Crossed the line

I've just be driven to put my first person on ignore.  I'm a very tolerant person and up until now I have been happy to celebrate the fact that everyone is different and has different views and opinions.  In fact I would go so far as to say that it is enlightening to hear different sides to an issue.

But the spanning has just gone too far.  Come on RW, sort it out, before they drive me from the forum completly.

*crosses fingers it's not me*

I got to the limit of people I can ignore on here. It's 20. 17 of those are spammers...

Of course it's not you Kwilter *offers big sloppy kiss*

I've calmed down a bit now, but I still think that RW should open up messaging to spanners.  Then we could preach our own gospel back to them.  Maybe then they would get the hint.

+1 for what Supercaz said. It's getting a little stupid how much it's "infecting" the site. There must be something that can be done....

Kwilter with a K wrote (see)

Some of the other forums I use send a message to your email address which you have to reply to before your membership is confirmed...surely can't be that difficult to set up for here as well?

That or new posters have to have their very first post approved before it becomes visible.

Might not be practical though from a volume of extra work perspective.

Wot KK says - I've recently joined another forum where my first few messages where approved before they appeared.

I am fed up by all this spamming but I can't see the point of putting them on ignore - yes I have done this is the past but found I had a lot of strange accounts on ignore that only ever posted on one day.

I just hope that RW clean the boards up asap - or get KK to do it. or LB  -it'd be messy but fun.

I can sort of understand the "real" spam threads - advertising or posting links to other sites to increase traffic etc, but why bother just posting drivel that's been cut'n'pasted from somewhere else?

Is there a reason for it, or is someone just really really really bored?

It's still spam bots... I'm not a techie geek but there are links that sort of explain it...

http://www.gerd-riesselmann.net/archives/2005/01/comment-spam-without-links

It's called "comment spam" and originated in blogs I think...

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.03/google.html?pg=7

Nam, I find it interesting that the article about 'comment spam' says that bloggers have found ways to fight back against this. Perhaps RW could take a page out of their book ...

I have used 'ignore' to clear my view of the forum of the spammers - since they tend to change name each time, you can safely  'un-ignore' them when you put the next one on ignore.

I've very rarely put real forumites on ignore, but there is one who does nothing but whine so I felt the need! 

it isn't that hard to stop it.

it might mean a little minor inconvenience in the signing up process for new members but surely it is worthwhile to attempt to maintain spam free forums.

kittenkat wrote (see)

The spamming IS really offputting now, just pages of drivel.

That's interesting Nam - so they post a bland, inoffensive (but yawningly boring) comment to test whether the site will let them post without checks, then presumably come back later with the "real" spam.

Makes a bit more sense now.

I had a colleague who used to reply to the e-mails he received which were in a similar vein - rambling text about religion or the like.  He thought they were genuine (and yes, he got a lot of spam e-mail as a result).  He was a bit odd.