A place to discuss spam?

Report · May 05, 2011

I am not the only one to think that the Report Spam thread is not the proper place to carry discussions on any topic, even if they are related to spam, spammers, or ways to fight spam. Such discussions unnecessarily clutter the Spam thread, even making it difficult to see if the spam one is about to report has been reported before or not.

The idea isn't mine; it was posted in the Spam thread by someone else, but I am willing to back it here. Could we have a thread to discuss spam related topics, and move there the messages posted recently on the subject in the Spam thread?

Thanks.

Report · Jun 11, 2011

I am wondering what the point is of all these "sports" spams?

There must be a scam somewhere in it, but I have no idea what it is...

Report · Jun 12, 2011

Any post with a link in it to me seems to be an attempt at Search Engine Optimization (aka SEO, i.e., causing a particular site to rise in Google's search rankings).

If it is a given that Google uses the appearance of links on other sites to a particular site to set its rankings (and the actuality of this is a closely-guarded secret), and IF Google picks up forum posts for its searches (a fact) and doesn't exclude the links from ranking calculations (an assumption), then a forum post would theoretically count as another web site publishing a link to the target site. Any web site publishing user content and not blocking links is a target.

Some people sell services and take money to supposedly artificially/quickly increase the search ranking of your web site.

Hence these spammers are making money at our expense.

-Noel

Report · Jun 12, 2011

You mean, a post such as this would give more points to the spammer?

Does it matter how long the message remains in place? That is, does it make any difference if the spam message is removed in a few seconds, a few minutes, a few hours, a few days, or never?

Report · Jun 12, 2011

Claudio González wrote:
You mean, a post such as this would give more points to the spammer?
...
Does it matter how long the message remains in place? That is, does it make any difference if the spam message is removed in a few seconds, a few minutes, a few hours, a few days, or never?

I should think it would increase the ranking of the page whose link is shown.

If the Google search indexer bot happens to read the page 2 seconds after it's posted, the damage is done.

Google search bots run all the time all over the place. I've seen threads on these forums getting into Google search results literally in a few seconds, because Googling for an answer often comes up with the question itself. If you're curious how long it takes, watch for a legitimate post to appear, then search Google for one of the unique phrases in it and put quotes around it.

So the short answer is yes, if a spam post is taken down quickly it more likely thwarts the spammer's intent than if it's left up for a while.

-Noel

Report · Jun 12, 2011

I understand the concept of search engine ranking, but that is usually used for commercial sites like fake pharma, pirated software, adult sites, and whatnot.

But these "sports" sites often reside on blogger, and recently on facebook, and are usually taken down days after their creation. So where do the spammers make money here? There must be a scam somehwere in there; I just cannot see it.

P.S. I always help the spammers take their sites down quickly by reporting them to blogger, facebook, or whereever there is a public 'Report' button.

Report · Jun 13, 2011

This may become a moot point in the future if we can get a "no follow" attribute set for forum messages (95% sure we will have this). Then the issue becomes letting the spammers know about this change.

Report · Jun 13, 2011

adobe-admin wrote:
This may become a moot point in the future if we can get a "no follow" attribute set for forum messages (95% sure we will have this). Then the issue becomes letting the spammers know about this change.

Thanks for the news, but I am sorry to say that the concept of a "no follow" atribute escapes me. Could you please explain a little for ignorants such as me?

And the "may", and the "if", and the 5% uncertainty leave me with an uncomfortable feeling.

Report · Jun 14, 2011

Claudio,

As implied by what Pat (or should I say Qat) says, no follow is (part of) a search engine bot instruction, just about the opposite of this one:

META NAME= "ROBOTS" CONTENT= "NOINDEX,FOLLOW">

In this case the instruction is to follow the link and index that page instead of the current one (which is then ignored by the bot).

Report · Jun 13, 2011

adobe-admin wrote:
This may become a moot point in the future if we can get a "no follow" attribute set for forum messages (95% sure we will have this). Then the issue becomes letting the spammers know about this change.

Wouldn't that cause havoc with legitimate search results? If so, you might want to wait until the forum search is up and runing well.

Report · Jun 13, 2011

~graffiti wrote:

Wouldn't that cause havoc with legitimate search results? If so, you might want to wait until the forum search is up and runing well.

No, not at all. Search results will still include all information that is posted in the forum, but the search engine bots will not follow any links in the posts.

Anyone finding a post as a result from a search can still follow any legitimate links.

Report · Jun 17, 2011

Found this?

http://spamlinks.net/track-report-addresses.htm

Any help?

Report · Jun 17, 2011

What is it exactly that you would like help with?

Report · Jun 17, 2011

Just a wild guess: He is offering that link as help for our spam problems.

-Noel