Forum spammers why

Ask members to help out moderators and flag spam. In Vanilla, this can be done with the Spam Reaction. Moderators and admin should review the spam queue on a daily basis, ban spammers and delete all their content.

Only allow members that have proven themselves and have a reputation to be allowed to post links. Ranks are earned by accumulating reputation points or making a certain number of posts. Provide information on advertising and partnering opportunities you might offer and make it clear in your community guidelines what is and what is not acceptable promotion.

This can help with accidental spammers who are trying to legitimately sell something to your audience. While spammers are always looking for ways around your defences, following these suggestions will help to eliminate spam. Community Marketing. Send us an email to pr vanillaforums. Why Vanilla Why Community? Search this blog. What's new! Nuala Cronin October 21, Luc Vezina. Written by Luc Vezina. Related posts. Have an Article for Vanilla's Blog?

Subscribe to the Community Corner Newsletter and get expert insight and analysis on how to get the most out of your online community every Friday. Most spammers abuse community forums because it provides visibility of their web sites and services. If even a small percentage of web surfers are convinced to make a purchase, this cost-effective method of advertising allows the spammer to earn a profit and stay in business.

The first approach is a simple registration process. This can be done by either real people or robots. They often enter the URL of a spamming website into the appropriate field of the forum registration.

This enables search engine spiders and web surfers to find the forum and the spammer's website. The second approach is done by spamming the comment section of a forum. A spammer simply leaves text regarding their services or vivid graphics that link back to their site.

Lastly, spammers are easily able to leave their mark with signatures that are actually encouraged by forum administrators. The signature may include a name written in simple text or a link to the user's personal website. This very function is a spammer's dream. In both instances, catching a robot in the act is much easier than a human spammer. Unless the robot has the aid of a real person, any forum MOD should be able to detect robot registrations and postings.

Most of the time, this will correct any spam issue you may be enduring with your forum. Forum spam is not taken as seriously in numerous countries and many areas of the web.

Since these postings are not actually unsolicited email, some do not consider them to be spam. This results in many busy spammers not being held accountable for their actions. When you combine vulnerable security, visibility of advertising domains, the probability of increased search engine rankings and limited liability, it's no wonder that forums have become a viable target for thousands of spammers worldwide.