing to be general for more/any games, it would be perfect (if you want to continue this cooperation, that is).

        2. Blog graphics is good – nice and simple, and it has certain feel. It definitely needs update in terms of functionality, but you should stay true to the theme that is now. Or, tell us what you don’t like now?

  40. I wonder if I post any phrase in Russian, would that count as communist propaganda (all russians are commies, yeah-yeah)? Or if I use some quote from Lenin’s works that doesn’t really mentions revolution, proletariat and the like (he was quite a philosopher, y’know)? And what about those right-wing writers, who were not actually fascists, but close to that, like Evola?

  41. It’s sad to see people doing this kind of thing. Too bad for “freedom” and simplicity but I think it’s a wise decision.

  43. I think you’ve made the smart move! IMHO, folks who spam the type of crap you listed are loosers, period.
    And, when they do so anonymously hiding behind the guise of “free speech” the just plain suck!

    Thx for giving us a great place to come to for info and updates. You hard work is appreciated! :)

  46. To echo others, good decision. The less bullshit in the comments section, the better. Less work for you, less bullshit for us commentators to scroll through, everyone wins (aside from the retards who made the changes necessary, but nobody cares how they feel anyway).

  47. Well that wasn’t hard at all….
    This change just confirms that given 0 repercussions people will do almost anything.
    Its now way easier to actually identify whose who, it was really annoying seeing anonymous everywhere tbh.

  48. SS, why do you equal nazis with communists??? I fucking hate communists, they destroyed my country and my youth, but they are NOT equal to nazis, nazis are just pure evil, while at least half of communists honestly believe they do it for good cause…

    On the other note, I’m glad we have to log in now, makes all the shiting much harder for retards :) :) :)

    • Nazis and Communists are basically two sides of the same coin. In theory they’re different, however in practice they’re basically the same. Both Hitler and Stalin were dictators with near complete control of their countries. I’m also pretty sure half the Nazis thought they were doing good for Germany, like Communists thought they were doing good for Russia. And I’m pretty sure a lot of people thought Communists are pure evil (see the US during the Cold War and “Red Scare”).

      I’m not trying to change your beliefs, but just putting this out there.

      • :) :) :) It’s not my believes, it my experience with both sides. nazis are not equal to communists, nazis didn’t believe they are doing anything good to people they were systematically killing. I hate communists, they are the evil, that fucked up my people and my both countries, even today, retarded communists are destroying my country, but still, they didn’t come to Kragujevac, collect all the school children, and then shoot them in front of their parents. This “thing” I don’t have a name for is what nazis did, so NEVER compare nazi scum with communist bastards, because they are not equal, nor they are the same!

        p.s. I hate communist, let them eat shit and drink piss!

  50. Seeing as people couldnt manage to post without doing it via a user , this is a good change.

  52. Everything that reduces SS’ time spent with spam control is a good thing. So thank you Exnom!

    SS: Great job, good decision. If you can implement it, i suggest reducing commenting to people who linked their WG-Account with the option to hide that WG account from the public (default: active). But thats only my opinion ;)

  54. Good change, SS.

    Keep up the good work.

    PS. pls dont mix up WoT/WoWP/WoWS and WT news, BAAAD idea

  56. Great change, it really was time for this. Hopefully we get rid of all the bs in the comments. Btw, just saw an EXN0M player in a random player, almost an unicum playing with obj 263, and he was a pretty nice guy. So no idea why he’s in EXN0M, but looks like there’s at least one player there who’s not a douche. Or maybe he just had a good day.

    • I can’t believe it, an exn0m member to be nice in randoms instead of insulting other players, glorify nazism and hate jews, niggers, gipsies and other “subhumans”? I hope you took screenshots, immediate actions will be taken against him. [SARCASM INTENDED]

  57. If they keep doind this crap, everyone will have the whole exnom clan on their “kill on sight” lists :D

  59. Very good Idea – long overdue. Getting really tired of the juvenile Donkey crap. Google and Disqus logins are fine – please don’t make me use Facebook – I would rather stick needles in my eyes :)

    Brian

  67. I told you trusting in the decency of people on the internet is going to end in tears ;)

  68. Well, Frank, “i told you”, many times, that this will happen eventually. I used my anonymity while it lasted, just because you allowed it, but this chance is much appreciated. And it lasted amazingly long, i thought that someone pull that kind of shit much sooner.
    I’d like to ask you (also again!) to disable ALL commenting on old blog, because i don’t need more penis enlargement pills, i’m stocked for many years :) .

    Another advice would be to lock comments on this blog after a certain time (like a week?) because they get out of date then and it’s very unlikely that you find time to read such, not mentioning answer. Think about it ;) .

  78. Excellent change of policies, now the trolls will have to think twice before posting crap unless they want their personal info name/shamed

  80. Finally…no more anonymous butthurts.

    Also, I don’t know why you didn’t done it from the first day on wot-news….
    I mean, it takes only 5 minutes to register.

  82. Good…this should be done long time ago…now anonanuses either can’t comment or they will stand behind their words

  90. “Even with this great step forward(GJ S.S.), there is still stupidity left behind.(Is not hard for those troll and other pieces of shit to register and login…)”