# Are we being hit by a bad spammer? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [March 4, 2021, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-being-hit-by-a-bad-spammer/937134 "2021-03-04T02:17:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2021, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-being-hit-by-a-bad-spammer/937134/1 "2021-03-04T02:17:09Z")
I’ve noticed a lot of old threads popping up, some from before the transition, but the most recent post is old; no new post. Is there a bad spammer going around the Boards? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2021, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-being-hit-by-a-bad-spammer/937134/2 "2021-03-04T02:28:58Z")
All day some of the “suggested topics” have been months old. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2021, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-being-hit-by-a-bad-spammer/937134/3 "2021-03-04T02:39:09Z")
Bad as in evil, or bad as in incompetent? [Or maybe both] ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2021, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-being-hit-by-a-bad-spammer/937134/4 "2021-03-04T02:40:08Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > All day some of the “suggested topics” have been months old. This has been happening to me all day also. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2021, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-being-hit-by-a-bad-spammer/937134/5 "2021-03-04T02:40:54Z")
When we transitioned from vBulletin to Discourse, there were a bunch of spam posts that had been deleted that did not port over properly during the database conversion, so a bunch of old spam posts ended up becoming visible again. Most people didn’t notice them unless an old thread containing one of these spam posts happened to be bumped, and then we would just delete the spam post again and all was good. Today the Discourse folks went through the entire database for us and cleared out all of those old spam posts that weren’t properly deleted during the transition. We ended up with a few thousand flagged posts in our moderator review queue, but fortunately the Discourse folks fixed all of that for us fairly quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2021, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-being-hit-by-a-bad-spammer/937134/6 "2021-03-04T02:41:23Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > All day some of the “suggested topics” have been months old. There’s that, but I’ve also been seeing old threads in the “New Posts” section, with no recent post. I’ve always assumed that such a thread was revived by a spammer whose post got wished to the cornfield. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2021, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-being-hit-by-a-bad-spammer/937134/7 "2021-03-04T02:44:28Z")
If we deleted a spammer in the old vBulletin system, the entire thread would sink back into the depths from which it came and would not show any new activity. Discourse works differently, and will show the thread as having recent activity, even though the activity (spam) has been deleted. So yes, your assumption is usually correct. Someone went into the cornfield. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2021, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-being-hit-by-a-bad-spammer/937134/8 "2021-03-04T02:57:36Z")
Aren’t all spammers bad? ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2021, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-being-hit-by-a-bad-spammer/937134/9 "2021-03-04T06:01:25Z")
I eagerly await the good spammers that might grace the board with their presence. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2021, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-being-hit-by-a-bad-spammer/937134/10 "2021-03-04T11:10:09Z")
[Free puppies and ice cream!](https://notanactuallink) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2021, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-being-hit-by-a-bad-spammer/937134/11 "2021-03-04T12:03:40Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Aren’t all spammers bad?.. Yep, like when someone says, “I have bad diarrhea” so you realize it isn’t the good diarrhea. ---
**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:** [March 4, 2021, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-being-hit-by-a-bad-spammer/937134/12 "2021-03-04T12:08:42Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > > [@cochrane](#): > > > > Aren’t all spammers bad?.. > > Yep, like when someone says, “I have bad diarrhea” so you realize it isn’t the good diarrhea. - The good diarrhea is the kind that lets you make it to the toilet. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2021, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-being-hit-by-a-bad-spammer/937134/13 "2021-03-04T13:49:50Z")
Is being hit by a bad spammer better or worse than being hit by a smooth criminal? > [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > If we deleted a spammer in the old vBulletin system, the entire thread would sink back into the depths from which it came and would not show any new activity. Discourse works differently, and will show the thread as having recent activity, even though the activity (spam) has been deleted. Do the threads get locked, or are you just letting them sink again unless something kicks off? ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2021, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-being-hit-by-a-bad-spammer/937134/14 "2021-03-04T14:08:29Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Is being hit by a bad spammer better or worse than being hit by a smooth criminal? It depends on whether or not Annie is okay. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2021, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-being-hit-by-a-bad-spammer/937134/15 "2021-03-04T18:10:56Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Do the threads get locked, or are you just letting them sink again unless something kicks off? In most cases we do not lock the threads. We just let them go as-is. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2021, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-being-hit-by-a-bad-spammer/937134/16 "2021-03-04T18:15:13Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > We ended up with a few thousand flagged posts in our moderator review queue So you were spammed? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![codinghorror](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/codinghorror/32/4242_2.png) [@codinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/codinghorror)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-being-hit-by-a-bad-spammer/937134/17 "2021-03-09T05:32:09Z")
Still quite a few spam posts survived the migration (somehow…) but I am working the list as we speak. [https://boards.straightdope.com/search?q=%22spam%20reported%22%20%40running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/search?q=%22spam%20reported%22%20%40running_coach) ---
**Author:** ![Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heffalump_and_roo/32/7691_2.png) [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-being-hit-by-a-bad-spammer/937134/18 "2021-03-09T06:18:42Z")
Holy cow! **running\_coach** reported all of that?! They should just give him the zapper tool. Thanks **running\_coach** , **codinghorror** and the Discourse team for keeping us spam free. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-being-hit-by-a-bad-spammer/937134/19 "2021-03-09T06:47:37Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > If we deleted a spammer in the old vBulletin system, the entire thread would sink back into the depths from which it came and would not show any new activity. Discourse works differently, and will show the thread as having recent activity, even though the activity (spam) has been deleted. @codinghorror mentioned that there is a moderator option to reset the bump date. Perhaps the mods should routinely do that when deleting spam? ---
**Author:** ![codinghorror](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/codinghorror/32/4242_2.png) [@codinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/codinghorror)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-being-hit-by-a-bad-spammer/937134/20 "2021-03-09T06:49:27Z")
Yes @running_coach deserves a lot of credit for blasting a lot of spam. 💥 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-being-hit-by-a-bad-spammer/937134.md?page=2)