All posts were made in the same topic / thread and the third post contained a false signature link with two links.
My policy up to now has been to delete the posts and send the member a warning PM. Do you think they should be banned immediatedly on the basis that they are spammers?
I have seen this technique used where they try and make the administrator believe they are genuine, and then once they appear to settle in, they spam. Also, some make a few posts so they pass the "allowing signature" minimum amount of posts.
I would ban them for spamming and it probably is an automated account.
We have had alot of these in the past here. Most are humans but from India or the Philippines. I would say ban them.
The idea of these are to make 3 posts with links in their signature. If the links stay in place and not get deleted then they get paid. They are encouraged to make a fake signature in their posts as that means they can use their account again on the forum and use a different set of links without killing the links in the first 3 posts. typegetrich.com is an example of one of those sites.
Honestly, I'd check their ip against Project Honeypots' database and if it comes back as a comment spammer, then they'd out of there yesterday.
I suggested that it be included in the set of ip tools on my forums host, and the owner obliged, and so it has made getting rid of spammers like that much easier.
Look up the ip on http://projecthoneypot.org/ and if it comes back as an ip of a comment spammer (because other webmasters do report them and with the browser and the site they were advertising) then you can ban them.
That is what I do only, I'll wildcard ban the ip to prevent similar ips from returning..
I would just ban him ASAP. He already broke the rules twice by posting links, and it's a business forum, his posts should be professional, not like "hiii...........". It is better to get rid of him earlier so that he does not waste your time in the future by having you clean up him spam.
I would just delete the posts and ban or delete the account. It's obviously either a bot or a human paid to spam forums and therefore should not be treated as a legit member. in the case of a legit member spamming then you would discuss the matter via pm and move on to the warn panel if your direction you gave the member via PM is being ignored.
Thanks everyone for the helpful suggestions. I've sent him a warning PM. However, the Mods and I spend too much time dealing with stuff like this, so we will begin to act tougher on them and ban them sooner.
Black Angel, thanks for the Project HoneyPot link.
Bots CAN misspell. If any of you have seen the video tutorial for Xrumer, it shows just how forum spammers use this programme to input the same posts and send them out to hundreds of forums within minutes. This is a bot, Fergal--I'd ban him on the spot because even with a seemingly harmless bot that just advertises some inoffencive brand or site, it's still a bot, and you have no idea what they will post next and in what volume. That is also why I ban signature-only profiles thta are clearly bot-made as well, because they quite often spam the forum weeks later.
I had sent this member / bot a PM and nor surprisingly did not get a reply. He came back a few days later and made more spam / junk posts. Needless to say the account is banned now.
Thanks again to everyone who replied with helpful feedback and suggestions.
