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.
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