Arms and the Spam

One of the most marvellous things about the internet from its very early days was the forums it created for people who write.

I discovered a newsgroup, rec.arts.sf.composition, that attracted published and successful authors, neophytes, and every stage in between. Discussions were wide-ranging and quite fascinating. It was an open forum where anyone could post. Like most of Usenet, it's past it's heyday now, but a core group hangs out there and starts interesting conversations. It's still a nice place to visit.

Except that nowadays, there are blizzards of spam. Most of it, as far as I can gauge, comes from China-based merchants selling brandname knockoffs. But the effect is that the signal to noise ratio often falls to such low levels that the newgroup is barely functional.

The online magazine I read most regularly is Strange Horizons (which is updated each week). It has a forum in which readers comment on what they've read. It used to be an open forum, but after a spam-attack, it was modified to require a sign-in. But in the last few days, spammers have found a way to beat the sign-ins, and the forum is spam-jammed.

Sadly, the only way to prevent the corruption of any open forum seems to be active policing. One of my net-homes is Absolutewrite.com, which seems like a public forum, but it's not really. It's owned and operated by McAllister Stone. It requires membership (which is free) and so would seem Spam-proof. Only the other night, though, I watched hundred of Spam messages zinging in through the defenses.

An hour later, they had all been deleted. AbsoluteWrite has a virtual police force, operating round the clock (by being in different time zones). AFAIK, they're all volunteers. They fight spam and keep order in the halls. AW remains available to writers who want information, advice, or just a place to talk with other writers.

This is so different from the spam-choked places on the net, where the spam has overrun whatever content used to exist.

I liked unmoderated forums in principle. I worry that the sheer labor required to keep forums spam-free will mean fewer such forums. I mourn for the places we had before. But in the co-evolution of signal and noise, I think they're the casualties.