Give Us The Ability to Delete Junk Data and Spam From Polls

[marahmarie]

Title:
Give Us The Ability to Delete Junk Data and Spam From Polls

Area:
Polls/Entries

Summary:
Someone just spammed/trolled/junk data'd my poll at http://www.dreamwidth.org/poll/?id=17242. I'm not sure why anyone would do so, and of course we have zero power over what people post as answers in the polls. But if we at least had the power to either delete unwanted data or report it and have it deleted by Dreamwidth staff, this would be immensely helpful.

Description:
I've only ever posted a few polls and the most recent one is the first to suffer from a junk data problem from an anonymous user who used my poll's various text fields to 1) spam, 2) write in junk data and 3) otherwise trample upon the spirit and intention of my poll. Of course as soon as I saw what this user had done I looked for a way to remove their input but was unable to do so.

I'm not sure why anyone would spam and otherwise post junk answers in a poll. But if we at least had the power to either delete unwanted data, or else report it and have it deleted by Dreamwidth staff, this would be immensely helpful.

Poll #18015 Give Us The Ability to Delete Junk Data and Spam From Polls

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 37

View Respondents

This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
14 (37.8%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
15 (40.5%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
0 (0.0%)

(I have no opinion)
8 (21.6%)

(Other: please comment)
0 (0.0%)

Comments

[zaluzianskya]

Yikes, I didn't even realize spammers did that.

This would be a great option to have, but some people might wind up using it to delete legitimate responses. There should be a really simple way to report spam in polls to the antispam team so they can clean it up! (This also goes for posts, comments, etc. I know we can report in a support ticket, but that's so many extra clicks.)

[kerravonsen]

I agree; if it were possible for people to edit polls, some people would abuse it. So I think it's best if there's some easy (one-click) way of reporting a spammed poll to the antispam team, so that they, as neutral parties, can clean them up.

[melannen]

This.

[azurelunatic]

I'd like a poll that has had items deleted show a note along the lines of "X responses were deleted from this question."

The user should be able to mark any deleted item as spam while deleting it (to go with the way comments and private messages are handled), and the anti-spam crew can validate it as spam from the spam queue.

The person running the poll can then explain the deletions, in the post or comments, if they wish.

I believe I've once heard of a spammer filling out a radio button/checkbox poll, to draw attention to its journal, but those may be more rare. Reporting them to antispam manually would probably work, if it remains rare?

If suspended users aren't already removed from poll results, they should be.

[anaraine]

I think it's a little overkill to report junk data to anti-spam and put the onus of cleaning up the poll on them - this seems much more reasonable. The author of the poll can delete at will, but the people taking the poll can also know that there are answers that have been deleted - and let the author explain if they like. (Which is not to say that there shouldn't be some sort of spam tickybox available when you're deleting junk data, to send relevant data on to the proper authorities - that would be fine.)

[azurelunatic]

It's really fun when the team hears about new and innovative ways of spamming!

[marahmarie]

At your service, LOL. :)

[denise]

I'm pretty sure suspended users' comments are removed from polls, but there's no way to get rid of anon spam answers.

[montuos]

+1

[turlough]

+1

[coprime]

+1

[sporky_rat]

I am concerned about abuse with the removal of legit data. I would definitely agree that if it's junk/spam, there should be a way to report that.

[brainwane]

Seconding this.

My "with changes" suggestions

[archangelbeth]

If the poll has a "X answers deleted" as others mentioned -- or perhaps a "screen answers" option? Like, if you click through the Screened Answers, you can see whether they're legit or spam for yourself, and see the fouled (or un-fouled, if you think the poller deleted in bad faith) results?

Clicking through would obviously be caveat emptor, and if someone is using a poll/survey to do nasty harassment it might be good if admin had a way to excise something for the edge-cases, but it seems like Screen This User's Responses and a way to View Screened Responses might handle both regular spamming and the risk of bad-faith pollers.

Re: My "with changes" suggestions

[marahmarie]

If the "screen answers" option has a "report spam" option I guess that could work. I'm very (as the anti-spam team might know by now, as I've reported Many Things over the years) very anti-spam, so I'd absolutely want an option to report spam data (an option that currently doesn't exist).

If the poll has a "X answers deleted"

I'd worry that someone posting junk data (as opposed to pure spam) was trolling for attention, so if they knew their answer(s) could still be viewed through "view deleted" I'd worry that would still give them some of the attention/distraction-causing ability they so desire. So, eh...

Re: My "with changes" suggestions

[alyndra]

This seems reasonable.

Re: My "with changes" suggestions

[marahmarie]

Looking at it again, and since becoming familiar with something called "the grays" on other websites in the time since I suggested this, a "click to show deleted or screened" option might not be so bad as "the grays" are usually the equivalent of being downvoted/buried (we don't have downvotes here either, though, so considering the grays a downvote would take a leap of imagination). But I'm still not fond of the idea of people getting attention they don't deserve and the comment (or junk data) existing and viewable at all still gives them that.

Of all the ideas here, I like the "report to anti-spam team and let them decide" idea the best, as it keeps any particular user from appearing to be driven by less than pure motives. :)