Handling spammers

Monsen

Every online community have spammers visiting from time to time. Even if this forum do have anti-spam measures, there are nothing that can really prevent a user with a valid email address from registering and posting spam.

There are checks in place that will automatically reject applications from known bad sources, and blocking bots, and there are rate limits that prevents a user from filling the front page with spam easily, but every now and again, a single spam post is bound to appear.

So, the one important rule is that if you should encounter a spam post in the forum, do not interact with it in any way, except by reporting it by clicking the Flag icon in the post. Don't reply to the spam, don't send the spammer any PM's, and don't give the spam post any reactions (like, etc).

Replying to a spammers post actually help the spammer no matter what you write, since it brings the thread back into focus, showing it as unread again for everyone, dragging people back in for a second look. Also, any reply will remain behind when the spammers post are deleted, looking quite out of place.

Adding reactions will give the spammer points, which could lead to a higher rank, which is not at all desirable.

Note that one way many spammers operate is to first post a normal, but shallow post, either as an introduction, or a reply to something else. They do this to establish a presence as a regular user in the forum. They then either edit that post to put in spam content, which is why you may see even me replying to a spam post, because it wasn't a spam post at the time of my reply, or they start creating spam threads once they assume their account is old enough to bypass newbie filters. This is why this forum has a very limited post edit time for new users, and timers to prevent to frequent posting. I prefer to not ban people just on my gut feeling, so I usually let these shallow posts stand, even replying to them to judge their responses, and then monitor them to see what they do, so even if I post a welcome aboard post doesn't mean I don't have my suspicions. For these kinds of posts, feel free to do the same, but again, avoid giving them likes or or other reactions, save those for when they actually post something sensible, don't like them just because they claim they are new.

So, just don't take any action on these posts except flagging them. And should it be something particularly bad/illegal, you can also email me by using the email address in my profile or contact ProFantasy support.