Spam? thread deleted

Negativepitch

Hi,
I joined yesterday and posted a thread asking for advice on a minimum speed for a VPN and also my daughters using a standard connection at the same time.
I had a reply to this which was very helpful.
I then replied to this saying that I thought I would use a particular Company (which I named) for the VPN that works with my internet connection (which again I named)

I have received 4 identical emails saying "Spam please ban this user" and my thread removed.
Sorry if I broke any rules by naming any company and in retrospect I can see how this may have been seen as someone spamming by either naming my internet provider or the VPN company I thought of using.

Negativepitch

Sorry I forgot to say, my account has now been deleted.
I have been able to post here by using the activation email I was sent.
Many thanks

[Deleted User]

Hey there, @Negativepitch

I'm really sorry you were banned in error. Any chance you could PM me your old email/username so I can look a little further into this?

PiaVipper

Negativepitch said:

Hi,

I then replied to this saying that I thought I would use a particular Company (which I named) for the VPN that works

Are you some kind of moron? This forum is for general VPN issues using PIA - the clue is in the URL and logo top left!
So kindly stop spamming with issues regarding other providers.

Max-P

Hey @Negativepitch , I just looked at your account and everything looks in good standing. I have also just replied to you on your ticket, but it really sounds like the spam notification wasn't about your own topic as it still appears to be up there: https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/forum/discussion/25452/minimum-speed-for-a-vpn#latest

I remember those 4 notices in particular as I'm the one who acted on it, there were as follow from another member (who really was spamming as can be seen from the URL alone):

Discussion:
https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/forum/discussion/25429/discount-doxycycline-buy-doxycycline-without-dr-approval

Reason: Spam. Please ban this user.
Reported by: tomeworm

Negativepitch

PIAColleen said:

Hey there, @Negativepitch

I'm really sorry you were banned in error. Any chance you could PM me your old email/username so I can look a little further into this?

Hi,
Its all been sorted now 

Negativepitch

Max-P said:

Hey @Negativepitch , I just looked at your account and everything looks in good standing. I have also just replied to you on your ticket, but it really sounds like the spam notification wasn't about your own topic as it still appears to be up there: https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/forum/discussion/25452/minimum-speed-for-a-vpn#latest

I remember those 4 notices in particular as I'm the one who acted on it, there were as follow from another member (who really was spamming as can be seen from the URL alone):

Discussion:
https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/forum/discussion/25429/discount-doxycycline-buy-doxycycline-without-dr-approval

Reason: Spam. Please ban this user.
Reported by: tomeworm

Thanks Max.
Thanks for sorting it.

Negativepitch

PiaVipper said:

Negativepitch said:

Hi,

I then replied to this saying that I thought I would use a particular Company (which I named) for the VPN that works

Are you some kind of moron? This forum is for general VPN issues using PIA - the clue is in the URL and logo top left!
So kindly stop spamming with issues regarding other providers.

Ok sorry I made a genuine mistake.
If you re-read my post I didnt mention I had any 'issues' with ANY vpn provider as at the moment I dont have one.
I asked whats the minimum speed a vpn would work with as I have a slow connection.
The naming of another VPN was mentioned as one that was mentioned in a website review which I came across which would work with my internet provider.
There was nothing in the post to say that I would not take out my vpn here if it would also work best with my internet provider.
But thanks for the warm welcome.

evilvibes

PiaVipper said:

Negativepitch said:

Hi,

I then replied to this saying that I thought I would use a particular Company (which I named) for the VPN that works

Are you some kind of moron? This forum is for general VPN issues using PIA - the clue is in the URL and logo top left!
So kindly stop spamming with issues regarding other providers.

Your one rude person @PiaVipper Most your post are talking down to people. Are you mad with real life? whats up bud?

tomeworm

Negativepitch said:

Hi,
I joined yesterday and posted a thread asking for advice on a minimum speed for a VPN and also my daughters using a standard connection at the same time.
I had a reply to this which was very helpful.
I then replied to this saying that I thought I would use a particular Company (which I named) for the VPN that works with my internet connection (which again I named)

I have received 4 identical emails saying "Spam please ban this user" and my thread removed.
Sorry if I broke any rules by naming any company and in retrospect I can see how this may have been seen as someone spamming by either naming my internet provider or the VPN company I thought of using.

It's hard to know for sure if you were properly banned or if was done by admin error. Hopefully it was the latter and now the responsible party has been banned for posting four entire advertisements (not just links) for "discount doxycycline." I'll give you the benefit of the doubt on this and assume it wasn't you using a sock puppet account.

I wish PIA would do a competent job of policing these forums. Because they don't I don't spend nearly as much time around here helping out as I once did.

PIA, why do completely ignore the Off-topic Discussion thread? You need to go through and purge 99% of it. SPAM posted by loads of sock puppets that need to be banned.

Max-P

It's hard to know for sure if you were properly banned or if was done by admin error. Hopefully it was the latter and now the responsible party has been banned for posting four entire advertisements (not just links) for "discount doxycycline." I'll give you the benefit of the doubt on this and assume it wasn't you using a sock puppet account. 

OP has never been banned, it was just the emails that got them confused. As for the spam, I deleted and banned it all within the minute of getting the reports. By the time the fourth one arrived I was already done banning and deleting. The same thing happened this morning as well. The spam tends to come in waves when we're not so active. There can be pages of spam within an hour until someone notices and can act on it.

I too wish we had more time to be on the forums but at the moment we're all quite busy dealing with the support situation. We really do appreciate the spam reports, even if technically it's our job to deal with it and I do agree the forums could really benefit from a better staff presence. I usually act on reports as soon as I get them, a lot of which I take the time to look at and ban/delete well off the clock.

EDIT: brb, moar banhammer needed, ayy
EDIT2: Phew, there really was hella lot of spam there. I should change my nick to Mc. BanHammer

tomeworm

@Max-P,

THANK YOU for cleaning up that mess!

Max-P

@tomeworm You're welcome I really wish we had more time to spend on the forums, but we also have to keep in mind the time we'd spend here is also the time everyone's ticket is delayed by. Tickets left unanswered for an extended period of time also have that ever so slightly annoying tendency of producing a few offsprings.

Feel free to PM me if there are any other things like this that you feel needs to be addressed and keep reporting spam when you see it. No need to be too specific if it's obvious spam and no need to report the same user multiple times (we ban + delete all content most of the time). We do our best to look at everything, but I can imagine how the Off-Topic section isn't visited as often when trying to be efficient with time ^^"

Omnibus_IV

Max-P said:

@tomeworm You're welcome I really wish we had more time to spend on the forums, but we also have to keep in mind the time we'd spend here is also the time everyone's ticket is delayed by. Tickets left unanswered for an extended period of time also have that ever so slightly annoying tendency of producing a few offsprings.

Feel free to PM me if there are any other things like this that you feel needs to be addressed and keep reporting spam when you see it. No need to be too specific if it's obvious spam and no need to report the same user multiple times (we ban + delete all content most of the time). We do our best to look at everything, but I can imagine how the Off-Topic section isn't visited as often when trying to be efficient with time ^^"

Do like some other forums, assign simple tasks to reliable users. You know who they are, you see them helping people all the time, so give them limited power to clean up the board.

Max-P

@Omnibus_IV I definitely agree with you. We have been multiple so far to suggest this, but none of us have the authority required to do it. I have just raised this issue again internally and we'll see where that goes, but my personal guess would be that our managers prefer to avoid any possible controversy with community member's comments to be perceived as official statements from the company because of their moderator role. Not that I think the spam is any better, but considering our current issues with ticket spikes and subsequent delays I can see how it could give some people an additional reason to claim "PIA's support doesn't care" (which is false, we're working pretty hard to catch up). Thank you for the suggestion though, appreciated!