You know a member is a spammer when ....

[Fergal]

I've seen posts in this section by Admins saying that they permanently ban spammers as soon as they see them, because they are not part of the community. How quickly do you decide that someone is a spammer, e.g. is a member a spammer if;

1. Their first post is an advertising post, in a non advertising section of your forum
2. If their first couple of posts include a false signature that links to their site
3. If their first post is a reply to a topic, but it includes a promotional link to their site?

 

[USHost247]

I immediately believe they are a spammer and will remove the advertisements and put them on my watch list. 😉

 

[Deleted member 4320]

Well it;s hard to say and contains many 'Ifs' as well. I mean someone who signs up then posts an advert straight away might not be a spammer, just someone who is unfamiliar with the forums rules (assuming you haves rules on adverts such as min. post count etc). Another thing to consider is does the user have information in their profile unsuitable for other members of the board, is it linked to health websites selling medicines etc (which is quite popular amongst spammers from what I've seen). Depends really. But someone who breaks the rule constantly should be punished. But a spam bot - permanently banning them won't do much good.

 

[Hissae2]

If they join just to advertise I remove the links and give them a warning. It's happened a couple times, they never came back anyway.

 

[AnAccount]

If they join just to advertise I remove the links and give them a warning. It's happened a couple times, they never came back anyway.

Same here. We no longer have an advertisement section, so if a member joins with a sole intention to advertise, we'll remove the link and give them a warning. If it persists than we may put them on moderation queue, and if they keep at it despite the moderation queue, then we'll have no choice but to ban them.

 

[hcfwesker]

Same as you, Fergal

You can also check their profile for their website title, if it says something like "viagra", "homemade socks", or "criminal lawyer" it's a done deal.

 

[Wrecks]

Or if they sound like someone with limited intelligence and a weak grasp of the proper English Grammar and the like.

 

[AnAccount]

Same as you, Fergal

You can also check their profile for their website title, if it says something like "viagra", "homemade socks", or "criminal lawyer" it's a done deal.

I never knew that about the profile. Thanks for the tip, I'll have to remember that for next time.

 

[master412160]

There is a major diffrence between a human spammer and a bot spammer.

 

[Acorn]

I always put my website or maybe one of my blogs in the website field when I join a forum. I don't spam the link though. I've never gotten notified I was banned for spamming so I'd say it's safe to do.

I always identify robots spamming by way of the links in their sig and the weird way they post. You can smell them pretty quickly after a while.

 

[AnAccount]

I always put my website or maybe one of my blogs in the website field when I join a forum. I don't spam the link though. I've never gotten notified I was banned for spamming so I'd say it's safe to do.

I always identify robots spamming by way of the links in their sig and the weird way they post. You can smell them pretty quickly after a while.

I do this as well with my forum. I only advertise where and when I'm allowed. If I'm not allowed to, then I won't and I'll just commence posting on the forum.

 

[CyberFreak]

I always identify robots spamming by way of the links in their sig and the weird way they post. You can smell them pretty quickly after a while.

Human spammers post the same as bots do but bots are automated while humans do it manually and have a better success rate. You may think they are bots but actually they may be humans. We deal with alot of human spammers from Pakistan, Philippines and especially India all using broadband or dial up connections which tends to point to humans.

Some sites pay users to sign up to forums, put specific links in their posts or signatures or even create a fake signature on their posts (meaning they can spam multiple times with the same account and have different sets of links which making it look like a signature).

 

[el canadiano]

For good measure, you can

- Always block @*.ru and @*.cn email addresses and anything else you feel is appropriate.
- nofollow the URL BBCode or at least the signatures.

The second one has especially lowered my spamming attempts on Dashing. Besides, what else do they want?

 

[Fait]

My forum was spammed 3 days ago so i banned their account and ip banned them a moderator told me that he was posting links back to his site and porn links(since my forum is a pg forum)