mmmmm.... SPAM!

**Ne0** · #1 (**permalink**) 06-20-2007, 12:47 PM

Are any of you getting tired of the fly by posts? The breakroom used to be big, Fun, and well interesting... So I'm going off on a little rant here and my opinion's in no way reflect on the managements thoughts or opinions... That being said -

Being a forum member here and at several of the other large webmaster forums for years I see more and more people register and post nothing but self promotional crap! I think I'm developing a blindness to these posters... Kinda like Banner Blindness (it's a real phenomenon)

I'm afraid it's due to SEO articles that people read about getting links in forums... Here's a bit of free advice... If you'd really like to promote your company / whatever it is that your trying to sell... Make friends before you start promoting what you sell... I'm much more likely to check out someones link in their sig if they have posted something worth while... not a quick I can't believe this! as a title then the link to an AOL story? Are you kidding me? If I wanted to read the news... I'd Google it! It's not like post count is going to make you more believable when you just post one liners or "I agree" - "well said"

And furthermore... your not fooling anyone when you join a good discussion and say "wat r the conciquences of this?" (use spell check, form a sentence, ask a real question that shows you've actually read what others before you have posted)

So my question is this... is anyone else getting tired of the SPAM? I'm getting vaklempt... here's a topic, you drive on a parkway, yet you park on a driveway... speak amongst yourselves

</rant>

db

Chris · #2 (**permalink**) 06-20-2007, 02:28 PM

i second this notion.

Webnauts · #3 (**permalink**) 06-20-2007, 02:36 PM

I am sick and tired of all the spam here.

We claim to be the World's Forums for eBusiness Professionals, but with all this spam and our tolerance, we are turning into the World's Forums for Spam Professionals.

Just my opinion.

Chris · #4 (**permalink**) 06-20-2007, 03:29 PM

exactly what tolerances are we talking about here? the ad exchange/domain name/business partnership/affiliate forums? or the other kind that i delete on a daily basis?

Dinghus · #5 (**permalink**) 06-20-2007, 04:34 PM

well said
I agree
wat r the conciquences of this?

Dinghus · #6 (**permalink**) 06-20-2007, 04:44 PM

A little more seriously tho, you will find in the freelance sites people paying for forum and blog posters. Same ridiculous numbers as the people wanting articles. The only way to meet the req'ts of the "job" is to do fly bys.

I read one that asked for 5,000 posts PER DAY on forums with a specific sig line.

Insanity.

LinksAndTraffic · #7 (**permalink**) 06-20-2007, 04:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dinghus

A little more seriously tho, you will find in the freelance sites people paying for forum and blog posters. Same ridiculous numbers as the people wanting articles. The only way to meet the req'ts of the "job" is to do fly bys.

I read one that asked for 5,000 posts PER DAY on forums with a specific sig line.

Insanity.

Someone told me that there are companies out there selling forum posts for 10 cents per post. That is 55 posts per hour just to make minimum wage!

Could anyone here imagine making 5.50 an hour for making one post per minute in some forum where they don't belong?

I am always amazed at the "let's work for peanuts" gang.

hallstrom · #8 (**permalink**) 06-20-2007, 04:57 PM

Come on people. As an avid reader of WebProWorld, I have found far less spam here than in most other forums. There is always going to be spam. In fact this thread seems kind of like spam to me. I very seldom comment here because I am not an SEO expert and I don't design or market websites. I view this site in order to obtain ideas for my sites.

Threads like this are just a waste of your viewers time (my comment is also probably just a waste of time).

I'm just making this comment in order to ask you to close off this thread and get back to teaching the rest of us about improving and marketing our sites.

Sorry if I've offended anyone.

David G. Hallstrom, Sr.
Legal resources - Resources for attorneys - Lifestyle resources
Legal Resources

**incrediblehelp** · #9 (**permalink**) 06-20-2007, 05:04 PM

Forums I avoid because of the spam soup:

http://www.webproworld.com/affiliate-marketing-discussion-forum/

http://www.webproworld.com/domain-discussion-forum/

http://www.webproworld.com/link-exchange/

http://www.webproworld.com/freelance-work-needed-hire/

http://www.webproworld.com/ad-space-buy-sell/

http://www.webproworld.com/business-partnerships/

http://www.webproworld.com/breakroom-general-any-topic/

Now I agree with David, we do a pretty good job with SPAM here. In fact offering the likes of the forums above can help consolidate Spammers to post the junk in those forums only and keep the other more useful ones clean.

GunRunner · #10 (**permalink**) 06-20-2007, 05:15 PM

Ok so the spam sucks. But why are they posting. What kind traffic is that? It can't be good traffic, unless it actually turns into a converted visitor. But, for the most part, what relevance does it have if they simply post a cookie dough company's url on a SEO discussion board?

bj · #11 (**permalink**) 06-20-2007, 05:30 PM

When I first read this post I was thinking to myself, "What spam? This board has MUCH LESS than most forums that get the traffic this one does!" Then I saw Jaan's list of the forum topics to avoid and realized I almost never go there . . .

Dinghus · #12 (**permalink**) 06-20-2007, 05:45 PM

Not to mention that Spam Musubi ROCKS!!!

Spam spam spam spam and rice

Okay, once again, let's look at it in "real" world context. Is this any different than the person putting fliers on car windshields? No. Same idea. Get your message in front of as many people as you possibly can.

The search engines just add accelerant to the blaze by ranking algorithms that include links to your site from "relevant" sites. So if I am an SEO I go to all the SEO boards and get a link on there to my site. They are relevant and boost my rank.

I would love to see a real study on how well the spam tactic works. I would guess that it is a waste of time and money overall. But I could be wrong.

Oh, and the people who will work for $5.50/hr are the ones overseas who underbid everybody on the freelance sites.

"I will clone eBay for $100" sheeeesh I am NOT joking.

cppgenius · #13 (**permalink**) 06-20-2007, 06:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hallstrom

Come on people. As an avid reader of WebProWorld, I have found far less spam here than in most other forums. There is always going to be spam. In fact this thread seems kind of like spam to me. I very seldom comment here because I am not an SEO expert and I don't design or market websites. I view this site in order to obtain ideas for my sites.

Threads like this are just a waste of your viewers time (my comment is also probably just a waste of time).

I'm just making this comment in order to ask you to close off this thread and get back to teaching the rest of us about improving and marketing our sites.

Sorry if I've offended anyone.

David G. Hallstrom, Sr.
Legal resources - Resources for attorneys - Lifestyle resources
Legal Resources

Yeah, that's the attitude that created the spam problem we have today. And I'm not only referring to forum spam, think about chatroom and IRC spam, guestbook and e-mail form spam, general e-mail spam, search engine spam, etc. it is a bloody disease spreading like digital diarrhoea and every site, almost every individual is catching it.

Saying "there is always going to be spam" and "close off this thread and get back to teaching...", is like saying there is always going to be crime, murder, rape, theft, etc. and everyone who complains about it or take a stand against it should shut up and move on with life, accept it. The general Internet community accepts it, legislation accepts it, governments accepts it. Accepting it and ignoring it is not going to make the problem go away. It is because of our acceptance of this junk, that people continue to shove it down our throats and that is why we see so many newcomers to forums and Internet marketing in general follow in their footsteps.

Spam has made people so sick that spammers spam each other. For instance these so-called opt-in mailing list programs, where you can send 100000+ promotional e-mails a day. This is no opt-in list, it is only spammers signed up for the same program, so each member ends up receiving millions of spam e-mails from other members who receive his/her spam e-mails in turn. Sick isn't it?

GunRunner is absolutely right, in terms of SEO and website promotion, there is no real merit in the signatures below posts on forums or links inside forum posts. Especially if the forum is not even remotely related to your site. These links do not even create leads, not even to speak of sales. We all know the search engines do not add too much value to these links (and in some cases no value at all).

So yes, I share your feelings towards the self promotional crap on forums. We need more people taking a stand against this.

I know that these articles revolve mainly around unsolicited junk e-mails, but most of the basic principles discussed in these articles also apply to this topic:
United Against Cyber Crime
The Key To Beating Spam

Oh and David, apology accepted.

Matteo · #14 (**permalink**) 06-20-2007, 06:15 PM

Being Somewhat of a newb I have observed several types of posts

The Self Promoting Post (The post where someone is struggling to impress us with their expertise)

The Self Promoting Post (The post where someone has to inflate their own ego by running someone else down)

The Self Promoting Post (The Post where someone says in a 15,000 expository what could be said in a sentence to impress themselves)

The Self Promoting Post (the Post where someone loads their links to get people to click on them rather than actually having a question or an issue...the subject of this post)

And then the really useful post. That's the one i am willing to pile through the others to find. I am currently in receptor mode, learning all I can and this is an excellent resource. It would be nice to do without the self promoting post.....but only if the useful post doesn't get caught on the editing room floor.

pauliii · #15 (**permalink**) 06-20-2007, 06:29 PM

While agree about the negatives of spam, the flip side of the coin is getting your posting privledges removed because you answered a question and posted a legitimate link as a reference.

I frequent boards that are on topics in which I already have some expertise. It is insulting and counter to the public interest that my relevant postings should be censored. It seems that only those who have no expertise and no vested interest in the topic are allowed to provide links to sources.

Dinghus · #16 (**permalink**) 06-20-2007, 06:33 PM

Well, Matteo, just read my threads. And go to my sites. Don't go listening to these others.

LOL

Let's face it, some day SPAM will make it to the supreme court of the USA and all those spam laws will be shot down. Why? Because spam has been around for as long as mass advertising. Do you all shout and scream about junk mail in your mail box? How about tv commercials? How about the very ads you post for your products?

Now I am no fan of having my email fill up with junk mail, but then I do see why they are doing it. They are trying to make a buck just like everybody else in this world. It must work too since they keep doing it. Only a crazy person would keep doing it if there was no return on it.

martyn-it · #17 (**permalink**) 06-20-2007, 06:43 PM

I'll apologize first as this could be a bit drepressing

If something on the internwet works and is good it will get spammers

don't believe me here a list

Email :- wonderfull except for spammers

Popup windows - great invention for web designers except

mailto tag in links - great you can show someone your email address and they can seen you a message except ........

Forum (messages) - share info, discuss topics except .......

forum (profile) - find out about a person except ........

Shame really but it is the way things seem to go

Nice thought to finish - 2 days it will be the weekend

Martyn

Oh dear - 4 days time it will Monday

Webnauts · #18 (**permalink**) 06-20-2007, 07:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris

exactly what tolerances are we talking about here?

Yes. That is what I met.

deepsand · #19 (**permalink**) 06-20-2007, 09:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dinghus

<snip>

Let's face it, some day SPAM will make it to the supreme court of the USA and all those spam laws will be shot down. Why? Because spam has been around for as long as mass advertising. Do you all shout and scream about junk mail in your mail box? How about tv commercials? How about the very ads you post for your products?

<snip>

Shot down? Not likely.

Direct mail, radio, TV, billboards, etc. all use paid for by the advertiser; spam e-mails & faxes use resources paid for by the recipient. Furthermore, most are fraudulent.

Both unlawful taking & fraud are crimes. The Law will continue have jurisdiction over such activities.

azoundria · #20 (**permalink**) 06-20-2007, 09:33 PM

What if you were to create a spam section on the forum. People who spam would just post it there, and then no one has to read it. This would get rid of most of the spam from the other forums and you could even make the spam disappear automatically after it reaches the bottom of the first page since few spammers check back to see if there message is still there.

The spammers weakness is that all they care about is getting their message out to the most people as quickly as possible. They want to find the quickest place to advertise where they will get the most relevant views. This decision is often made in 10 seconds before they post a copy/pasted message. Then they move on to another forum and do the same thing there.

What does everyone think of a spam forum? I've seen it done fairly effectively on other forums.