6 minutes ago, soapfan770 said:

@Errol Yikes!! Is there any way you could limit comments on the webpage by making everyone register with an e-mail or make it exclusive that only people with a valid SON board account can comment? 

Unfortunately, because the website and the message boards are two different systems there is no way to limit the website comments to just board members. 

I could force people to register with a Disqus account before they can post on the comment section, but comments in general are down drastically on articles that it wouldn't be worth it. As it is, I recently opted to stop paying the hefty fee to Disqus ($1260/year) just to not show ads in the comment section since there weren't enough posts to justify the cost.

I've tried cross-referencing the limited IP data I have from Disqus with what we have on the SON Community but the person is likely using a VPN since the IP addresses keep changing.

My hope is that by sharing some of the posts that have been deleted or flagged will shed light on the language used by the person that someone might possibly recognize them.

That is vile.

What I'd start by doing is more unilateral, and isn't really going to help the disgusting situation in those comments. So instead I would just lock the comments sections period for now if possible then see what develops next, because they'll find another way or start trolling directly here again on one of (IMO) several alts.

Again, I haven't really frequented Datalounge in over a decade so I wasn't privy to it at the time they were active, but this looks very much like similar stuff (and language) after the fact. I was told whoever it was with that MO who kept rambling on about ancient SON stuff on that unrelated site got banned from DL not long ago for similar spam. It makes sense that they'd circle back here to use any nook and cranny they can find. And I am sure they are using multiple accounts that have simply not been banned.

Edited September 8, 20241 yr by Vee

It is interesting to note that most of the comments come from the jollyfree.com domain.

https://www.ipqualityscore.com/domain-reputation/jollyfree.com

Which makes wonder if there is any utility in having those of us whose names were altered for comments complain to the server about having our identities misused online?

https://www.stopforumspam.com/domain/jollyfree.com

 

Edited September 8, 20241 yr by j swift

20 minutes ago, j swift said:

Correct me if I am reading this incorrectly, but I believe the admins are asking for help in identifying who is leaving racist messages, not how to run their site.

Because one imagines that after consistently reading and deleting bigoted, homophobic stuff about themselves, the last thing anyone would want is advice on how to do their job.

And I said up front that he should lock those comments section in order to prevent abuse and snuff them out. If we want to get rid of these posts the first thing to do is starve their access points and isolate them so they have no other options other than to reveal themselves in more vulnerable places. soapfan's idea was to lock the comments sections to authenticated users. Mine is to simply lock the comments sections completely. Neither of us are 'telling Errol how to run his site.' We are trying to mitigate the problem.

I may have theories on which of our old and supposedly banned trolls are behind this longstanding behavior but theory isn't actionable and I have no idea how to prove it or stop it. So all we're working from is a basis of harm reduction.

You are not and have never been capable of being subtle nor coy, say what you want and keep it moving. When we want you to posture as a thread mod, we'll call.

Edited September 8, 20241 yr by Vee

Wow, this is horrible and the person doing this needs to get a life and spend their time doing more productive sh!t. 

2 hours ago, Vee said:

And I said up front that he should lock those comments section in order to prevent abuse and snuff them out. If we want to get rid of these posts the first thing to do is starve their access points and isolate them so they have no other options other than to reveal themselves in more vulnerable places. soapfan's idea was to lock the comments sections to authenticated users. Mine is to simply lock the comments sections completely. Neither of us are 'telling Errol how to run his site.' We are trying to mitigate the problem.

I may have theories on which of our old and supposedly banned trolls are behind this longstanding behavior but theory isn't actionable and I have no idea how to prove it or stop it. So all we're working from is a basis of harm reduction.

You are not and have never been capable of being subtle nor coy, say what you want and keep it moving. When we want you to posture as a thread mod, we'll call.

Thank you. It gets tiring.

I got so uncomfortable reading these comments that I stopped after the first couple of the compilation Errol shared. I can't even read things like that. My stomach turned.

This is vile and disturbing beyond what I imagined. 

Like... Really concerning. 

The immediate thing that jumps to my mind is to do away entirely with the Forum Comments. Is there any compelling reason why SON needs to have a Comments section? 

Dang @Errol I didn’t know you have been dealing with this! This goes beyond simple trolling, this is sick. Offensive doesn’t begin to describe it.