# What is the point of this web forum spam? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 4, 2021, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-this-web-forum-spam/939393 "2021-04-04T17:12:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-this-web-forum-spam/939393/1 "2021-04-04T17:12:44Z")
I am a moderator on an Excel web forum. Lately we are getting a lot of spam posts that all look like this: Subject: Where is Administration [excelforum.com](http://excelforum.com)? Can I contact Administration? I’ts important. Regards. They all have similar user names with a few random characters tacked on to make them unique: Vladimir_xxx_ I picked four at random to run down and they are all from the same IP address, and all use the same gmail address but with dots sprinkled into it in random places (which gmail ignores for routing). We get other spam that is advertising for legit or illegal activities. But I can see no point to this one. Over the past few months we have gotten hundreds of them. Why would anyone do this? ---
**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:** [April 4, 2021, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-this-web-forum-spam/939393/2 "2021-04-04T17:18:30Z")
Is there a time limit to editing posts? Some forums have unlimited editing and they’ll come back and change the link to their spam. Also, they’re likely testing if a new poster can post links without a post count limit. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-this-web-forum-spam/939393/3 "2021-04-04T17:36:43Z")
There is a two-day limit for edits. New posters require a post count (maybe 5 or 10) before they can post links. I thought that might be it, but there are much more clever ways to build post count than this. I caught one submitting several posts that were just copies of other existing posts. ---
**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:** [April 4, 2021, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-this-web-forum-spam/939393/4 "2021-04-04T17:45:28Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > There is a two-day limit for edits. New posters require a post count (maybe 5 or 10) before they can post links. I thought that might be it, but there are much more clever ways to build post count than this. I caught one submitting several posts that were just copies of other existing posts. - Spammers rarely do clever. 😉 I would consider reducing the edit time. Can you tie edit times to post counts? ---
**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:** [April 4, 2021, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-this-web-forum-spam/939393/5 "2021-04-04T17:55:03Z")
As **running\_coach** said, most likely they are just trying to get around your spam filters, or what they think you might have for spam filters. There are also spammers who provide “content” for web sites. This content is designed to look like regular articles, but it’s actually advertising for a particular product. They might be trying to contact your admins to see if you are interested in this “content”. > [@CookingWithGas](#): > > I caught one submitting several posts that were just copies of other existing posts. We get those here, too, usually from Vietnam. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-this-web-forum-spam/939393/6 "2021-04-05T01:26:52Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Can you tie edit times to post counts? Unfortunately tech support on the forum is quite terrible. We almost never get anything we ask for. We have had some features stay broken for months on end. > [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > They might be trying to contact your admins to see if you are interested in this “content”. Maybe. I’ve seen other ones that say, “It’s about advertising on your web site.” The first time I saw one I thought it was legit. I responded and never heard anything else from him. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2022, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-this-web-forum-spam/939393/7 "2022-08-30T12:54:29Z")
In case anyone cares we are still getting these in droves from time to time. Our tech people haven’t figured out how to block them. We got 100 just yesterday. Always the same content. They register for the forum, then wait a few days before posting. Never a URL, just the nonsensical message. Always one post per userid, and they generate a ton of userids in batches by starting with some string then adding three random letters. The Prefix du Jour today is “Montana”.