Thanks Pebble. I have deleted the web link in his signature for now. I'll keep my eyes out if he makes anymore posts and SPLAT him if it isn't appropriate.
Not sure if this is relevent to this thread but I often get emails from people offering to help me promote "My Website, The Permaculture Forum" further up the search engine ladder. They really aren't that smart.
It is probably related to having your email address in your signature. Apart from changing it to 'admin at brainsworms dot com' to confuse the spambots - I don't think there's anything much we can do at this end.
I just smile and delete them. Not really a worry. The good thing is people doing Google searches seem to hit on the Composting Worms for Sale thread. It comes up on the first page about 6 down. Almost everyday my site stats show hits from this Forum so I hope it is working both ways. We both pick up exposure
There are too many linkcowboys to list unfortunately. On the positive side this forum includes an advanced search by joining date (range). 482 new members since start of this month already. I agree that a 'report' button, if available, would be useful. If that happened perhaps we could have a "spammers weeding week" where we jump in and chip away. My 10 minutes linkcowboys weeding shows that most new members have 0 posts and include links in their profiles. Here are a few... https://forums.permaculture.org.au/member.php?60679-01proper42 https://forums.permaculture.org.au/member.php?60946-aaggkkddss https://forums.permaculture.org.au/member.php?51758-0450_apply_for_loan https://forums.permaculture.org.au/member.php?51697-0336_direct_payday_loan https://forums.permaculture.org.au/member.php?61194-bodylogicvb https://forums.permaculture.org.au/member.php?60956-buyerglore12 etc etc etc
True, but the LINKS they include are gone. The whole reason these "spammers" create an account with a link in their signature is to increase their site's standing in search engine rankings. The more links they can get "out there" to be seen by the search engine spiders, the higher their site will appear on search results. Banning them at least deletes their signature links. Spammers that actually try to post spam are weeded out by our "first three posts are moderated" rule. Compared to the numerous daily new spammer accounts, very little actual spam hits the forums. Thanks for the info Lesley. We're continually trying to ban those types of accounts.
How many are there though that slip though? eg https://forums.permaculture.org.au/member.php?60946-aaggkkddss banning does not remove signature this has to be done manually eg 01proper42
Michaelangelica, Given that this forum is very ranking on Google it's not surprising that over 50% of the recent new members that I clicked on have commercial links in their profile pages. Hundreds would be slipping through each month.
Are we ranking high because all the spammers join, or do all the spammers join because we rank high? (Grahame if you answer 'it depends' I'll come and hit you....)
Lesley W Thanks for bringing this to our attention Craig is organising a major purge However it may mean that people who have never posted here but have registered might go So newbies "post or die"
