It didn’t bother me. In fact, I thought to myself how cool it is that I can make a turkey, order the kids around and check forum posts at the same time. Thanksgiving day and “Black Friday” resembled a regular weekend at Cre8asiteforums. We were mobbed with spam.

At Cre8asiteforums, it’s been so bad that we finally had to stop being nice (and dumb), and switched on the validator. This means that a new member must verify their email address to be able to join. This has been a small help.

In fact, it removed all my fun of stalking new members who joined with obviously bogus information. The moment they tried to post, their post was removed and they were banned. Repeat offenders and duplicate spammers get their IP banned.

I don’t get to stalk new member prey as much now.

To our surprise, Paul (aka Send2Paul) found a nifty software application that automatically sends posts to places like our forums. It’s designed to link drop and post useless conversations on purpose. They say the goal is to get search engines to find links in signature lines and posts. You don’t have to be there and your information can be as fake as plastic surgery.

We’ve always scrambled links and sent them on a nice long journey into the Universe. So link drops are useless. We make that information available, but an automatic signup and post application can’t read.

A friend’s forum shares a Tech person with mine, and he reported to us a situation they discovered where links are hidden inside posts. Porn sites are desperately competitive and completely disrespectful of anyone’s web property or time. I only visit adult sites with class. Ahem.

So, while most people were enjoying their families, I was enjoying mine and protecting the forums from the onslaught of junk. I swear people purposely target registering junk posts and invalid signups on holidays and weekends, when they think nobody is around moderating. I can baste and blast at the same time…just you watch me.

Regular members have a blast when someone spams and a Moderator is asleep at the wheel. They show no tolerance for spam. If you want your site to be publically tormented, go ahead and make our day.

One of the things that fascinates me about spammers is their lack of intelligence. For example, we look at the user name and email address when new members signup. We run searches and check other things we have available to us, so we can study their history. So many people use words in their emails or user names that just scream spammer, or someone who is looking for topics we just don’t go into in a web design forum.

Despite the sheer number of daily new member signups and spam posts that members never see, there are, of course, legitimate signups by people who really want to join the cre8tive community. Members have their moods.

Witness:

Rambling About Members “titles”

Travis Is Seeking a Sex Goddess ??

Psychological Test, Web Designer’s Edition

to name a few.

When I’m not shooting spam, I’m laughing my head off at the entertainment.

Related: ‘9 out of 10 e-mails now spam’

Stumble it!