# Are replies to spam bumps cleaned up now?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-replies-to-spam-bumps-cleaned-up-now/836966>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [July 12, 2019, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-replies-to-spam-bumps-cleaned-up-now/836966 "2019-07-12T13:39:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 14\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2019, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-replies-to-spam-bumps-cleaned-up-now/836966/1 "2019-07-12T13:39:28Z")

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[This thread from 2009](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=540753) shows up in my list of New Posts with the latest post listed as a 7:30 post from **Telemark** , but clicking on it doesn’t show any posts after 2009.

Am getting a cached version, or was it bumped by a spammer and then cleaned up?

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**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2019, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-replies-to-spam-bumps-cleaned-up-now/836966/2 "2019-07-12T13:57:14Z")

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It was spammer.

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**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2019, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-replies-to-spam-bumps-cleaned-up-now/836966/3 "2019-07-12T14:04:04Z")

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I can’t prove it natch, but I’m pretty sure it’s happened to me where my post noting that I’d reported a spammer was deleted. I assume it’s so that the thread sinks back into its grave and doesn’t confuse people by making them think I decided to report an innocuous post from 2014 or whatever.

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2019, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-replies-to-spam-bumps-cleaned-up-now/836966/4 "2019-07-12T14:08:13Z")

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Yes. We routinely delete spam posts, as well as “reported” posts, and also replies to the spammer by those who didn’t realize it was spam. This will cause zombies resurrected by spammers to float back down to their previous resting place and disappear from the main page. This may go for trolls as well. Threads started by spammers are deleted in their entirety, including any reports and replies.

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**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2019, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-replies-to-spam-bumps-cleaned-up-now/836966/5 "2019-07-12T14:12:47Z")

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> [@Colibri](#):
>
> Yes. We routinely delete spam posts, as well as “reported” posts, and also replies to the spammer by those who didn’t realize it was spam. This will cause zombies resurrected by spammers to float back down to their previous resting place and disappear from the main page. This may go for trolls as well. Threads started by spammers are deleted in their entirety, including any reports and replies.

Excellent. I guess I’d just never observed that specific aftermath before.

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2019, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-replies-to-spam-bumps-cleaned-up-now/836966/6 "2019-07-12T14:24:29Z")

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There was a spammer this morning who was bumping a bunch of old threads. In most of them, it was just the spammer’s post and maybe one saying “reported”, and I deleted all of those. In one of them, however, there were already a few real replies after the spammer, so I just left a note that so-and-so wasn’t actually the one who bumped the thread, so people wouldn’t make zombie jokes at his expense

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2019, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-replies-to-spam-bumps-cleaned-up-now/836966/7 "2019-07-12T14:27:04Z")

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I might add that sometimes people will make posts that are pertinent to the subject of a zombie the thread before we get to it, because they don’t realize it’s a zombie. If posts in GQ actually add new information, we won’t delete them and may leave the thread open with a note that the thread was bumped by a spammer and the subsequent posters shouldn’t be blamed for resurrecting it.

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**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2019, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-replies-to-spam-bumps-cleaned-up-now/836966/8 "2019-07-12T22:37:26Z")

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I saw that spammer–the sites linked to seemed oddly random. Don’t most spammers have a single focus?

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2019, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-replies-to-spam-bumps-cleaned-up-now/836966/9 "2019-07-13T01:10:06Z")

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Yeah, it seemed odd to me, too. I guess it was one of those “Internet marketing companies” that advertise in the back of respectable business magazines, and they had multiple clients. I guess.

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**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2019, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-replies-to-spam-bumps-cleaned-up-now/836966/10 "2019-07-13T02:10:47Z")

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That was my 15 minutes of fame.

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**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2019, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-replies-to-spam-bumps-cleaned-up-now/836966/11 "2019-07-13T07:26:07Z")

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yeah most of the posts Chronos was talking about last night was me …reporting them …

But a lot of us had a full on discussion when the Indian preschool spammer made 3 or 4 threads last week …

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**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2019, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-replies-to-spam-bumps-cleaned-up-now/836966/12 "2019-07-13T11:26:32Z")

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> [@nightshadea](#):
>
> yeah most of the posts Chronos was talking about last night was me …reporting them …
> 
> But a lot of us had a full on discussion when the Indian preschool spammer made 3 or 4 threads last week …

We had one several years ago when no mods were on during the night who would post 70-90 threads. Every night. A horoscope service(in India) to find a wife or some such.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2019, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-replies-to-spam-bumps-cleaned-up-now/836966/13 "2019-07-13T12:56:26Z")

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> [@nightshadea](#):
>
> the Indian preschool spammer

Wow, they really start early!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2019, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-replies-to-spam-bumps-cleaned-up-now/836966/14 "2019-07-13T14:07:21Z")

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Most of those threads yesterday actually had multiple reports. If I really wanted to, I could go back and see who reported first, and who actually posted “Reported”.
