Is this a new record for spam?
 

I've been avoiding the US forum, but this morning took a look. Out of the first 25 threads only 7 were legit -- the other 18 were all spam. Is this a new record? Is any attempt being made to curb this?

And yes, I DO realize I can just skip over the ads -- but it's still annoying to me, even if some of you want to insist there's nothing wrong or bothersome about all of them.

I managed to get a pretty good price for my wife's diamond.

Pretty bad but not nearly a record. The 'Korean' spammers several months ago would post 100+ every night.

It has been bad every morning lately. It appears that the moderators are not checking up very often.

Even moderators must sleep.

I have invented the perfect spam. It is a skin cream that makes you illiterate and think you are the perfect lover.

It seems like most of the spam is posted between about 2 and 5 am. Can't the instant post be turned off for those hours - somehow shifted into a separate folder or something - and then reviewed first in the am before posting.

It' really annoying to me since many of them are linked to NY and I do a quick run through that while having breakfast. I am so sick of reporting them. Then I stop. Then I get so mad I start reporting agin.

The Fodor's boards have the sophistication of Pong. I am sure it is a Catch 22, if there was more traffic, they would invest more money and they don't want to invest with the hope of attracting more traffic.

Other sites have algorithms and other devices that prevent such spam.

You can't even correct a posting after submit is hit and of course, there is no facility for posting photos. Who would want photos on a travel board?

It seems Fodor's problems go way beyond spammers.

SPAM; Hey Vin; Many requests for plaques hanging in the church and the Pastor will have an announcement soon.

iris (everyone else ignore): So I heard.

Friends of ours told a story about a couple who attended Mass there and sat in a pew that normally wasn't theirs. They discovered a plaque with their grandparents' name on the pew. Didn't even know it was there.

What is so tiresome about hitting the triangle and then hitting send. Two clicks and done. They're smart enough to read and figure it out.

Triangling works -- but honestly I don't think the triangles for the obvious spam threads are even all that important -- they are so obvious and get cleaned up every day that I can see.

Individual spam or advertising posts buried in legit threads might be more of a 'triangle issue' sine the editors can't be expected to read every thread/every day.

What seems silly/extra effort IMO are those who triangle a post or thread . . . and then post "triangled" or similar to tell us they did it. When the offending post is zapped, the 'triangled' remains and simply keeps the thread topped.

It has gotten so bad that the US forum has become unusable for those who are early risers. If Fodors cared enough they could fix it, IMHO.

Shucks, I was all ready to jump in about one of Hawaii's favorite canned foods.

Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, spammity Spam, wonderful Spam.

Also an early riser - it is annoying. About 90% start with http. Can't Fodors block any post that includes this, in the same way they block certain words (I once was attempting to post a legitimate word to describe anatomy and got a pop-up warning that my post did not meet "standards"). so add "http" as the 8th word you can't use.

I know there are still hidden spam posts, but this would be a start.

I agree - any topic that contains a link or is written in a foreign language should not be able to be posted.

I wait until it's cleared before I even attempt to read anything. They are most prevalent here, but I have seen them in the Africa board as well; others to but US is definitely the preferred board.

When you are looking at the US Forum after work here, about 2am in the US, there is aways heaps of spam at the top. I used to flag it, but have given up, now and just go down until I get to a real post. I agree it is very annoying.

9.30pm here in NZ, 17 spam postings when I opened the US forum tonight.

I find them much more interesting than some of our self-absorbed regulars...

It is obvious that this spam stuff is not relevant to the forum that gets it posted to. There should be a "Spam" forum so spammers would have a legitimate place to post. Win win, IMHO.

It seems a lot of us are avoiding the forums due to spam. Have you noticed that regular-type posts seem pretty thin lately?

Maybe just don't read the forums very early
in the morning? Because they are all cleaned up fairly early in the day, I never see many but I don't usually look before 10 am-noon. I can see it would be a problem for those in different time zones.

Does make you wonder why this site has become so attractive for spammers though, I admit I don't start perusing any forum or the computer at the crack of dawn but wonder if any other sites are targeted like this.

I agree if they banned any post that had a URL in the top line, it would help, though. NO real legitimate need for that but I don't really know technically if that would be easy to do or not.

I agree I don't think reporting is really necessary as if it is anyone's job to clean them up, and it apparently is, they can easily spot them.

Has anyone here EVER bought anything from the spammers, much less read the spam posts?

It seems like such a waste of their time to even come here.

I regularly buy their grammar and translation programs.

The spam is not there to sell you anything. They just want you to click. Bingo! Their malware then loads onto your computer. Mission accomplished.

>> They just want you to click. Bingo! Their malware then loads onto your computer<<

But who in their right minds clicks?

(clicking on the thread title doesn't open the link)

Ttt

The spammers are not humans, they are bots who search out forums with lax spam blockers, like this one. They are cheap to maintain and inexhaustible, so it doesn't matter to anyone whether the products they tout are relevant, or if anyone clicks ever, or anything practical.

You wind up a software bot, load it up with your message, and let it go, at virtually no cost.

janisj, some of the threads have an address as the title. If so check the name and triangle it.

I don't bother triangling. I reckon "they" can see the spam as well as the rest of us. If that makes me a bad citizen, so be it.
(By the time I check in here, most of it is already gone.)

emalloy: >>janisj, some of the threads have an address as the title.<<

Actually <i>most</i> have an address/url in the title. But it isn't a 'hot link' so clicking on the title will not open the spam website -- it will only open the thread.

Typically each one is posted by a different screen name so clicking on all of them will take a LOT of time. The threads w/ 800 numbers and urls in the titles are so obviously spam there in no reason (IMO) to triangle either the threads or the profiles. The editors seem to take care of them every morning.