Large increase in SPAM

[yeppers]

About 2 years ago i used to be quite frequent on these forums, and until recently i was inactive.

Now that i am back i notice a HUGE increase in useless posts from members with 0-50 posts... All with sig links.

I was wondering, i realize this is a big step, but why not prevent links from being posted from users with under 25 posts, and prevent sig links from users with under 100 posts. I mean really, unless you gain 100 posts, maybe you're not worth the privileged sig link anyway... Maybe even prevent links from showing within users profiles until they hit 100... If you're genuine about domaining/webmastering you'll gain the reputation you need to gain that privelege by 100 posts...

Has NP been trying to address the spamming issue, or have you simply been ignoring it?

Sorry but i've become quite sick of spamming on forums lately, within namepros and various other forums. It has definitely increased within the past 2 years.

It's like the telemarketing market has moved to forum marketing as well... In the same numbers...

Sorry if i have offended anyone. I will certainly never stop using namepros, i love it! However i think alot can be done about this, whether it be my suggestion above, or not.

My 2c, tell me if i've crossed the line.

I love NamePros, always.

Thankyou,
Rhett.

 

[promo]

Hi Rhett

You can be sure that it is not ignored, far from it. The large increase you see we attempt to combat each day. But the spread of paid forum posting and people using forum software such as Xrumer has increased the workload tremendously. NPs mods attempt to remove all spam before users see it, if some slip through the NP community is great to report it and it is since dealt with.

Your suggestion is not a bad one, but unfortunately it will not completely solve the problem. Many of these spam accounts are setup to make posts containing little substance and only a few words, but not include any sig link at the time. When they reach some sort of maturity (be it age or post count) the spam link is since added to the sig. Posts are already in place.

The solution for us is to simply remove all posts that do not add any substance to the discussion or seem off topic. We also monitor accounts that seem to serial post non relevant content. Most are removed as soon as we determine they are not legitimate forum users. All this has meant a large increase in moderation workload and to some users it seems the forum is heavily moderated. Unfortunately this is the only real method of combating this tactic.

If you see the type of posts you mention, I will encourage you to click the report button and let the mods deal with it.

 

[RJ]

Thank you for the suggestions. We will be looking at all options to reduce the amount of "signature spam" around NamePros.

RJ

 

[yeppers]

Thanks very much for your response, i realize this issue is harder than i thought to combat.

I guess i would be correct in saying the telemarketing market has expanded to forum communities?

Sounds like this is a big work load.

I will report these useless posts for sure, as long as that's not going to be an issue.

I'd love to help out in any way.

Good luck,
Rhett