The framework that I like to think in is "desirables vs undesirables":

Ideally it should be up to the territory founder to decide what is desirable for territory (in the bounds of what is desirable for SN).

I really think in that case, the owner should just increase the fee. Let's say someone made 1 post per day with a cost of 100 sats.

At the current sats/USD (~2348), that would end up with a final monthly cost of ~3100 sats or $1.34 USD/month.

Most people aren't posting that often. I personally think posting fees should be higher than that. If a user wants to complain about that cost, then they can stop posting or create better quality content to increase their ROI.

Interesting. I did not consider them to be bots at first, but now that I think of it, a few recent posts in my territory ~education have been very random....and not necessarily adding any value at all. Makes sense that they're farming sats, as I've been zapping them too. But now I will stop. And I do agree that we should all be raising our cost to post. Value for value. It will ensure that all posts are meaningful, and not spam/farming. I've kept ~polls at 250 sats from the start, and users still post to it...and many times they are earning WAY more than 250 sats back from zaps of their post. So it's worth it for them. Don't be shy about raising the cost to post in your territory. It's your territory and you pay for it. If there's a market for your territory, it will come.

I have some random spam posts in my territory ~Outdoors as well. I have mine set at 50 sats.

The tip about not just zapping everything is a good idea. POW will be promoted in my territory.

What do you think @NEED_btc_

In ~crypto, I have the problem that people seem to think it's about everything around cryptocurrencies. It can also be about cryptocurrencies (since they have "crypto" in their name) but I want to establish that territory to mainly be about cryptography. So if you have something to say regarding the cryptography part of cryptocurrencies, you're welcome.

But I don't consider this to be the territory where to post about other aspects of these coins (like "crypto ETFs"; where "crypto" is used the most or "crypto politics").

So this problem isn't necessarily related to bots or AI generated posts. It's more a problem about people mistaking one place for another. However, I still mentioned this even though this weekly post is about "sat farmers" because I am also trying to tackle this with increasing posting fees:

So my way to not deter "honest actors" (in my case, people who realize ~crypto is about cryptography) is to refund the posting fees. Have you (or other people in this thread) already considered doing this?

Regarding this:

I am really hesitant to do this because of the censorship concerns (as you mentioned yourself). Even though you could say that "my territory, my rules", I want to be welcoming and have an open mind. I might feel different about obvious sat farming though. But even there, I am not sure how sure I need to be to actively defend against such behavior.

So enforcing my views too much, is something I am actively trying to avoid. I hope that over time, this approach of rewarding the users which post the content I want to see will be enough. But I don't know yet. Let's see.

It's tough to tell honestly. Like as an example, the daily discussion thread in music is where I'd like any and all individual tracks people want to post to be posted. But I'm not going to stop someone posting it individually to the sub. It could be bots sat farming. But it could be someone who just prefers to drop a track and walk off not wanting to use the daily discussion thread (I may not understand the logic, but they do them.) I think I'd struggle to pick out the difference between a sat farming bot and a person honestly and I don't want to discourage people from posting by accusing them of being sat farmers. So for now... It's just a wait and see approach from me.

I am not having the issue (yet?), but I do like your approach

Increase fees if you feel your territory is being abused. Do welcome same posts in different territories if looking for different opinions. Mine is more of a odd one so dont expect much anyway. Also I am trying not to be the sole poster in a starting mine as to not force discussion haha.

Just started the Nix_OS territory. I'd increase the fee to 150 if I start seeing bots, and decrease it a bit every day until you see bots again. I'm thinking it would help determine the cost of spam prevention.

Ignoring is a good call. I’ve been sick so haven’t been super active but I figure spam has a cost and ultimately it will lose out. That’s part of the beauty of the concept.

Wish to have this issue in the ~Agora and find the way to solve it 🤔 Curret cost is 2 sats... new territory, so no much activity anyway!

This is the way... and also love the Let the sats do the moderation. approach

I haven't come across this I have to say..

What's the point in them posting the same thing multiple times? Aren't they just cannibalizing their own content? Seems crazy

Thanks for forwarding the sats to me. They'll be wisely spent tipping good content ;)

Unless you raised the fee to post in all areas but kept one area completely free

You could see who and what people are posting and most likely the bots would congregate there

I've noticed the surge of sat farmers in the sports territory. Ignoring and downzapping seems effective.

Hey Territory Founders, I've noticed a surge of sat farmers in the sports territory. Any strategies to combat this? -GR