Random Posters

Post by **EV2Go** » Sun, 18 Jul 2010, 02:45

Is it just me or are others noticing the recent spate of random posts from people who seem to sign up just to make some random comment or two then don't post again?

Post by **rhills** » Sun, 18 Jul 2010, 08:42

I believe they're spammers. I noticed they have irrelevent (to EVs) URLs in their emails.

Post by **antiscab** » Mon, 19 Jul 2010, 03:27

rhills is correct, there have been a few who have joined up for two posts with spam in the footer, and then disappear.

I have been a bit short on time recently to keep up with deleting them, but Andrew (and possibly striker) have been helping out.

it is worth noting that the google ads in the footer of the first post of every thread is added by the forum software, rather than any user.

I have seen a few posts reported that haven't had any external links in them, except for the google ads the forum software has added.
That or one of the other admins has gone in and deleted the external links only

Matt

Post by **juk** » Mon, 19 Jul 2010, 04:59

There are lists around that you purchase for the purpose of increasing your site's position in search engines. These lists contain instructions on how to hide URLs, what to write, and which sites to write them on.

Obviously AEVA has gotten onto one of these lists.

The best bet is to disable HTML or to strip links from posters until they've logged ten posts.

Post by **rhills** » Mon, 19 Jul 2010, 09:58

If links were to be stripped, it'd be good if the poster were somehow notified - people seem to struggle enough with links as it is. I suspected the purpose of the bogus posts was to raise search engine rankings.

Maybe people should have to post to the "what do you do for a living" or maybe a new "introducing myself" thread before they can post anywhere else? That would certainly weed out bots and might reduce the number of spammers breaking in and hence the need to scrutinise all the threads. The only problem is I suspect it isn't something you could automate (ie enforcing a post to the "intro" thread).

If it's any use, I might have some time to help out with moderating once I've offloaded a few things I have on my plate ATM. I'll likely be clear in a month or so.