Great Boost in Forum Members? Beware of Forum Spammers
Things
just are not what they used to be on the web because of the many viruses and
security threats. Several individuals
also find it difficult to focus on business because of all the spam they have
to manage. Not only is it cluttering
millions of mailboxes, spam has now found its way on various community
forums. This is mostly the work of robot
networks that attack and automatically register its own users. Those bots then go on a rampage and post
spam messages on as many forums as they can.
By depositing links to their web sites, spammers have a greater tendency
to rank well in the search engines and eventually turn profits.
Just like
many aspects of the web, forums are very susceptible to receiving significant
amounts of spam. By checking the
comments left in many forum posts, you will find that spam prevention is
frequently a hot topic.
Individuals
looking to spam in high volume are the masters of the robot networks. They seek out forums with vulnerable security
provisions and immediately begin creating fake accounts and posting in the
forum.
Why
Forums are Spammed
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.
Forums
gain a spammer visibility in three ways:
1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
