REMINDER - How To Deal With Spammers

[Tom]

Just a reminder about spammers. I have noticed that the spammers have also started to post onto regular posts trying to see if their automated attempts are successful or not. Every time you reply to a post that they have posted too, they can get a reply, letting them know that they were successful.

I see that spammers are starting to get through many forums techniques to stop them again. It is about to happen because they want to do it .

On another forum I read a post that was very well put and informative so I will put it here for you all to have a read and understand why it is bad to reply to a spammers post even if it is to make fun of them.

Quote:
Hey folks.

Quite often I see people here on the off topic forum replying to what is an obvious spam message. This is usually a very bad idea.

Spammers use automated software to try to create accounts and post their messages on online bulletin boards that use some of the more common BB software packages, which is the case with the BROL board. Once the spammer's software manages to create an account, it then tries to find some of the more common board names, such as "off topic" or "general", and it posts a test message there. You can usually recognize these test messages since they contain no mention of recumbents or even anything relating to cycling, and the entire tone of the message is very generic. Additionally, you can see that the user will have a brand-new account and that generic message is their first post.

So why not reply to these messages? Because once you reply, the spammer receives the standard "so and so has reply to your message" email, which is the confirmation they need that this board is vulnerable to their attacks.

So if you see a message from a brand new account, using very generic language, or just an obvious spam, don't reply to it. That's exactly what the spammers want. instead, you can report the spam to the moderators by clicking on the "report bad post" on the top right of each message (under the icon) whenever you see spam.

Cheers.


If we all work together to help Peter and Excalibur, we can win the battle against spammers.

_________________
Tom

[wabi]

I see some old threads have been revived by spammers, too.
I think I liked it better when it took pre-authorization to become a member. Might be a bit of a wait to join, but it pretty well eliminated the spam.

[Mechanical Advantage]

Being pretty new to computers and forums, I dont understand what they are trying to accomplish? Most of the stuff seems to be jiberish and not making sense. Even the possible ads are unintelligable to me.

[one shot scott]

Having a daily forum member whos sole job is to keep ontop of the spammers would help the forum alot. Peter and Mr T are very busy guys who cannot do it on a daily basis and spam tends to build up.

I wonder if these spammers get paid everytime someone clicks on one of their links in their signature?

[Tom]

ttt

[OkXbowHunter]

I wonder if these spammers get paid everytime someone clicks on one of their links in their signature?

It depends on what type of program (affiliate program) they belong too. Fewer and fewer programs are paying for clicks these days. More and more are going to pay per action or pay per sale.

Legitimate companies frown on spamming and will usually ban a person who spams using their links.

Shady companies don't care if you hit 100k people with spam emails or blast a spam post to 500 forums.

[Tom]

ttt

People ............. Remember that the more you reply to a spam, the more you get get spam. I know that it could be very difficult to do, but lets show some restraint and just ignore them.

[Tom]

This is an OLD THREAD, but it should be viewed again by all.

Tom

[Tom]

I am not sure I understand your question. I hope this does answer for you. Below is an excerpt from the top of this thread.

So why not reply to these messages? Because once you reply, the spammer receives the standard "so and so has reply to your message" email, which is the confirmation they need that this board is vulnerable to their attacks.

So if you see a message from a brand new account, using very generic language, or just an obvious spam, don't reply to it. That's exactly what the spammers want. instead, you can report the spam to the moderators by clicking on the "report bad post" on the top right of each message (under the icon) whenever you see spam.

When you set up an account for a forum, you can set it up so that when ever someone posts in your tread, you get a reply that "so & so replied to your tread". These are tell tales for spammers to know if they are getting into forums, past securities of the forums.

Tom

[Boomer81]

To report a message you feel is spam. Hit the button next to the subject line on the right side that looks like a yield sign with a red exclamation point in it. It is next to the "Quote" button.

[Doe Master]

Yes . Please .