Forum Spam

[Steve-Hostirian]

I was on another forum (bad, bad, bad) and read one response that seemed out of place with the discussion - self promotion, but as usual, I looked at the members post count and his/hers had over 200 - so I thought something must be wrong. Except when I checked further, he/she had posted the same spam over 200 times in one day on one forum. Yipes! I'll check back tomorrow to see if they've been removed.

[Artashes]

Forum spam has been on the rise for the past few years. Fighting it has become a lot more time consuming especially in the last couple of years. Spam was the reason for at least 5 of the other web hosting communities to close during this time, and many more struggle with it daily.

[Steve-Hostirian]

I wonder what goes through these guys heads? It's simply a lack of respect for everyone else in the community.

[crazypenguin]

I'll take a wild shot in the dark. Were they promoting a top ten list by any chance?

[Steve-Hostirian]

Nope, straight up hosting provider.

[crazypenguin]

Very interesting to say the least.

If I see too much spam, too many shills, or other similar BS in a forum, I usually don't hang around very long.

[romes]

Spamming a hosting provider's name not only ruins the company's image but always ruins the forum...mods have to go through and remove each post and it is very time consuming.

[Artashes]

Originally Posted by romes

Spamming a hosting provider's name not only ruins the company's image but always ruins the forum...mods have to go through and remove each post and it is very time consuming.

Actually, you can remove multiple posts at once, so its not a big deal when we are dealing with a typical spammer.

However, it is more complex to deal with a shill, or a group of shills that act, post and communicate just like any forum member would. I think that our proactive moderating approach and staff experience really helps weed those members out and stop them before they can do any damage to our community. However, there are groups of shills that have some forums completely under control, and I know it is making your experience really unpleasant, because when you are contributing value, you know they contribute nothing but advertising. The most amazing thing is that those groups of shills still promoting most of all the same web hosting companies! What a shame!!

[handsonhosting]

Too often I go to forums with spam being the main contributing factor - everything from hosting companies, forum invits and "join my group" type places. Facebook is a haven for spam and games etc too - hate it, and try to not contribute to it.

Broadcasting a business name over and over can be hurtful to the reputation as Romes pointed out. I honestly can't see how posting a handful of times in a row with the same message gets anyone's attention to actually sign up with them ya know?

I try to be careful even posting my own company advertisements at a minimum of 1 week (if it's a busy site and within the rules) but more often I'm posting maybe once per month. If I wanted more exposure in a particular forum, that's what a banner advertisement is for

I also have no idea why a forum that is loaded down with spam and almost NO content, why a user would bother to register and then spam themselves the same stuff. I know some is automated robots, but some are real people - it makes no sense.

[arbet]

Tsk tsk. But we can't help it. Spammers are every where!

[ldcdc]

Originally Posted by Artashes

However, it is more complex to deal with a shill, or a group of shills that act, post and communicate just like any forum member would. I think that our proactive moderating approach and staff experience really helps weed those members out and stop them before they can do any damage to our community. However, there are groups of shills that have some forums completely under control, and I know it is making your experience really unpleasant, because when you are contributing value, you know they contribute nothing but advertising. The most amazing thing is that those groups of shills still promoting most of all the same web hosting companies! What a shame!!

Very well said Art, very well said.

In recent times I think some hosts have started to pay people to post while linking to their company in the signature. Basically, a form of signature selling. Again, very hard to detect when "properly" implemented.

[AbbieRose]

I'd never heard of the term 'shill' before so went and looked it up. Pretty scummy really, almost like a confidence trickster.

I've not encountered such a forum but have seen plenty of forums that suffered badly from spam. The worst of it is that often a software update will help to reduce the problem.

[handsonhosting]

I first learned the "shill" term a few years ago - I was paid (comped etc) by a casino I was at to play at their tables. Myself and a buddy were quite a friendly group, and as long as we were at the table we had a TON of people playing with us and everyone having a good time. You know those large groups in casinos as craps tables that have loud cheers? That's usually initiated by a shill. It's a way of getting other people's attention to come play.

For us, we played with Casino money - we made no money at all. We gambled with casino "play money" and in return we had our rooms, meals and entertainment paid for. For a number of weeks this was a LOT of fun. You get the thrill of gambling without losing any of it

[ptduran]

Spamming is now the worst online fraud. They kill our time and ruins the thread. I used 2 levels to restrict spammers but still I get a couple in at least every 4 hrs.

[crazypenguin]

Originally Posted by Steve-Hostirian

. Yipes! I'll check back tomorrow to see if they've been removed.

Tomorrow has come and gone. Did you forget to post your update?