WTF is this?

[Findecanor]

wtf.png (10.91 KiB) Viewed 32746 times

This came up today when I entered Deskthority's Discord-based chat. Why is this enabled?

Please, whoever enabled this, this shut this fucking restriction off!

[headphone_jack]

Unfortunately the discord has been the target of trolls using hundreds alt accounts for months now. After much deliberation this was the only way we could think to effectively stop it. If you want to blame anyone, blame the trolls.

[Findecanor]

Well, I am not a troll or a fucking I-zombie. Why do you have to shut me out !?

How do the trolls find their way to the chat anyway?
There is an invite-system to get there in the first place, right? Is it not restricted to include genuine Deskthority user accounts only?

[headphone_jack]

Well, I am not a troll or a fucking I-zombie. Why do you have to shut me out !?

How do the trolls find their way to the chat anyway?
There is an invite-system to get there in the first place, right? Is it not restricted to include genuine Deskthority user accounts only?

No, the discord invites aren't tied to Deskthority accounts. Anyone with an invite link can join, regardless if they have an account or not.

[zrrion]

The invite is open to the public so anyone can join if they want and one person in particular has been making a lot of alt accounts to try and evade their ban. Since it isn't invite only and they keep changing their IP address we can't really do anything else to prevent that sort of spam. We are still looking into less invasive ways to accomplish the same goal, but this is the only thing built into discord that does it, everything else would be done with 3rd party bots and requires more looking in to.

I am a little surprised folks who joined before the phone requirement aren't grandfathered in though, I expected they would be.

Tldr: one person in particular is why we can't have nice things.

[Findecanor]

Anyone with an invite link can join, regardless if they have an account or not.

If anyone can join, then it is not really an invite, now is it?
Can't you create an invite with a longer code, and from links that are visible in the forum only to logged-in users?

And why wasn't this discussed here on the forum, where such discussions belong?

[ok_boomer]

Well, I am not a troll or a fucking I-zombie. Why do you have to shut me out !?

How do the trolls find their way to the chat anyway?
There is an invite-system to get there in the first place, right? Is it not restricted to include genuine Deskthority user accounts only?

ok boomer

[dkarguth]

Anyone with an invite link can join, regardless if they have an account or not.

If anyone can join, then it is not really an invite, now is it?
Can't you create an invite with a longer code, and from links that are visible in the forum only to logged-in users?

And why wasn't this discussed here on the forum, where such discussions belong?

Because the person who is creating all the troll accounts just happens to be a DT member. If it was linked to DT accounts he'd just make troll DT accounts (or use the ones he already has)

[Findecanor]

So... The powers that be, and not the legitimate owner of this site, has downgraded my user status on Deskthority.
Thanks so much!

I have really enjoyed my time here. I've been here from the start, met most of the founders at a keyboard party back in the day, kickstarted the wiki, been a paying member (when there was a DT club), visited the forum daily and contributed to the wiki every week while trying to promote it in the forum and on other sites when I can.
But lately I think that the forum has turned into a shit-show. The esr/soarer thread a few weeks ago was really a low point. So why should I stay on now? If this isn't fixed within a week, I'm out.

ok boomer

So brave of you to hide behind a fucking sock puppet account!

[an_achronism]

Sure is great having zero moderation huh

EDIT: Oh wow hahaha OK. The post I was replying to there (and now regret not quoting because it's now been edited to remove the entire original message) began, "Fuck you asshole hiding behind a sock puppet account" or something very very close to that. But I guess there is somebody in the background still taking action here and there. Well there you go.

[Findecanor]

No, I toned it down myself.
And then you showed your own true colours.

[an_achronism]

No, I toned it down myself.

I was referring to your comment about how your Deskthority forum account status apparently being changed; I am aware you were the one who edited your post. But checking your profile, I don't know what you're on about, because you still seem to be listed as a "DT Pro member". I guess I don't know what your user status was before. Or maybe they changed it back. No idea.

Friendly suggestion: if you want to be "appreciated", maybe don't spew vitriol at people and expect there to be no consequences for doing so? But y'know, do as you will.

-

Aaaand another edit appears:

And then you showed your own true colours.

What, finding it funny that you fucked yourself? Yeah, I guess that's me being pretty honest.

[zrrion]

So... The powers that be, and not the legitimate owner of this site, has downgraded my user status on Deskthority.

I sure would like if Oliver would poke his head in more often to sign off on this stuff as well. We're likely going to remove it specifically because of this thread honestly. If it grandfathered in people like we assumed it would I suspect it would be fine but since that's not the case we'll see what else we can sort out to get the working for everyone.

Frankly Discord's moderation capabilities are abysmal and it has been a constant issue for the moderation team. The max time limit we can impose for accounts by default is that they be at least 5 minutes old, and that they have to be joined for 10 minutes to post. No idea why these caps are the way they are, but the fact that there aren't sufficient built in tools for dealing with simple stuff is frustrating. Like if the min account age was like 2 hours or something that might be enough but 5 minutes is basically the same as having no cap at all. We have implemented a reasonably competent mod bot (MEE6) but the features we most want are locked behind the paid version, which would be at the owner's discretion to do that or not. Oliver hasn't commented one way or the other on doing it even though we have asked him so right now we are looking into other possible solutions.

[an_achronism]

If it grandfathered in people like we assumed it would I suspect it would be fine but since that's not the case we'll see what else we can sort out to get the working for everyone.

I wonder why it's inconsistent; I never got any kind of message about having to go through phone number verification or anything, so I guessed it had bypassed that requirement due to my account already being in the door before it shut, so to speak. But maybe I already did phone verification on my Discord account (as in, not unique to the DT server in particular) which is the only reason it didn't make me jump through the hoop again?

[Easy_Spinach]

[dkarguth]

Oh look, the gremlin himself

[kbdfr]

[…] I have really enjoyed my time here. I've been here from the start, met most of the founders at a keyboard party back in the day, kickstarted the wiki, been a paying member (when there was a DT club), visited the forum daily and contributed to the wiki every week while trying to promote it in the forum and on other sites when I can.
But lately I think that the forum has turned into a shit-show. The esr/soarer thread a few weeks ago was really a low point. So why should I stay on now? If this isn't fixed within a week, I'm out. […]

That would no doubt be a great loss for DT.
There are many reasons, besides your work on the wiki, why I nominated you for the DT awards in 2018.

[Bjerrk]

Please, whoever enabled this, this shut this fucking restriction off!

So... The powers that be, and not the legitimate owner of this site, has downgraded my user status on Deskthority.
Thanks so much!

So brave of you to hide behind a fucking sock puppet account!

Well, I am not a troll or a fucking I-zombie. Why do you have to shut me out !?

And then you showed your own true colours.

lately I think that the forum has turned into a shit-show. The esr/soarer thread a few weeks ago was really a low point. So why should I stay on now? If this isn't fixed within a week, I'm out.

I can completely understand your frustration. You've contributed a lot and feel unfairly treated. That's reasonable. However, I believe there are two things you seem to be missing.

First, the moderators clearly put this restriction in place out of necessity, to deal with a trolling problem - not to annoy you.

Secondly - and more importantly - you are actually contributing to the melodrama yourself. I'm sure this is not intentional, but it is the result you get by needlessly antagonizing people. Instead of reacting with rage, try to understand why the restriction was put in place, and have a sensible discussion with the discord moderators about it. They seem to be willing to have that discussion, wouldn't you say?
By saying e.g. "And then you showed your true colours", threatening to leave or shouting fuck, you accomplish nothing except adding to the melodrama. So if you are serious about wanting less of that stuff, you know where to start

[lis0r]

been a paying member (when there was a DT club)

So let me get this straight, you're demanding special treatment, because of an expired coupon?

[Easy_Spinach]

First, the moderators clearly put this restriction in place out of necessity, to deal with a trolling problem - not to annoy you.

its not like you cant just buy 50 phone verified discord accounts for less then the price of a starbucks coffee.

[zrrion]

Shhh, don't tip your hand like that. Its way more fun to find out as we go that for you to just spoil things.

[ifohancroft]

We're likely going to remove it specifically because of this thread honestly. If it grandfathered in people like we assumed it would I suspect it would be fine but since that's not the case we'll see what else we can sort out to get the working for everyone.

I think Findecanor's message didn't make it clear if he was just joining the server, or if he was already there, but got the 'Verify phone' prompt after starting Discord. If he wasn't there already, maybe the grandfathering works?

wtf.png

This came up today when I entered Deskthority's Discord-based chat. Why is this enabled?

Please, whoever enabled this, this shut this fucking restriction off!

Just to clear things up - when you got the 'Verify phone' prompt, were you just joining the server, or were you already in, from before the phone requirement was set and you just got the prompt when you opened Discord/clicked on the server?

[micmil]

All I can think reading this is "I DRIVE A DODGE STRATUS!"