Spam is increasing..

[websnail]

Not sure how much you folks have noticed it but there's been an upsurge in spam on a lot of forums this week... Here included.

There's 2 spam accounts and about 5 spam posts on here right now.

Any chance someone else could have mod perms so they can let loose on these vermin?

 

[panos]

I second that. SEO spamming is the worst kind because in their effort to conceal it, forum spammers create fake topics asking newbie questions and then suddently claim to have found the answers in an SEO optimized URL.

This is even worse than fake discussion between forum spammers. A few days ago, two forum members have lost time trying to explain to an SEO spammer basic issues while it was clear the guy was playing dumb. Using Yahoo's site explorer, I discovered that the spammer had already scored here fixyourownprinter.com/forums/inkjet/61803

Another simple solution would be to prevent new users (say, <50 days or <20 postings) from linking.

 

[pharmacist]

Panos,

great idea about preventing new users from linking. The obvious spammers linking towards all types of products and services are easily recognized. But the ones who tends to make quite reasonable questions, but tending to be more tenacious and more difficult to reject...

Some new users just come up with "I have a problem with my printer and I cannot print or printouts are horrible, blabla...." Can I use these cartridges at www.blabla.com/cartridges....? And after 3 posts: He, I finally found a solution and these are the cartridges from www.blabla.com/cartridges and these cartridges work great and you should give them a try.......

The next time I will answer these guys with a link how to make a good roasted suckling pig with Hoisin sauce........Yummy !!!!!

 

[Nifty]

Great suggestions guys, thanks!

Also, a huge thanks for reporting this stuff. We try to jump on it as quickly as possible.

Yes, there definitely are times where it is hard to tell if someone is a spammer, especially when it isn't blatant and they go to the trouble of posting a few "hi I'm new and need help" threads. Fortunately the true spammer will soon show their true nature and we can come in and pluck them away pretty quickly.

We'll look into implementing some more safeguards to slow these people down. We always need to balance out keeping the bad guys out, but not stopping legit people from navigating things. A few months ago I did some contract work for a guy to setup a forum. He wanted 100% spam protection... I basically (but more kindly) said "No problem, we'll just turn off the forum from anybody joining."

Again, thanks much for reporting this stuff so quickly.

 

[ghwellsjr]

I'm just dying to know what SEO means. Whenever I find a new acronym I go to http://www.acronymfinder.com but I didn't see any that fit.

 

[Nifty]

Search Engine Optimization.

Basically our inkjet forum is ranked high for some key inkjet terms within search engine SERPs (search engine result pages) so spammers target us to try to get boosts to their sites (usually inkjet related).

This is actually how they find us, they search Google, etc. for the terms they want to target and then post links to their sites from here in an attempt to get their sites ranked higher.

 

[Ron350]

Rob are you going to appoint an extra moderator?

 

[ghwellsjr]

Thanks for the explanation, Rob. I can see now why it is so important to get rid of those spammers as quickly as possible.

 

[Nifty]

Ron, I think for the most part we have a pretty quick response time on these kinds of issues, but we'll discuss it between the other moderators and see if it makes sense to do so.

 

[websnail]

Ron, I think for the most part we have a pretty quick response time on these kinds of issues, but we'll discuss it between the other moderators and see if it makes sense to do so.

Pick him, pick him... (ie: anybody but me!)

I'd tend to agree... Speed is the important bit and I rarely get to see the spammers unless Rob is all tucked up in bed with his hot water bottle

I like the roasting over a fire being basted in hoisin sauce bit more though... Oh the possibilities..