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IMPORTANT. PLEASE READ: Don't retort, post REPORT!
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11-05-2012 8:27am#1Hi all. As a lot of you know, we're getting loads of spam. I'm also seeing lots of people reply to obvious spam threads, knowing that the OP is a spammer, but posting for the craic.
Please, when it comes to spam threads/posts; either take action or don't take action, but whichever you choose, don't reply to spam. If you want to do something about it: REPORT, don't retort! These spam bots aren't able to read what you reply, they don't check their PMs, they don't give a f*ck about what's going on around them, they are bots. There is no point in replying, it makes no difference to the bot, and actually makes things worse for us.
I've been sending out the below PM to people that I see doing this, it explains a little better.Gordon wrote:Hi there, I'm just sending you a wee stock PM to ask you not to reply to spam threads in future please.
By replying to a spam thread, you effectively raise it to the top of the forum, giving it more visibility to other people, who may also reply to the thread and do the same thing. This is a problem on 4 levels:
Firstly, some spammers will tend to insert hidden links that track their level of success, so if you bump a thread, more people will view it and the spammer will think that their tactic is working and will therefore pummel us with more spam as they see boards.ie as being a good target to get views.
Secondly, you're creating work for Mods and Admins. We rely on boards users to notify us of spam, this is how we catch it and stop it quickly. The more a spam thread is bumped, the more people will notify us of spam, this increases our workload as we have to sift through more duplicated reports.
Thirdly, you're making the spam more prevalent by bumping it. Bumping a thread up the forum gives people the impression that spam is always there, so it degrades the impression people will have of the site.
Fourthly, probably more importantly, giving spam more visibility may lead innocent parties to think that a link is genuine and click it. This may trigger viruses or phishing websites causing monetary or digital damage to a user.
Can I ask that instead of posting on a spam thread in future, you report it please? To report spam, just copy the link of the spammers profile, go here (Feedback forum, thread entitled Spammer Notification Thread) and click 'post reply'.
Cheers
I really don't want to go down the route of warning people officially, but if I keep having to send out PMs to people to point this out, I may have to.
Mods, would you be OK stickying this thread just for a day or so to get coverage? It only seems to be Afterhours posters that reply to spam at the moment.
Cheers!
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anwy2MPT5REComments
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I know what you meant, hence the commentWell "lulz'ing" at the replies of spam. That's what I meant. The actual spam can fupp the fupp right off.
No probs dudesome random drunk wrote: »I replied to the spam before reading this thread, sorry Gordon, won't do it again. In a way I'll miss the "dress too sexy for my sister" stuff though, it's kinda a boards meme now. FYI, that spammer that you responded to was one of the hidden link spammers, so they now have your IP address. It's nothing to worry about, but the more people that would have clicked on the thread, the more people the spammers see. 0 -
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I know what you meant, hence the comment
No probs dude FYI, that spammer that you responded to was one of the hidden link spammers, so they now have your IP address. It's nothing to worry about, but the more people that would have clicked on the thread, the more people the spammers see.
What do you mean by hidden link spammer? I didnt click on the link in the post, how would the spammer have my IP address? How does it work?0 -
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