Here's a post that I wrote to a forum that I very occasionally contribute to - I thought it was worth sharing the words a little wider as it help give a bit of a deeper insite into the world of internet moderation, security, rules and advise for the majority of people who are users and don't really need to be fully aware of these things. The post was following up a slightly aggressive young lad who needed a few analogies to help him appreciate the effects of spamming should he have chosen to start doing so.

I'm just an ordinary member of this forum ... but I do have admin / moderator rights elsewhere. So I can tell you the sort of things I go through when I see (or are informed of) abuses of what the forum's intended for, and I cannot tell you what or how the moderators and admins here would differ from that. But it can give you a general insite.

Quote: ""Heh, Im only 17. I dont pay for the internet. So I havnt read the ToS. Is there anywhere online that I could read that? And is spam considered illegal or abusive?""

You're using someone else's service, so you could get them into trouble, and yourself into trouble with them. Perhaps a parent, perhaps a school / college. And wouldn't it be a shame if you upset them and they took away your access / course of study. At 17, you're old enough to drive in most countries, and even though it might not be legal, to obtain drink. Would "I''m just a 17 year old kid and I didn't actually buy this car myself" be enough of an excuse for someone left dead at the roadside if you hit them while driving under the influence? Aren't you allowed to sign up and die in Iraq for your country at 17? So why do you think you might not be responsible for your own activities on line?

But, seriously, spamming isn't in the same league. I'm personally very used to deleting spam and indeed I take quite a lenient view of what is and isn't spam. That's not the case with certain of the moderators here, who have stated that they have deleted complete posts (and I suspect banned members) because a post include an advert for the site/services of the poster within their message. I feel that's draconian, but it's the site owner's ultimate choice and right to have such a policy. That's a 'civil' matter - not a 'criminal' one.

As something gets to be a more obvious nuisance, and/or becomes sustained, the owners and moderators have other tools they can use and, yes, they do have elements of information that allow them to trace you. At a certain point - for example if you were posting porn that was visible to minors - your activities would move from 'civil' to 'criminal'. And I would imagine that certain activities from you would trigger certain actions in the owners and other site visitors, and that certain activities such as posting up of unsuitable material might result in reports going back through ISPs, and through various legal authorities.

Does this happen? Yes, it does. I can tell you first and second hand stories (not third nor fourth hand, you'll note) of an ISP threatening to cut off a service because of an assumed spamming incident that actually involved a single email message, of a major commercial company taking someone to court (but then settling for a payment of thousands of dollars) for copyright violation, and of threats of immediate action against a web site owner unless certain activities were ceased with immediate effect.

In summary, it's in your interest NOT to start spamming to see what will happen.
(written 2006-11-13 00:52:16)

 G903 - Well House Consultants - Running and moderating forums

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