# Spammers and scammers



## Tim (Jan 8, 2011)

Why is this site such a magnet for spammers? 
I just dont get it. 
Then there is the long posts stringing together words that just dont make any sense.
Whats that all about? 
Of coarse usually followed by spam.
Are these some kind of robot posts? 
Is there some kind of giant spam factory in china or somewhere that they just dont speak the english language?


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## Fourputt (Nov 18, 2006)

The spammers hit every forum on the web, and they can be located just abut anywhere. Some sites just have better filtering software than others. This forum is running on fairly old software, and that might be part of the reason. Then too, just like spam email, the filter can't block it until it knows what to look for, and that usually means that it has seen it once. We knock them out as fast as we can, but we can't be online 24/7.


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## tutp36 (Jun 8, 2011)

what this is all about? sorry i dont get it?


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## Cajun (Jan 17, 2010)

tutp36 said:


> what this is all about? sorry i dont get it?


It's about people trying to take advantage of a situation and skirting around the rules. 

Take for example, we have a member with only 18 posts in 4 months, none of which have any real content except for their signature link to a retail site. Barely sliding by the rules to take advantage of a situation....in my opinion, spam.

Members have the ability to become advertisers and sponsors of the site for very little money, but most choose to throw out their spam and hope it generates a hit or two before we ban them. It's about trying to get something for nothing. It's about some people believeing they are entitled to do whatever they wish as long as it benifits them and everyone else be damned. It's about people not taking time to read the rules and realize we're going to nuke them as soon as we see the spam.

Including this one, I moderate in 3 forums. Spammers are a constant problem and take up a lot of my time every week when I'd like to be adding actual content to the forums I'm in. In one RC forum I moderate, there were 18 new spammers yesterday alone. Luckily, in that forum any member with less than 50 posts that posts a link to a site outside the forum, has the post sit in limbo and has to be approved by a moderator before the rest of the forum can see the post.

Tim,
We try to do our best and keep the spammers at bay, and actually having international members as moderators helps a lot. The different time zones means there's usually always a moderator awake, but unfortuantely we can't nuke them all immediately. There are literaly thousands of people out there with spam and flim flam just doing internet searches for things like "golf forum" or or any other topic you can think of, just looking for places to puke their crap. The other reason I think it appears that we have a lot is the fact that golf is so popular, a lot of people play, so spammers assume a golf forum will have a large audience, thus producing lots of hits. I personally wish they would learn to play by the rules and stop flooding the places I love to hang out with rubbish and knockoffs.

Chant with me now...

NO MORE SPAM! NO MORE SPAM! NO MORE SPAM! NO MORE SPAM! NO MORE SPAM! NO MORE SPAM! NO MORE SPAM! NO MORE SPAM! NO MORE SPAM! NO MORE SPAM! NO MORE SPAM! NO MORE SPAM! NO MORE SPAM! NO MORE SPAM! NO MORE SPAM! NO MORE SPAM! NO MORE SPAM! NO MORE SPAM! NO MORE SPAM! NO MORE SPAM!


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## Tim (Jan 8, 2011)

Dont take it the wrong way. Im not saying anything derogatory about the staff.
It was just an observation. 
Like the guy that just joined up and has 4 posts. All of them the same posts in different threads. "hey guys check it out" 
And I guess the gal that just signed up to tell me about purses.
And the words they put together. Its odd. I dont get it.


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## Cajun (Jan 17, 2010)

Nah, Tim, I didn't take anything the wrong way. I'm with you on this, I don't get why people put that sort of stuff out there...oh, yes I do, money...hits to the links they post generate pennies per hit, enough hits and you have an income. It's too bad most of them try to do it the underhanded, sneaky way, exploiting the forums instead of supporting them. I believe it's because most of the spammers have no real interest in most of the stuff they post, it's fluff to get their hits. That's the main reason it rubs me the wrong way, it's income made off the backs of others with no real work involved and no support back to the person (forum) your gleaning from. The other type is the blatant, "check out my knockoff store, it's great!", variety. Those need no explanation. 


Most of the wacky text and gibberish is designed to attract bots and search engines. The bots, engines, etc. hit the post then the link and continue down the line, generating more hits (and more pennies)to the spammer’s site. 

Anyway, we will continue to do the best we can to keep it out of here for our loyal, REAL, members. People like you who are great contributing members, someone who really plays golf and loves to talk about it. Thanks for your contributions.


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## Tim (Jan 8, 2011)

Cajun said:


> Most of the wacky text and gibberish is designed to attract bots and search engines. The bots, engines, etc. hit the post then the link and continue down the line, generating more hits (and more pennies)to the spammer’s site.
> 
> .


 Well, now I understand THAT. 
It makes alot of sense. I will quit trying to make heads or tails of those posts now.:thumbsup:


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## Surtees (Sep 11, 2007)

yes I wish they would all just disappear but unfortunately I cant see that happening


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## Cajun (Jan 17, 2010)

Tim said:


> Well, now I understand THAT.
> It makes alot of sense. I will quit trying to make heads or tails of those posts now.:thumbsup:


Yep, just gibberish, that's it...wonder if they drool too?


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## 373 (Jun 9, 2006)

Tim said:


> Like the guy that just joined up and has 4 posts. All of them the same posts in different threads. "hey guys check it out"


I saw that guy's posts for the first time yesterday and deleted all of them. I didn't ban him, foolishly living in hope that some of our spammers are genuinely interested in golf and would like to participate.

Personally, I think our rules are too loose, but I don't own the forum. Things like our rule that a link can't be in a post, but can be in a sig line is something I feel we should abolish. I simply feel people should pay the forum owners to advertise, no matter what and nobody should be allowed to link to a site for advertising purposes.

That brings up a question that might easily lead to a double standard and I'll use myself as an example. Some of you have followed my attempts to lengthen and counterbalance a set of clubs. Someone asked me where I got my materials and I mentioned The Golfworks as the source. When I did, I didn't write it like that, but instead just wrote it out as the URL. When I submitted my post, it turned that URL into a link for the Golfworks site. Technically, I wasn't advertising, but where is the fine line?

I also feel we, as moderators and administrators who run this place since the forum owners aren't much in attendance, need to police the ads. By that I mean we shouldn't even allow someone to pay for advertising if they have a fake club site. That makes us look like we condone the sale of fake clubs.

Sometimes I wonder if we shouldn't have a site like Titleist has, in which you have your posts moderated before they show up in the forum.


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## Tim (Jan 8, 2011)

I think it should be OK to post links when someone asks. Heck, I think it should be OK to have links to sites as advertising. But if thats all a person signs up do........pfffft....... adios.
Then there are the political operatives. They join sites just to spew political agendas. Thats actually an actual strategy being used.
I just wonder what makes us so special that they target us so much.


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## 373 (Jun 9, 2006)

Tim said:


> I just wonder what makes us so special that they target us so much.


Probably a demographic that says golfers fill a certain social and economic circle, so whatever their message is would be best placed in front of us.


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## Kabilos (Sep 6, 2011)

I agree, I think that if someone wants to advertise something they should have to pay for the feature, more than likely they are going to get a kick back of sorts from sales anyways. If someone posts a link in a topic about something (such as I did in the ball marking rules topic) and as DennisM did with the Golfsmith store. I don't think that should require it because it's not advertising. 

I'm not one to jump on someone for posting something and then having their signature full of links but there are bots out there that will register on forums and do this all day long. Being a former moderator and owner of forums, cleaning out bots is one of the worst jobs one can have. Spam bots are annoying and should be banned.. You can easily tell who they are by the fact they join and have 5 - 10 posts in a 6 month period and they go in the middle of a subject and say something like. "I fully agree wtih you" .. and usually the post has absolutely nothing to do with the topic, nor does it add anything to it.

My feelings, if your advertising, you pay for it.


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## FrogsHair (Mar 4, 2010)

Gesssh, and here I thought all the "spammers. and scammers" were American "career politicians". Such a deal. :laugh:


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