# Ghana Gold PM Spam **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [June 16, 2012, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghana-gold-pm-spam/625366 "2012-06-16T21:13:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghana-gold-pm-spam/625366/1 "2012-06-16T21:13:24Z")
I received this spam PM > [@](#): > > ``` > **Gold** > Dear Sir/Madam , > > ``` > > My name is Kwame Ababio and i am the CEO of Omane Mining Limited. My company is a registered gold mining company based in Ghana. We are also licensed to export gold out fo Ghana. Our company website is. . . . Should I forward it to the Straight Dope Spam Officer of the Watch so that, hopefully, the address can be blocked? Or should I simply nuke it? > [@](#): > > We desire to enter into a long term business relationship with you in terms of selling gold to you on a weekly or monthly basis. . . . It’s only fair that the SDMB get a 30-per-cent cut. ---
**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:** [June 16, 2012, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghana-gold-pm-spam/625366/2 "2012-06-16T21:18:25Z")
I just PMed **Marley** this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghana-gold-pm-spam/625366/3 "2012-06-16T21:18:41Z")
Yeah, it would also help if you told his their name so we could ban them as soon as possible. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghana-gold-pm-spam/625366/4 "2012-06-16T21:24:19Z")
Since we’re probably not going to get that cut, I’ve banned the spammer. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghana-gold-pm-spam/625366/5 "2012-06-16T21:37:15Z")
Thank heavens I got in under the wire before he was banned and sent him my credit card information and bank routing number. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghana-gold-pm-spam/625366/6 "2012-06-16T22:24:30Z")
I’ve heard from two other Dopers who also got PMs. There was a total of 5. Sorry about that. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghana-gold-pm-spam/625366/7 "2012-06-16T23:42:14Z")
Make that six. I deleated it from my notification box. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghana-gold-pm-spam/625366/8 "2012-06-16T23:45:20Z")
I didn’t get one, and I’m interested in the offer. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghana-gold-pm-spam/625366/9 "2012-06-16T23:51:46Z")
PLEASE, If you get a private message that seems like spam, PLEASE send the name of the poster and a text of the message to a mod/Admin. We need to get them to their final resting place as soon as possible. Thanks. **samclem** ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghana-gold-pm-spam/625366/10 "2012-06-17T06:58:13Z")
Do they just join, not post but PM some likely candidates? Seems pretty resource intensive- especially on a message board where the discussion are normally a bit above bogan status. Anyway, they must have thought I was a skinflint as I didn’t get a PM. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghana-gold-pm-spam/625366/11 "2012-06-17T12:10:28Z")
At least some of these spammers join and never make a post, they just send PMs. And yeah, it does seem to be inefficient. But who ever claimed that spammers think logically? ---
**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:** [June 17, 2012, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghana-gold-pm-spam/625366/12 "2012-06-17T12:24:47Z")
This is why many boards do not allow certain priveliges until a certain number of posts have occurred. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghana-gold-pm-spam/625366/13 "2012-06-17T12:46:38Z")
I don’t think spammers – and certainly not spambots – pay attention to stuff like that. They just get in where they can. We have people who don’t even get to the board to make a comment because they think the registration process is too onerous as it stands now – they have energy to complain but not enough to finish the registration! And that is how things are now. If we denied them them rights and only gave them partial access or none at all for a while I doubt you’d see any new blood at all. ---
**Author:** ![Peeta\_Mellark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@Peeta\_Mellark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peeta_Mellark)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghana-gold-pm-spam/625366/14 "2012-06-17T14:03:37Z")
I’ve rarely joined a board that _didn’t_ restrict access to some aspects of the board for new members. Some have actually kept new posters entirely moderated for their first five posts to weed out spammers. If someone is such a special snowflake that they wouldn’t join a message board simply because of a very sensible very common technique to reduce spam that’s not somebody who’s going to make a particularly valuable poster. ---
**Author:** ![Sally\_Mander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e56c9b/32.png) [@Sally\_Mander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sally_Mander)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghana-gold-pm-spam/625366/15 "2012-06-17T14:07:45Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > If we denied them them rights and only gave them partial access or none at all for a while I doubt you’d see any new blood at all. Well, that’s just ridiculous. Most boards have restrictions on new members for \*precisely \*this reason. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghana-gold-pm-spam/625366/16 "2012-06-17T14:10:46Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Thank heavens I got in under the wire before he was banned and sent him my credit card information and bank routing number. Me too. You didn’t happen to get your gold yet did you? Mine is in the mail. ---
**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:** [June 17, 2012, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghana-gold-pm-spam/625366/17 "2012-06-17T14:15:15Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > I doubt you’d see any new blood at all. [Thus missing gems like this.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=655320)😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghana-gold-pm-spam/625366/18 "2012-06-17T14:23:41Z")
I was going to say that given some of our recent members a any new blood is not necessarily a bonus but Kayaker beats me hands down 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghana-gold-pm-spam/625366/19 "2012-06-17T14:34:36Z")
> [@Sally\_Mander](#): > > Well, that’s just ridiculous. Most boards have restrictions on new members for \*precisely \*this reason. Yeah, almost every board has that kind of restriction and IIRC, vB specifically recommends a limit like this to cut down on spam PMs But, don’t forget, this is from a board that thought they’d get lots and lots of new members by requiring them to pay to provide them content that would be used to sell the board. So…you’re a newbie, you want to join, you get 30 days of posting and then have to fork over $15/year. To provide them content–what else do you get? Custom titles? No. Avatars? Hell no. Just..the right to post to a group that was getting smaller every year. :rolleyes: Everyone else outside of the people who run the board thought it was crazy as well. They lost, as a guess, 2/3ds of their casual posters (just based on reading–I’ve got nothing to back that up except my impression) and even after they reversed course, the board has never been the same–used to be that GQ and the Pit (which I read) would have such turnover with new threads that they’d get 50+ new threads a day or so–new threads would actually scroll off the page (at 50 per page) in a day or two. Now? Weeks. A large chunk of the people they drove away never came back. For years they claimed it was “impossible” to allow loyal users who stuck with them through those Pay To Post years who’d accidentally missed the deadline renew to keep their custom user group. It was “impossible” to move them back into it manually. Until they realized they were losing revenue and…it wasn’t “impossible” any more. For years they claimed that there was “no way” to block specific ads. If the ad server served you up racist crap, obvious scams, illegal stuff, etc, it was unfortunate, but it was simply the way it was: all or nothing. Until they started losing users due to malware and then…oops, I guess it _was_ possible. Long story short, they probably believe that telling a new user that they have to make 10 posts will drive away people. But they also believed they’d increase their user base and increase new posts by charging users for it. So…you cannot underestimate how out of touch with the rest of the entirety of the web (not to mention their own software) they are. I still think that someone–whoever the final arbiter of these things is, is someone’s grandma wondering “But _why_ does the kitty even _want_ the cheeseburger” and trying to find a way do their own version of Badger/Badger/Mushroom. ---
**Author:** ![florez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9e5f3/32.png) [@florez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/florez)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghana-gold-pm-spam/625366/20 "2012-06-17T23:03:43Z")
I noticed my PM Ghana gold offer yesterday and just deleted it, I guess I should have reported it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghana-gold-pm-spam/625366.md?page=2)