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SICK TO DEATH OF SPAM POSTS AND REPLIES ARGHHHHHH!

by goindeep
53 replies
Seriously what is going on!?

Almost every second thread now days has those pesky replies from some user with about 12 posts that is rambling something totally incomprehensible and obviously just trying to get their post count up!

Someone will ask a direct question, i.e. How Do I Forward My Domain?

Those pesky replies will look something like this: Yes, good day on you sir, you have a very much great idea and we look forward to reading this thread on your topic.

WTF!?

What do we do about it?

I understand that people want to get their post count up so they can send PM's, add a signature link so on and so forth. I also understand people run a business and they need to pay for people to post on their behalf.

This is all legit, but I mean c'mon guys. You are doing this at the cost of spamming the forum, making it a pain in the bum to read the threads, giving OP's a headache and making yourself look like douches!

Can we somehow flag these posts and if so, what happens?

Cheers

-Andrei
#arghhhhhh #death #posts #replies #sick #spam
  • Profile picture of the author Tina Golden
    See that little red triangle over there to the left of each post? Use it.
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    • Profile picture of the author JSProjects
      Originally Posted by Tina Golden View Post

      See that little red triangle over there to the left of each post? Use it.
      That'd be great if the spam posts weren't so rampant and flooding half of the threads on the board.
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  • Profile picture of the author SEOFocused
    Originally Posted by Andrei Rotariu View Post

    Those pesky replies will look something like this: Yes, good day on you sir, you have a very much great idea and we look forward to reading this thread on your topic.
    i hear you! if you see a post like that where the post has nothing remotely close to OP, then it is only obvious that the post was made randomly with some automated forum spamming tool. those spam tools are so sophisticated these days that they often are able to bypass lot of forum security measures.

    what can we do? well, not much from our end. flagging those posts will not do any good as they are bot created and they dont care if their accounts get flagged. only hope forums/forum script developers come up with better anti-spam measures.
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    • Profile picture of the author Gail_Curran
      The only thing you can and should do is report the posts using the red triangle, as Tina mentioned.

      Any reported posts get seen and dealt with by a mod. What you may not realize is that if several regular members report the same post, that post will "disappear" from view, even before a mod has a chance to permanently delete it. This benefits the forum and reduces the exposure that the spammer gets.

      If you don't bother to report posts, you don't have the right to complain about spammers.

      .
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      • Profile picture of the author goindeep
        Originally Posted by Gail_Curran View Post

        The only thing you can and should do is report the posts using the red triangle, as Tina mentioned.

        Any reported posts get seen and dealt with by a mod. What you may not realize is that if several regular members report the same post, that post will "disappear" from view, even before a mod has a chance to permanently delete it. This benefits the forum and reduces the exposure that the spammer gets.

        If you don't bother to report posts, you don't have the right to complain about spammers.

        .
        Hi and thanks for the reply.

        I guess I should of worded my OP better.

        What i'm getting at is a point you raised about what the moderators do when they see these as flagged.

        Do they just delete the post or do they also investigate the user account?

        It seems that it's a fair bit of work.
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        • Profile picture of the author TheArticlePros
          Originally Posted by Andrei Rotariu View Post

          Hi and thanks for the reply.

          I guess I should of worded my OP better.

          What i'm getting at is a point you raised about what the moderators do when they see these as flagged.

          Do they just delete the post or do they also investigate the user account?

          It seems that it's a fair bit of work.
          When something hits my "spam meter," the first thing that I do is to look at the user's post history. If they have 21 posts, and I can scroll down and see that every single one of them is the same post, then I'll hit the red triangle and report that "user has made 21 identical posts in the last XX hours/minutes" to try and help the mods out a little. It only takes a second to check, so I don't mind doing it.

          -- j
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          • Profile picture of the author mindreaderwriter
            Banned
            Originally Posted by JaRyCu View Post

            When something hits my "spam meter," the first thing that I do is to look at the user's post history. If they have 21 posts, and I can scroll down and see that every single one of them is the same post, then I'll hit the red triangle and report that "user has made 21 identical posts in the last XX hours/minutes" to try and help the mods out a little. It only takes a second to check, so I don't mind doing it.
            -- j
            I concur Jarycu's actions. Whenever I see that almost all threads have been updated by a common ID, I immediately check the thread's history of the potentially spamming OP. If all posts are exactly the same, I report the OP. I don't give an infraction. I report it right away.
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        • Profile picture of the author Paul Myers
          Andrei,
          Do they just delete the post or do they also investigate the user account?
          Depends on the report. Jason's suggestion helps a lot. We get some that are so vague we don't have anything to go on.

          Example: Someone reported a WSO the other day with nothing in the report but the word "SCAM!" Looked at the thread, and the person reporting it never posted in it. The reviews were positive by about 8:1 (rough estimate), with some good reviews from people I know to be fairly critical, and not affiliates for the offer. No unresolved issues in the thread.

          I PM'd the guy and asked what he meant. No response.

          On the flip side, a report with just the necessary details can get things done quickly.

          To echo what Gail said, as a general comment, if you don't report problems, don't expect them to get resolved. We see people griping all the time who don't bother telling the mods what's going on. Some of the problems are very real, but if we don't know they're happening, we can't address them. And we don't read even a significant percentage of all the posts in this forum. It's just not possible.

          Perfect example: Got a report the other day about a guy flooding a WSO thread with complaints. He had posted a review, in which he also asked for a refund. He posted no less than 7 times after that, all complaining about how crooked everyone in the industry is, and how the moderators shouldn't be protecting the guy, etc.

          I left the initial review posted, deleted the rest, and PM'd the seller. Refund was sent within the hour. The seller wasn't paying much attention to the thread, since he'd closed the offer two weeks before and had a clearly identified support desk listed in the OP and several later posts.

          Had the customer used the proper channel, or even reported the issue to the mods, he wouldn't have ended up looking like such a jerk, and he'd have gotten things straightened out a lot earlier.

          People like that perpetuate all sorts of stupid ideas about this forum and the business in general. They scream like children, and when they find out they were being stupid, it's too late to fix the damage they've done. And the people who read their venom use that as the basis to interpret any future problem as some sort of evil conspiracy.

          An example of the proper way to handle an issue: Guy buys a product and finds that it is NOT what he thought he was being promised. (Legitimate complaint. The copy was... unclear, to put it mildly.) He asked the seller for a refund, and was ignored. He waited 3 days, and then posted a polite request in the WSO thread. He was told via PM that he wasn't getting anything unless he deleted his post from the WSO.

          The WSO was closed, and the seller was banned, with a note to contact the help desk AFTER he handled the refund.

          Spam is a whole other thing. Report it and it goes away. We regularly see reports about mindless drivel in the SEO section. When we look, we'll often notice that there's a chain of link-droppers in the thread. We've banned as many as a dozen people in situations like that, based on a single report. (Maybe more. 12 is the most I've done from a single thread, but the other mods may have hit bigger crap piles.)

          Just report it. If it's obviously spam, all you need to include is the word "spam" in the report. Cookie stuffers? Just say that.

          It's easy, and it doesn't take a lot of time.


          Paul
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          • Profile picture of the author Claire Koch
            kudos Paul on the jumping up and down like a bangie remark and then realizing you were wrong.

            I bought a offline report 2 years ago I HATED, but I just left it alone. Today I opened it and though man thats a good idea.

            I have grown since then and know more. If I had asked for a refund or inappropriately complained I'd be pretty rude to use that WSO today.

            You're right we need to think before we act.

            Originally Posted by Paul Myers View Post

            Andrei,Depends on the report. Jason's suggestion helps a lot. We get some that are so vague we don't have anything to go on.

            Example: Someone reported a WSO the other day with nothing in the report but the word "SCAM!" Looked at the thread, and the person reporting it never posted in it. The reviews were positive by about 8:1 (rough estimate), with some good reviews from people I know to be fairly critical, and not affiliates for the offer. No unresolved issues in the thread.

            I PM'd the guy and asked what he meant. No response.

            On the flip side, a report with just the necessary details can get things done quickly.

            To echo what Gail said, as a general comment, if you don't report problems, don't expect them to get resolved. We see people griping all the time who don't bother telling the mods what's going on. Some of the problems are very real, but if we don't know they're happening, we can't address them. And we don't read even a significant percentage of all the posts in this forum. It's just not possible.

            Perfect example: Got a report the other day about a guy flooding a WSO thread with complaints. He had posted a review, in which he also asked for a refund. He posted no less than 7 times after that, all complaining about how crooked everyone in the industry is, and how the moderators shouldn't be protecting the guy, etc.

            I left the initial review posted, deleted the rest, and PM'd the seller. Refund was sent within the hour. The seller wasn't paying much attention to the thread, since he'd closed the offer two weeks before and had a clearly identified support desk listed in the OP and several later posts.

            Had the customer used the proper channel, or even reported the issue to the mods, he wouldn't have ended up looking like such a jerk, and he'd have gotten things straightened out a lot earlier.

            People like that perpetuate all sorts of stupid ideas about this forum and the business in general. They scream like children, and when they find out they were being stupid, it's too late to fix the damage they've done. And the people who read their venom use that as the basis to interpret any future problem as some sort of evil conspiracy.

            An example of the proper way to handle an issue: Guy buys a product and finds that it is NOT what he thought he was being was promised. (Legitimate complaint. The copy was... unclear, to put it mildly.) He asked the seller for a refund, and was ignored. He waited 3 days, and then posted a polite request in the WSO thread. He was told via PM that he wasn't getting anything unless he deleted his post from the WSO.

            The WSO was closed, and the seller was banned, with a note to contact the help desk AFTER he handled the refund.

            Spam is a whole other thing. Report it and it goes away. We regularly see reports about mindless drivel in the SEO section. When we look, we'll often notice that there's a chain of link-droppers in the thread. We've banned as many as a dozen people in situations like that, based on a single report. (Maybe more. 12 is the most I've done from a single thread, but the other mods may have hit bigger crap piles.)

            Just report it. If it's obviously spam, all you need to include is the word "spam" in the report. Cookie stuffers? Just say that.

            It's easy, and it doesn't take a lot of time.


            Paul
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            • Profile picture of the author Paul Myers
              Claire,

              I've been doing a lot of digging into a couple of subjects recently. Bought a few WSOs on them, along with products outside the forum and general research.

              One of the products I bought here was really, really basic. So much so that I felt like I was ripped off. So, I did a reality check. Went back and re-read the salesletter.

              The product delivered on every single promise made. I was applying my standards for product development, rather than looking at what I'd been told I'd get.

              My bad. Flat out, no excuses, no complaints.

              We all make the mistake occasionally of confusing our expectations with the promises made in sales copy. It's normal. Where a lot of people go wrong is blaming the seller for not meeting their unfounded expectations. They aren't responsible for that. Just their own promises.

              Just that one thing is probably responsible for half the complaints people have with things they buy. And not just online.

              Okay. So I drifted.


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              • Profile picture of the author Kurt
                Originally Posted by Paul Myers View Post

                Claire,

                I've been doing a lot of digging into a couple of subjects recently. Bought a few WSOs on them, along with products outside the forum and general research.

                One of the products I bought here was really, really basic. So much so that I felt like I was ripped off. So, I did a reality check. Went back and re-read the salesletter.

                The product delivered on every single promise made. I was applying my standards for product development, rather than looking at what I'd been told I'd get.

                My bad. Flat out, no excuses, no complaints.

                We all make the mistake occasionally of confusing our expectations with the promises made in sales copy. It's normal. Where a lot of people go wrong is blaming the seller for not meeting their unfounded expectations. They aren't responsible for that. Just their own promises.

                Just that one thing is probably responsible for half the complaints people have with things they buy. And not just online.

                Okay. So I drifted.


                Paul
                To me, this is the real point I try to respect as both a buyer and a seller.

                The responsibility of the seller is to live up to what is promised in the sales letter, not the expectations of the buyer. The seller actually has no/little contol over the expectations of the buyers.

                I remember I bought a script once. I hoped it would do something. This function wasn't mentioned in the sales letter. After I bought and installed it, I found it didn't do what I wanted.

                However, this wasn't the sellers fault, it was me "wishing" it would do something...Because of this, I didn't ask for a refund because the script did what the seller said it would. It just didn't do what I HOPED it would. My fault, not his.
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          • Profile picture of the author Ken Strong
            Originally Posted by Paul Myers View Post

            Just report it. If it's obviously spam, all you need to include is the word "spam" in the report. Cookie stuffers? Just say that.
            And if someone's making a whole bunch of spam posts, you don't need to report every single post. Just pick one and report it, and say that there a bunch more by that person to be taken care of.
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            • Profile picture of the author Joseph Robinson
              Banned
              Originally Posted by Ken Strong View Post

              And if someone's making a whole bunch of spam posts, you don't need to report every single post. Just pick one and report it, and say that there a bunch more by that person to be taken care of.
              This I didn't know. I would report multiple posts and after awhile try to think of interesting things to add along with "Check out this spam" .
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      • Profile picture of the author mogulmedia
        Originally Posted by Gail_Curran View Post

        Any reported posts get seen and dealt with by a mod. What you may not realize is that if several regular members report the same post, that post will "disappear" from view, even before a mod has a chance to permanently delete it.
        Wow, I didn't realise that. Very cool idea so definitely worth flagging posts if it only takes a few people to get it removed automatically...
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  • Profile picture of the author Mark Singletary
    Yes potatoes are good and I believe you can get top good rankings for that if you try depending on your willingness to help a friend in need.

    I hope you much success with your topics.
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    • Profile picture of the author Kurt
      Originally Posted by Mark Singletary View Post

      Yes potatoes are good and I believe you can get top good rankings for that if you try depending on your willingness to help a friend in need.

      I hope you much success with your topics.
      Thank you for your share.
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    • Profile picture of the author Brandon Tanner
      Originally Posted by Mark Singletary View Post

      Yes potatoes are good and I believe you can get top good rankings for that if you try depending on your willingness to help a friend in need.

      I hope you much success with your topics.
      Oh, yeah?

      The scooby snack teaches the tornado. Any lover can share a shower with the cloud formation inside the tomato, but it takes a real recliner to bury the moldy globule. A tape recorder seeks a sandwich. When you see the ski lodge, it means that the tattered customer goes to sleep. The underhandedly fractured mortician secretly plans an escape from a nearest industrial complex a fire hydrant, and the plaintiff from the cashier makes love to a carelessly nuclear tape recorder.

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    • Profile picture of the author goindeep
      Originally Posted by Mark Singletary View Post

      Yes potatoes are good and I believe you can get top good rankings for that if you try depending on your willingness to help a friend in need.

      I hope you much success with your topics.
      It was only a matter of time
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    • Profile picture of the author cjreynolds
      Originally Posted by Mark Singletary View Post

      Yes potatoes are good and I believe you can get top good rankings for that if you try depending on your willingness to help a friend in need.

      I hope you much success with your topics.
      You've been commenting on my blog, HAVEN'T YOU??!!
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      I just added this sig so I can refer to it in my posts...

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      • Profile picture of the author The 13th Warrior
        I don't know which is worse, the spam posts or the spam testimonials.

        Some wso comes out, and 12 "spam type" testimonials come from people , half who have not made a purchase, give it glowing reviews and/or vouching for the reputation of the maker of said product, and you notice all have joined within the last month or sooner, with 6 to 18 posts.

        That smells like road kill marinated in the sun outside for several weeks.

        Sewage.

        It would be nice if Warrior Forum did like Amazon..., you can quickly choose to view the 1 star, 2 star or 5 star ratings to get quickly get a feel of the overall product, and not drudge thru reading the 5 star reviews to get to those more balanced.


        The 13th Warrior
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael D Forbes
    I was so tempted, but Mark beat me to it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Claire Koch
    Think about it we're actually better off here then in society as A whole the serial killers arn't on The WF right? Puts another swing on the problem. Be greatful and happy for small problems and try to stay cool. *-)

    besides you have to realize as a great marketer you're a target. For some reason they come after us somebody somewhere should devise a plan to turn that around. And I don't mean use spam on your blog to make millions. Although I think thaT was one attempt. I dgress oh yeah its scammers not spammers.

    as you can see all you who are upset after awhile its' like 'oh yeah them'.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mark Singletary
    The real point of the last few posts is that it's not worth worrying about since it's almost impossible to stop. Report the posts and move on.

    I used to let all these little things bother me too and it took a lot out of me mentally, physically, and financially (since I was broke because I was worrying so much about what other people were doing wrong instead of doing what I knew I needed to be doing for me).

    I'd advise anyone to not make that same mistake.

    Mark
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    • Profile picture of the author tryinhere
      Originally Posted by Mark Singletary View Post

      The real point of the last few posts is that it's not worth worrying about since it's almost impossible to stop. Report the posts and move on.

      I used to let all these little things bother me too and it took a lot out of me mentally, physically, and financially (since I was broke because I was worrying so much about what other people were doing wrong instead of doing what I knew I needed to be doing for me).

      I'd advise anyone to not make that same mistake.

      Mark
      Along the same lines and in the spirit of spam, I was going to report what I call news spam, on a personal side these news spam people are in open view and really if they can sit here and post nothing but news links daily then why can not any one sit here and post any links daily.

      You can not tell me these people are for real ? all they do is post the latest headline with a few tags, thats it, they are like the internets storm chasers posting the latest news for what ever publication they choose.

      No real person does that, and one made a post re xyz then of course people replied and has now filled that thread with every link related to xyz from that news outlet.

      Pure news spam

      Now we have more, ? If i want to watch the news I will but to come here and just see blatant spam links redirected to news stories is bull crap piddle pot pie in a tea cup.

      We can imagine as other news sources pay other news spammers to rock up here, soon you will need to rename the off topic forum , the news room.

      And if these clowns can just post links to sites like that then it is justified anyone can just run around posting links in the off topic to any story on their site and get away with it.

      For example for every new post a person makes on their site they could add a link and offer no other value to this forum and post it up and it would have to stick or double standards are at play.

      As for the normal spam yes if we all pick up once piece of rubbish in play ground then it will help keep the yard clean. and yes get rid of the news spam.
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  • Profile picture of the author brunom
    That's XRumer for you. Even though it would be a bit annoying, you just need to ignore those.
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  • Profile picture of the author SuzanneH
    The *real* bonus that comes from reporting threads/posts is seeing the "Invalid thread specified" message, and knowing that your report (most likely) was the one that tipped things over to mods. ;-)

    Suzanne
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  • Profile picture of the author Brian Tayler
    We are moderators. Work together. Flag any spam posts. Give infractions.

    Otherwise we see crap like this:
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  • Profile picture of the author Robin Blinds
    YEAH GIDDAY MATE, you have a very much great idea and we look forward to reading this thread on your topic
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  • Profile picture of the author RobertCockram
    Can't say that I'v seen too many spam posts on the warriorforum... maybe I am looking at the wrong posts
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    • Profile picture of the author Tina Golden
      Originally Posted by Brian Tayler View Post

      We are moderators. Work together. Flag any spam posts. Give infractions.
      Don't give infractions for spam. That won't help. An infraction gives the poster a quick poke in the ribs and says you did something you shouldn't have. Spammers KNOW they're spamming; they just don't care. It isn't something the mods are ever going to see, for the most part.

      I only give infractions for signature violations so the person has the chance to clean them up before an official mod comes along and turns off their signature (or worse).

      Reports, on the other hand, have power on their own before a mod even sees them. If enough people report, the post disappears from the board. A mod will eventually see it and determine if the post should stay gone or not.

      The number of reports needed varies according to the member's status in the community, as far as I understand it, but generally requires at least 3 reports.
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      • Profile picture of the author Paul Myers
        Tina,
        Don't give infractions for spam. That won't help. An infraction gives the poster a quick poke in the ribs and says you did something you shouldn't have. Spammers KNOW they're spamming; they just don't care. It isn't something the mods are ever going to see, for the most part.
        Right. Giving infractions to spammers is a waste of time.

        One small correction: The mods DO see those. They come into the report queue as separate items. So, they have to be deleted, which is a small amount of extra time for us. Not a huge deal, but it's a pure waste. Infractions should be used when something isn't a big enough issue to believe the mods should get involved. A poke in the ribs, as you say, to nudge people to fix something on their own.

        Aside: For folks who think it's cool to use infractions as part of a "grudge match"... Not a good idea. We see those, and we will act on situations where two people start banging on each other with one infraction after another, or when one keeps sending repeated infractions to the same member.


        Paul
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        • Profile picture of the author Brian Tayler
          Originally Posted by Paul Myers View Post

          Tina,Right. Giving infractions to spammers is a waste of time.

          One small correction: The mods DO see those. They come into the report queue as separate items. So, they have to be deleted, which is a small amount of extra time for us. Not a huge deal, but it's a pure waste. Infractions should be used when something isn't a big enough issue to believe the mods should get involved. A poke in the ribs, as you say, to nudge people to fix something on their own.

          Aside: For folks who think it's cool to use infractions as part of a "grudge match"... Not a good idea. We see those, and we will act on situations where two people start banging on each other with one infraction after another, or when one keeps sending repeated infractions to the same member.


          Paul
          Paul,
          Good to know, I wasn't aware of that (concerning the infractions).

          So how do we go about taking care of a spammer when you and Allen may be away? Like the guy I posted a screenshot of earlier in this thread. He was posting his own threads, but also commenting in every thread with useless posts to increase post count.

          Since infractions don't do anything to stop the spammer, but reporting specific posts do... is there a way to "report" a user for all posts? Or does the system kick out a user after they've had a certain number of their posts flagged as spam?
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          • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
            Originally Posted by Paul Myers View Post


            In the rest of the forum, news threads are allowed at times, but if we see the same person posting them on a very regular basis, that could be frowned on. It really depends on the situation.


            Paul
            This is one of the things that keeps me coming back here. In a group as large and diverse as this one, iron-clad rules and zero-tolerance policies just wouldn't cut it.

            Add the cumulative experience (measured in decades) and judgment of the group of moderators, and we get what you see here.

            Bottom feeders and opportunists take their shots, but they usually get clobbered before they can do anything lethal.
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            • Profile picture of the author Paul Myers
              Brian,

              There's not much you can do except report them and wait. The problem with any serious user-triggered banning is the small but freakishly active group of nutballs we have here (like any large forum) who would use it maliciously on a regular basis.

              Not to mention what some people have been known to try in a fit of ego-based pique...

              John,
              In a group as large and diverse as this one, iron-clad rules and zero-tolerance policies just wouldn't cut it.
              Nope. ZT usually also stands for "zero thought." Meaning, the policy makers and enforcers don't want to have to make the effort of using judgement.


              Paul
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          • Profile picture of the author Nicola Lane
            Originally Posted by Brian Tayler View Post

            Since infractions don't do anything to stop the spammer, but reporting specific posts do... is there a way to "report" a user for all posts? Or does the system kick out a user after they've had a certain number of their posts flagged as spam?
            When you report one post tell the mod that you have looked up the posting history of the user and you have found and . . . - whatever it is you have found.

            Give the mods something to work with and they will.

            Just today I have reported a few users who needed banning - including in my note why the needed banning, and a few hours later - there they were banned!
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            • Profile picture of the author Brian Tayler
              Originally Posted by Nicola Lane View Post

              When you report one post tell the mod that you have looked up the posting history of the user and you have found and . . . - whatever it is you have found.

              Give the mods something to work with and they will.

              Just today I have reported a few users who needed banning - including in my note why the needed banning, and a few hours later - there they were banned!
              Yeah thats why I did the screen cap earlier. Just in case they got wise to delete their posts or something. It's an unfortunate side-effect of having a popular forum.
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  • Profile picture of the author misswahm
    Just out of curiosity...if 3 people report a POST as spam but the whole thread is not spam, does the whole THREAD get deleted? Because I have seen spam postings that were obvious spam but decided not to report them because I was afraid that I would get the whole thread deleted & didn't want to end the discussion of the folks who had not done anything wrong...What should one do in that situation?
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    • Profile picture of the author TheArticlePros
      Originally Posted by misswahm View Post

      Just out of curiosity...if 3 people report a POST as spam but the whole thread is not spam, does the whole THREAD get deleted? Because I have seen spam postings that were obvious spam but decided not to report them because I was afraid that I would get the whole thread deleted & didn't want to end the discussion of the folks who had not done anything wrong...What should one do in that situation?
      No. The mods delete just the post that was reported. My WFH thread gets spammed every single time I bump it from people who think they can up their post count with mindless drivel. I report them and the spam posts go away within a few minutes. The only time the thread gets nuked is if the OP is a spam post.

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  • Profile picture of the author Paul Myers
    misswahm,

    If enough people report a post, it only hides it. The mods still see the report, and can resurrect the post if they feel it appropriate. Doesn't happen often, and usually only if it's a policy thread they feel should be left open for discussion. The occasional "Why was my post deleted" thread that we allow to run is an example.

    Reporting will only hide an entire thread if the first post is the one hidden.

    Pete,
    Along the same lines and in the spirit of spam, I was going to report what I call news spam, on a personal side these news spam people are in open view and really if they can sit here and post nothing but news links daily then why can not any one sit here and post any links daily.
    Some of that is allowed in offtopic. The members there seem to enjoy those threads from time to time.

    In the rest of the forum, news threads are allowed at times, but if we see the same person posting them on a very regular basis, that could be frowned on. It really depends on the situation.


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  • Profile picture of the author Ettienne
    I've reported like a million of those already. It's obviously some idiot with a forum spambot.
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  • Profile picture of the author ignitewebsites
    Mark thanks for the good laugh. I'm sure Andrei laughed too.
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  • Profile picture of the author mojojuju
    Hi Andrei. Welcome to the internet.
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    :)

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  • Profile picture of the author Jeff Lenney
    Yes, good day on you sir, you have a very much great idea and we look forward to reading this thread on your topic.
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  • Profile picture of the author Berg Canon
    New user basically been here only 2 days but spent a lot of hours in here in those 2 days and I haven't seen a single spam so whatever you're doing is working great.
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    • Profile picture of the author Tina Golden
      Originally Posted by The 13th Warrior View Post

      Some wso comes out, and 12 "spam type" testimonials come from people , half who have not made a purchase, give it glowing reviews and/or vouching for the reputation of the maker of said product, and you notice all have joined within the last month or sooner, with 6 to 18 posts.
      I'm sure some of these are pure crap, but you do realize that many of us release a product first to our email subscribers? Some of the testimonials are going to be because of that or because the seller gave out some review copies.

      Not all of these people are going to have a ton of posts on the forum and some even join just to post their endorsement.

      Nothing wrong with that at all.

      You have no way of knowing whether those people purchased or not. You are just assuming, because like a lot of other people here, you forget that the product could have been being sold well before a WSO is posted.

      Originally Posted by Joe Robinson View Post

      This I didn't know. I would report multiple posts and after awhile try to think of interesting things to add along with "Check out this spam" .
      OMG, Joe - I do that. Sometimes I just can't help myself and I vent a bit; other times I'm just in a smartass mood and hope to make the mod chuckle a bit, at least.
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      • Profile picture of the author Joseph Robinson
        Banned
        Originally Posted by Tina Golden View Post

        OMG, Joe - I do that. Sometimes I just can't help myself and I vent a bit; other times I'm just in a smartass mood and hope to make the mod chuckle a bit, at least.
        I like to ask questions in the hope that one time they'll get answered lol. Stuff like "how's your day going?" "you must hate this guy huh?" "do you like me?"
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        • Profile picture of the author elcomandante
          Thank you for this informative post. I shall continue to subscribe and will be sure to wish for a happiness day to you good sir!





          Just kidding - couldn't help myself.

          I know you guys don't hire moderators here, but maybe you could sticky a thread and ask for volunteers. I know of several large forums that are moderated very effectively by volunteers.
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          • Profile picture of the author Joseph Robinson
            Banned
            Originally Posted by elcomandante View Post

            I know you guys don't hire moderators here, but maybe you could sticky a thread and ask for volunteers. I know of several large forums that are moderated very effectively by volunteers.
            We already do that. This forum is largely member moderated. Go read the stickies at the top of this section .
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            • Profile picture of the author tpw
              Originally Posted by elcomandante View Post

              I know you guys don't hire moderators here, but maybe you could sticky a thread and ask for volunteers. I know of several large forums that are moderated very effectively by volunteers.
              Originally Posted by Joe Robinson View Post

              We already do that. This forum is largely member moderated. Go read the stickies at the top of this section .

              Yeah, some of us are even known to be "mean" moderators!!

              When I tell my 4yo no about anything, he will try to argue with me about it. In order to change the tone of the conversation, he asks why, and I say that the answer is no, because "I am mean."

              Suddenly, it no longer matters that he is not getting what he wants. He understands "mean," and he respects "mean."
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              • Profile picture of the author Joseph Robinson
                Banned
                Originally Posted by tpw View Post

                Suddenly, it no longer matters that he is not getting what he wants. He understands "mean," and he respects "mean."
                So the lesson everyone is to be mean to get respect!

                BTW Bill...what's with the image in your signature?
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  • Profile picture of the author Joseph Robinson
    Banned
    Lol, is there a backstory to this?
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