# >>> New kind of Spam <<<



## kcp (Feb 2, 2003)

Hi everyone, we have a new kind of spam going on and I would like you to keep an eye open for these spammers and report it to us if you see one - These spammers are spamming user profile (often their own but sometimes other's too) with Visitor Messages (Visitor Messages are messages that people can leave on your profile page, *see example here*, that is if you have the Visitor Message feature enabled)

Sometimes these spammers will post a bunch of links to suspicious websites and which obviously look like spam but sometimes they will post a short paragraph of text that looks like a genuine question or message but some of the message's words or key phrase are hyperlinks that lead to a suspicious site - These spammers also often display an avatar that looks very generic (see examples attached below) or "looks too perfect" like the avatar was taken from a photo bank, a fashion magazine or something like that.

You have the ability to delete (soft-delete actually) Visitor Messages on your profile, which is fine and I see that some people have deleted spam on their profile but did not report the spammer so we didn't get to ban it - *Please, if you see spam on your profile don't forget to report it to us*; on the top right of each visitor message there's a link that says "Report" - Thanks!

This said, for those of you like me, who don't like Visitor Messaging, you can turn it off through:
Settings > My Account/General Settings > Messaging & Notification > Visitor Messaging > Visitor Messaging off


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## kingsax (Aug 8, 2008)

How do you delete visitor messages you already have?


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## kcp (Feb 2, 2003)

kingsax said:


> How do you delete visitor messages you already have?


There's a "Edit" link at the top right end of the Visitor Message. Click on it, then select "Delete Post" (or soft-delete). The "Physically remove" (or permanent delete) option doesnt't work for you guys - If you want them deleted for good, ask an Admin.

If you don't want Visitor Messages at all, deactivate as described in post #1 above.


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## magical pig (Dec 15, 2005)

Who would go through the trouble of spamming visitor messages? I don't understand...


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## kcp (Feb 2, 2003)

magical pig said:


> Who would go through the trouble of spamming visitor messages? I don't understand...


There are different kind of spam and this form of spam is not meant to be for viewers like you and me; it is meant to boost the spammer's web site ranking in search engine results. You see, the more links to your website there are out there, the more that helps your website to rank higher in the search engine results.

This said, I think that Harri has made it so that user profiles and visitor messages can't be scanned by search engine crawlers, resulting in that the spammers may be doing all this spamming for nothing. Nevertheless, Spam in user profile (or elsewhere) does look messy and it is unpleasant for the membership and an un-reported spammer is a spammer that remains active and that can continue to spam the forum.


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## kingsax (Aug 8, 2008)

kcp said:


> There's a "Edit" link at the top right end of the Visitor Message. Click on it, then select "Delete Post" (or soft-delete). The "Physically remove" (or permanent delete) option doesnt't work for you guys - If you want them deleted for good, ask an Admin.
> 
> If you don't want Visitor Messages at all, deactivate as described in post #1 above.


 All i have at the top right of visitor messages is: View conversation and report, no other edit links at all, then at the bottom i have: Moderation tools, so i click on that, that opens the delete message option, click that...nothing. What now?


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## kcp (Feb 2, 2003)

kingsax said:


> All i have at the top right of visitor messages is: View conversation and report, no other edit links at all, then at the bottom i have: Moderation tools, so i click on that, that opens the delete message option, click that...nothing. What now?


That's strange. Gimme a few minutes, I'll have a look at your profile to see if I can tweak it for you...


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## k1mcptest (Jan 30, 2008)

Okay that's odd. It seems that you can only delete Visitor Message posted by yourself using the method I described above but you can "Moderate" Visitor Messages left by other members using the moderation tools :dontknow:

So yep, what you do is check the little check box at the top right corner of the VM you want to delete. Then go to the moderation tool and select "Delete" - It will ask you to enter a reason for deletion but you don't have to (it's your profile, you don't have to justify yourself for doing whatever you want with it :bluewink: ) then click enter or Ok or whatever that button says and you're done.


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## kcp (Feb 2, 2003)

^^^^^ In case you wonder, that's me


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## LampLight (Jun 22, 2007)

I also only have a "view" message and "Report" button. I can not delete the message I already have.


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## magical pig (Dec 15, 2005)

kcp said:


> There are different kind of spam and this form of spam is not meant to be for viewers like you and me; it is meant to boost the spammer's web site ranking in search engine results. You see, the more links to your website there are out there, the more that helps your website to rank higher in the search engine results.
> 
> This said, I think that Harri has made it so that user profiles and visitor messages can't be scanned by search engine crawlers, resulting in that the spammers may be doing all this spamming for nothing. Nevertheless, Spam in user profile (or elsewhere) does look messy and it is unpleasant for the membership and an un-reported spammer is a spammer that remains active and that can continue to spam the forum.


Thanks Kim!


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## Harri Rautiainen (Jan 24, 2003)

*Re: want tenor ORIGINAL Slant Signature 6* - buy or trade for 7* - London, UK*



alsax63 said:


> this is ridiculous - my text keeps disappearing! Moderator - contact me please!


We are getting a huge and unbearable amount of spamming attempts. We are combating that with many available means.
One being of moderating newcomers' posts that include several external links.

You legitimate post happened to belong to that category. Sorry for the inconvenience,


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