Thread: Spam Promotion? Never a good idea.

Last night an account was made on my forum that simply tried to gain backlinks by placing various URLs in all the profile boxes: Location, Website, Interests, etc. Unfortunately for them, spammers don't get backlinks on any of my websites - I deleted the account about a minute after it was made and banned the IP Address.

I followed up by sending a letter to all of the websites and forums advertised in the URLs that were associated with this account (you know, the ones from all the profile fields) and I informed them that I would not tolerate spam, and that if it continued, I would proceed to file abuse reports as appropriate. I also told them that if they were utilizing a backlink service, that this is the quality they were receiving.

One forum owner replied with an apology letter, stating that he was indeed working with an SEO company that was supposed to give him natural backlinks from other forums. He was very displeased about hearing that he was just being ripped off, and ensured me that he would take the appropriate action to prevent it from happening again - so that was a good thing.

The next reply I received was interesting...

Forum,s Header links for sale cheapest hxxp://forums.sfinances.com/

The e-mail signature was also just a ton of random URLs and nonsense.

What kind of person receives a letter like the one I sent, and follows-up by trying to sell the person header links?!

I think that people don't really understand the potential repercussions that spamming can have on their website...

How long after your mail was that email sent? Might be an autoresponse or something

And it sucks indeed that people use software etc just to spam other people's boards... they know it doesn't make sense because they get deleted anyways..

I sent out my e-mail at around 1:30 AM. Received the reply at 8:14 AM.

Originally Posted by Kovich

I sent out my e-mail at around 1:30 AM. Received the reply at 8:14 AM.

Surely not an auto-response message.

I had a similar case before, but it wasn't a SEO company. It was the individual who did it.

You actually helped someone know about the service they were receiving.

I deleted the account about a minute after it was made and banned the IP Address.

I followed up by sending a letter to all of the websites and forums advertised in the URLs that were associated with this account (you know, the ones from all the profile fields) and I informed them that I would not tolerate spam, and that if it continued, I would proceed to file abuse reports as appropriate. I also told them that if they were utilizing a backlink service, that this is the quality they were receiving.

LOL. Gotta bookmark for next time someone accuses me of being a ruthless mod. Kudos for your restraint though, see you didnt then fly to their house and kick their dog.

Originally Posted by robjones

LOL. Gotta bookmark for next time someone accuses me of being a ruthless mod. Kudos for your restraint though, see you didnt then fly to their house and kick their dog.

Oh boy. I've done some ruthless forum admin stuff... Never to my members, though, just to people who come to disrupt the community. I ban spammers permanently and, if they get out of hand, I file abuse reports. Usually a threat of action is sufficient, however.

Here's a prime example that you'll love. Some kid signed up to my forum and started pasting images of underage girls in swimsuits. He described things that he would do to them - like tickling them, molesting them, and then killing them. He even talked about how he was going to blow up a school because there were 'Mexicans' attending it.

I asked him time and time again to stop, and I couldn't really do anything since he had a dial-up connection, and therefore a dynamic IP address. I tracked down his personal information (myspace and stuff) and asked him personally, again, to stop - he refused. Finally, I compiled a nice case against him and reported him to the Internet Crimes Complaint Center (IC3) and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation. Once they received all the evidence and my server logs, they filed a subpoena for his address and such.

Finally, the San Diego Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force raided his house. He's in a lot of trouble, to say the least...

Originally Posted by Kovich

Oh boy. I've done some ruthless forum admin stuff... Never to my members, though, just to people who come to disrupt the community. I ban spammers permanently and, if they get out of hand, I file abuse reports. Usually a threat of action is sufficient, however.

Here's a prime example that you'll love. Some kid signed up to my forum and started pasting images of underage girls in swimsuits. He described things that he would do to them - like tickling them, molesting them, and then killing them. He even talked about how he was going to blow up a school because there were 'Mexicans' attending it.

I asked him time and time again to stop, and I couldn't really do anything since he had a dial-up connection, and therefore a dynamic IP address. I tracked down his personal information (myspace and stuff) and asked him personally, again, to stop - he refused. Finally, I compiled a nice case against him and reported him to the Internet Crimes Complaint Center (IC3) and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation. Once they received all the evidence and my server logs, they filed a subpoena for his address and such.

Finally, the San Diego Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force raided his house. He's in a lot of trouble, to say the least...

Wow, you're surely one person spammers should stay away from. I appreciate the steps you've taken as there are indeed very few people that even bother to do so. Webspam is increasing at such a rate that ignoring it is what most people are doing to avoid it but it just keeps coming back.

I have all anti-spam measures in place on my sites so even if bots and spammers come with the intention to get some free backlinks, they just end up having wasted their time and bandwidth.

As a beginner in SEO I just want to know what is the defination of spameers to the administrator or moderators on average. For eg. I register in forums, if the y have website option I put my website their, I put only two links in the signature. Then I see if I am capable enough to be a part of the forum. I f I think I cant contribute to the discussuion, then I go to the off topic section and put my posts there. If it is spamming or moderators dont mind such things.