Themis-Athena's Garden of Books

I've been thinking about this.

Spam is the bane of our existence. We all hate it. We all want it to go away.

Spammers love our attention, whether it be positive or negative. The more we respond to spammers, the happier they are and the more they want to keep posting here.

In light of the fact that for all intents and purposes this community is entirely without moderators who can deal with spam and delete spam accounts, here is what we should do with spammers: We should make this place as uninviting as possible for spammers, a place where they are entirely ignored.

1. DO NOT respond to them. Do not add a comment to any discussion.Do not comment on any post. Do not engage. Period. (Yes, I know this is hard but don't do it! Not even to warn others that we have a new spammer; we are smart enough to figure it out for ourselves.)

2. DO NOT block them unless they are following you, because to block them you have to follow them first and following is engaging.

3. The only reason to visit a spammy looking discussion is to change the notification setting to "no notifications" -- and then only when you receive a notification. Out of sight, out of mind.

4. Check your follower page regularly and block spammers.

5. DO NOT keep returning to spam discussions. Do not add to the visitor count. Do not feed the spammer ego. Make this place as unfriendly as possible.

The more of us who follow the non-engagement plan, the less inviting we will become.

If you think this plan will work, please feel free to pass it along. The more times this is re-blogged, the more active members will see it --and maybe even a few spammers.