# This forum is alive? If yes, please remove this topic and my account. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 22, 2010, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-forum-is-alive-if-yes-please-remove-this-topic-and-my-account/526036 "2010-01-22T21:03:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-forum-is-alive-if-yes-please-remove-this-topic-and-my-account/526036/21 "2010-01-23T00:00:46Z")
Right you are, **Mangetout**. It was nice of this guy to warn us ahead of time. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-forum-is-alive-if-yes-please-remove-this-topic-and-my-account/526036/22 "2010-01-23T00:02:54Z")
> [@MissMossie](#): > > The post count is what throws me. Aren’t paying members the only ones with post counts? Why would someone fork over fifteen bucks and then post something like this? And he used up his one and only post, in a successful effort to leave. Why didn’t he just . . . leave? ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-forum-is-alive-if-yes-please-remove-this-topic-and-my-account/526036/23 "2010-01-23T00:09:46Z")
My guess: in some weird way, they’re accumulating a database of abandoned message boards where they know spam will remain without any kind of moderation. Black hat SEO, plain and simple. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-forum-is-alive-if-yes-please-remove-this-topic-and-my-account/526036/24 "2010-01-23T00:29:01Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > And he used up his one and only post, in a successful effort to leave. Why didn’t he just . . . leave? Because by publicly requesting that his account be deleted, he was making a _statement_. ---
**Author:** ![Disheavel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Disheavel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disheavel)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-forum-is-alive-if-yes-please-remove-this-topic-and-my-account/526036/25 "2010-01-23T00:55:21Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > My guess: in some weird way, they’re accumulating a database of abandoned message boards where they know spam will remain without any kind of moderation. Black hat SEO, plain and simple. I would think just the opposite. I think it is an easy way to find boards that are active and will be seen by people to narrow the number of boards for their true posting bot to come through. ---
**Author:** ![ataraxy22](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ataraxy22/32/307_2.png) [@ataraxy22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ataraxy22)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-forum-is-alive-if-yes-please-remove-this-topic-and-my-account/526036/26 "2010-01-23T03:58:36Z")
maybe to collect a list of dead message boards to sell to spammers. Yes, that is an incomplete sentience. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-forum-is-alive-if-yes-please-remove-this-topic-and-my-account/526036/27 "2010-01-23T04:28:41Z")
What kind of sentience? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-forum-is-alive-if-yes-please-remove-this-topic-and-my-account/526036/28 "2010-01-23T04:36:47Z")
Y’know. He didn’t say much, but he was pithy and to the point. Would’ve made a good Doper… perhaps even great. What is his stance on UHC? Probably for it. On which side does he fall on the partisan line? I’m thinking a little left of center. Is he afraid of the LHC creating a black hole that’ll swallow the earth? Probably not, I’m sure he’s got a good bead on science. Is he an Atheist, agnostic, theist — what?! Probably an agnostic like me. Does he have cats? And how many?! Gosh, I almost feel like I know him. Like we could have a few drinks and laugh about the good ol’ days. I surely already miss him. Farewell dear **titynintebted.** Farewell… ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-forum-is-alive-if-yes-please-remove-this-topic-and-my-account/526036/29 "2010-01-23T05:14:10Z")
> [@Disheavel](#): > > I would think just the opposite. I think it is an easy way to find boards that are active and will be seen by people to narrow the number of boards for their true posting bot to come through. A mod on another forum that got spammed with this suggested something like that; that if the post is deleted the bot sender will know the board is active and send something nastier; so he/she just locked the thread instead of deleting it. ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-forum-is-alive-if-yes-please-remove-this-topic-and-my-account/526036/30 "2010-01-23T05:40:34Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > Does he have cats? Damn it, **cmyk** , you know the rules. You must now post pictures of **titynintebted** ’s theoretical cat(s). No, you can’t just post a picture of a box and expect us to believe the theoretical cat(s) is/are in there. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-forum-is-alive-if-yes-please-remove-this-topic-and-my-account/526036/31 "2010-01-23T06:02:14Z")
Only forum number five is alive. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-forum-is-alive-if-yes-please-remove-this-topic-and-my-account/526036/32 "2010-01-23T15:57:43Z")
> [@Disheavel](#): > > I would think just the opposite. I think it is an easy way to find boards that are active and will be seen by people to narrow the number of boards for their true posting bot to come through. On boards that are active and moderated, spam is more likely to be deleted. On boards that are abandoned or with only occasional moderation – and there’s tens, if not hundreds of thousands of them – future spam will remain. It might not be seen by many people, but the search engines will encounter it, and the more they do, the higher the Google PageRank or Bing ranking of the spammed URL will be. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-forum-is-alive-if-yes-please-remove-this-topic-and-my-account/526036/33 "2010-01-23T16:03:00Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > On boards that are active and moderated, spam is more likely to be deleted. On boards that are abandoned or with only occasional moderation – and there’s tens, if not hundreds of thousands of them – future spam will remain. It might not be seen by many people, but the search engines will encounter it, and the more they do, the higher the Google PageRank or Bing ranking of the spammed URL will be. This kind of thinking is so snaky, I don’t know whether to give it an award or run away screaming… ---
**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:** [January 23, 2010, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-forum-is-alive-if-yes-please-remove-this-topic-and-my-account/526036/34 "2010-01-23T16:07:28Z")
I’d ask **John Mace** if he was right on this one’s join date (like I was) before opening this topic but I’m not sure if he reads this forum. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-forum-is-alive-if-yes-please-remove-this-topic-and-my-account/526036/35 "2010-01-24T06:05:53Z")
> [@freckafree](#): > > Damn it, **cmyk** , you know the rules. You must now post pictures of **titynintebted** ’s theoretical cat(s). No, you can’t just post a picture of a box and expect us to believe the theoretical cat(s) is/are in there. I know, I know… Actually, I was going to post a picture of a closed box, but then the real question would be: Is it alive, or dead? (Much like this forum) ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-forum-is-alive-if-yes-please-remove-this-topic-and-my-account/526036/36 "2010-01-24T17:36:46Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > This kind of thinking is so snaky, I don’t know whether to give it an award or run away screaming… Both. As message board administrators and moderators are becoming more savvy, spammers are trying new techniques to make forum spam stick around a little bit longer so the search engines can find them. It’s an ongoing battle. Take, for instance, bots. Email verification was intended to stop automated registration and posting bots. Updated bots responded to the registration validation email. Captchas were implemented. Bots can now break the captchas. Savvy administrators are responding with captchas that have custom fonts, requiring new users to answer custom questions, and plugins such as StopForumSpam that recognize most of the usernames, email addresses and IPs of ongoing bot spam campaigns. To get around the bot barriers, many are resorting to so-called search engine optimization firms, many of which are based in India, the Philippines, and Pakistan. Message board operators became wise to users registering with IPs from India but with locations like “us A”, “the newyork” and “los Anges”, and the spam was pretty obvious. The manual spammers responded with hidden link spam and tag team spam (one user posts a question, another posts an answer with the link to the spammed site), many through temporary proxies on PCs connected through cable systems in the US, UK and Canada. There’s Chinese sneaker and WoW gold spam. Nigerian Nokia spam. Lots of forum spam from Israel now, thanks to the presence of Russian immigrants with connections to spam and hacking rings in the old country. Those types of brute-force spam are usually deleted immediately on well-managed boards, but on a large board with many subforums, a corporate or organization board with only occasional traffic, or an abandoned board, they’ll stick around for a long, long time. Someday, look at the profile of a new user. Manually decrease the user number and reload. Go through ten or twenty profiles. There’s hundreds, if not thousands of spambots among the SDMB’s new users, because the SDMB’s vBulletin configuration is mostly stock; it’s left mostly to the mods to fight the spammers. Custom captcha fonts and the StopForumSpam plugin will stop 90% to 98% of the spammers that attempt to register here, freeing the mods to … well, mdoerate. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-forum-is-alive-if-yes-please-remove-this-topic-and-my-account/526036/37 "2010-01-24T17:49:57Z")
Before I forget, there’s also spammers that spam without making a single post. How? They’ll put links in their signature or profile, which may be seen by search engines if forum permissions allow profiles to be viewed by unregistered guests. Take, for instance, [this new Doper](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/member.php). Surprised [this user](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/member.php) hasn’t been banned yet. The SDMB does a lot to keep people from registering socks, for instance by banning well-known proxies, but it doesn’t keep the spammers out. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-forum-is-alive-if-yes-please-remove-this-topic-and-my-account/526036/38 "2010-01-24T19:24:46Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > Before I forget, there’s also spammers that spam without making a single post. How? They’ll put links in their signature or profile, which may be seen by search engines if forum permissions allow profiles to be viewed by unregistered guests. > > Take, for instance, [this new Doper](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/member.php). > > Surprised [this user](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/member.php) hasn’t been banned yet. > > The SDMB does a lot to keep people from registering socks, for instance by banning well-known proxies, but it doesn’t keep the spammers out. Thanks for the first – it’s been banned. The second was set up by an admin to run a test on some spammer-catcher software, which will help us in our never-ending fight against them. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-forum-is-alive-if-yes-please-remove-this-topic-and-my-account/526036/39 "2010-01-24T19:32:31Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > The second was set up by an admin to run a test on some spammer-catcher software, which will help us in our never-ending fight against them. So the admins use Viagra to improve performance? ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-forum-is-alive-if-yes-please-remove-this-topic-and-my-account/526036/40 "2010-01-24T19:49:20Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > So the admins use Viagra to improve performance? I can neither confirm nor deny … 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-forum-is-alive-if-yes-please-remove-this-topic-and-my-account/526036.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-forum-is-alive-if-yes-please-remove-this-topic-and-my-account/526036.md?page=3)