This article was written aimed at moderators and administrators of forums. But since it’s not technical I thought it’d be helpful to everyone and make it a bit easier to spot spam posted here. Just remember to report the questionable post using the Report button (triangle with exclamation mark).
Thanks Gryper, I know this has been a big problem lately that is making a lot of work for the moderators. Overall a good article, but of couple of things really stood out as perhaps not being the right approach for GWC, imho.
I’d hate to see GWC adopt the section on “Brain Dead Spammers.” Their response seems needlessly harsh and unfriendly. One of the nicest things about the forum is getting feeback from folks on what you post, even if it is just to agree (or disagree). And one person’s “mindless rubbish” is another’s “oh that’s so cool.”
I also dislike the idea of deleting new members if they have a month of inactivity after signing up. It seems like we have a lot of forum members who lurk for a while, then join the forum, but wait a considerable time before getting up the courage to join the conversation (that’s how it was for me), and the last thing I’d want to do would be to make it harder for people to take that leap to their first few posts.
(Decends from soapbox, end of “rant”):o
Please know that this is not intended as a criticism of the forum, but rather a criticism of portions of the linked article. I’m sure that the moderators will not go overboard, but I just felt so strongly about this that I had to say something. I really appreciate all the time everyone puts into the forum to keep it going. It’s a wonderful place and you all work hard to keep it great. Thanks!
We only delete the posts that that turn out to be from sleeper spammers (they post a few messages that seem on topic and then modify their profile with spam links). We don’t delete or ban someone who posts something that seems harsh or trollish. Most of us try to be nice to them regardless of the tone of their message. 
They eventually get the message that their post is not going to get them the type of attention they crave and quit posting that type of response.
The moderators here don’t delete new members for inactivity until it’s been a substantial amount of time, like over a year or more. I think everyone knows that some are lurking and not sure about jumping in with both feet after joining.
The posting of this article was not to show that we intend to change what we are currently doing as moderators of this forum. This wasn’t meant to indicate that we intend to change how we are dealing with spammers or members as moderators.
I don’t agree with everything in the article either. But I though it gave really good non-technical information about what spammers are doing with their posts and profiles. And it gives the members a good idea of what we moderators are dealing with and looking for as far as spam activity so they can help us spot them better/quicker and get any spam posted cleaned up faster.
Constructive criticism is always welcome Kiki! Helps us do our job better.
I’d have to thank Kiki Rowan for enunciating my deepest fears - that someone might take the crap I post as spam; or that I’d be regarded as one in the forum ~_~.
Beneath my brash, loud mouthed exterior is an insecure person who’s always second guessing whatever I post.
EDIT: I’ll unban you then - S
The biggest thing to take away from that article is just that there are various forms of forum spam out there. Hopefully it’ll help sharpen everyone’s spider sense, and allow us to be more on top of this stuff.
I just wanted to post an interesting F.Y.I. – the Tapatalk Forum App that iPhone, iPod and iPad users (like me) use to read the GWC forum reports any forum member as banned when a member taps on another member’s icon to see their profile page. Even moderators!
I thought that I was banned for some reason until I discovered that everyone’s profile is saying they are banned in the way I describe!
I use Tapatalk as well. When I tap on a member’s icon, it displays fine. There is a tab to “ban” the user but that’s because I’m a mod. I logged in as a member with no mod privies and wydelode’s observation is correct. Everyone shows up with the status:
<<member name>> has been banned.
Paging TechDrew. Paging TechDrew.
Looks like a known problem with Tapatalk.
Juan: see here for a temp fix that might work until the next build: http://tapatalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5941&highlight=viewing+user+profiles
It’s normal : the “banned” problem shows up on the other forum I’m in (Jam Session Guitar forum) using tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk