Some users and I have noticed a few posts here--and across other win pages--have been created by brand new accounts, which will likely never post again. I've seen them called spam, bots, and shills, but the posts here are usually on-topic for this board, anyway. Ones that aren't can be properly reported and presumably removed in good time.
So, is this really a problem? If so, what should be done? This board is essentially founded upon anti-censorship sentiment. Auto-modding is a no-go (I think). If it isn't a problem, I'll ask this in some fairness to those seeing a problem: how much is too much? How will you be able to tell and still be able to fix it? Tagging u/DomitiusOfMassilia. I see you've been removing some days-old posts like these recently. Is there an unwritten rule that users should be participants of their respective communities before making posts?
Yes it does seem to be an issue. I enacted this policy, actually at the recommendation of some of the users many months ago. I've yet to see any stringent objections to it, because when I actually follow through with enforcing it in a timely manner, there seem to have been no significant downsides.
Typically one-time posters that normally have specific agendas that they are attempting to "slide" the forum towards. In many cases, it's people who are already banned for rule violations, but in other cases, it's clearly advocates and activists who are trying to push specific agendas. This has occurred for anti-Ukraine, pro-Ukraine, pro-Trump, anti-Trump, and many other posts that have specific agendas towards some kind of hot topic.
It does get pretty bad when not brought under control, it's one of the reasons we have a 5 post daily maximum. Back on Reddit, we had a user that was effectively a shared Tulsi election advocacy account. That user and Andredal were posting upwards of 30 posts every single day, each. It was really out of control from only two people.
Genuine community engagement is the best defense against this action because it's a horrific waste of time for a shill. Spending 30 days commenting both enables the users to make judgements on the individual engaging with them, and it also allows them to make mistakes, all while not effectively sliding the forum.
How I handle it, is that if it's a post that instantly breaks the rules, and user is new and has no history, I treat it as a "Border Control Violation", and they get banned. This is normally the easiest way to deal with infiltrators, subversives, and activists coming into the board and weaponizing it. This also is the favorite tactic of people whom are already banned. This also goes for people who are pure shills and are just advertising.
If the user seems to be commenting on something that is relevant to the forum's interests, I'll just give them a warning and expect them to particpate going forwards.