Fortune cookie spam

Whatever.

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rob
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Fortune cookie spam

Post by rob »

So recently I deleted a user for posting several short, low-content messages that read like fortune cookies, and yet seemed to have something vaguely to do with the topic. Let me give an example from the same user on a different forum, for a topic discussing inkjet refills:

"There are many good websites that provides the quality cartridges for the Canon models at a adequate price. So select the best option suitable for you and get it."

And another post on a topic discussing gray-market printers:

"It is completely irrelevant that in the stock the required and the best models available and the shop is offering the other model and telling lie that it is out of stock. Users should protest against such malpractices and shoul not purchase any thing from that shop complete ban of their products."

The strange thing is, there's no URL in his sig or profile, so he's not advertising anything or linkspamming. There's no URL in the message. And yet there's no actual information in the post. Maybe it's a kind of stealth-linkspam where they post a few fortune cookie comments to get in under the radar, and then later on switch their signature to a URL. The next Google scan of the forum picks up half a dozen mentions of his link, and his site rank goes up.

Anyway, I normally do a good job keeping out the spammers. Half of the users who register for this forum are rejected by me because they are spammers -- I just google their email address, and what comes up is either valid, spammy, or nothing. I really don't have a choice except to let the "nothings" through, but this also apparently lets the fortune cookie spammers through also.

Anyway, when you spot a fortune cookie spam, please let me know directly. Don't reply or reference the post in a reply, since if they are a spammer, their posts will get deleted and then your comment will just look funny :)

Thanks,

--Rob
Your Tireless Admin!
The Singularity is Near. ~ http://halfbakedmaker.org ~ Follow me as I build the world's first all-mechanical steam-powered computer.
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daniel_reetz
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Re: Fortune cookie spam

Post by daniel_reetz »

rob wrote: Anyway, when you spot a fortune cookie spam, please let me know directly. Don't reply or reference the post in a reply, since if they are a spammer, their posts will get deleted and then your comment will just look funny :)

Thanks,

--Rob
Your Tireless Admin!
Rob, thanks again for your efforts (& the remarkably spam-free fora) and my apologies for not sending you the link directly as I usually do. My lame excuse is that I was posting from my phone, which makes copy/paste more painful than it should have been.
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rob
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Re: Fortune cookie spam

Post by rob »

Not to worry! I hate deleting someone else's post when they refer to a post that no longer exists, so I figured I'd let everyone know that it's possible for spam posts to disappear.
The Singularity is Near. ~ http://halfbakedmaker.org ~ Follow me as I build the world's first all-mechanical steam-powered computer.
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