Naked Science Forum
General Discussion & Feedback => Just Chat! => Topic started by: DiscoverDave on 11/01/2010 23:58:23
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For my own edification, what constitutes a "spammy" link on this forum (so I don't post one by mistake)?
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You may never know, because;
"Nobody expects the Spamish Inquisition!"
However, here is one example http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=27771.msg292690#msg292690
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The link must be taken into context of who posts it. It's highly doubtful that a link will be removed from your post even if it links to a site with commercial interests, because you would post it for a reason other than to solely promote the interests of that company. A newly registered member with 1 or 2 posts wouldn't - usually they're bots that manage to crack the CAPTCHA (if this forum has one) for registering.
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Glovesforfoxes is spot on - it's about context. A regular poster citing a link would not be taken as spam (unless they started linking to the same site repeatedly, or out of context, then we would get concerned), but if it's in a user's first few posts, or clearly has a commercial interest, then it's usually easy to identify as spam.
Then there's the crafty spam:
New member 1: Does anyone know if [weight loss product/drug/technology] works?
New member 2: Yes, it does, and you can buy it at www.spam.com!
Often, these users will share an IP address, so they're pretty easy to spot.
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Then there's the lazy / less sophisticated version of the above when the idle spammer just posts a sob story and then a miraculous cure experienced by...you've guessed it...buying something from <company they conveniently linked to>...
Sad really. If they just invested as much time in writing good quality content for their own site as they do filling other peoples' with crap then they'd have a) a good site and b) good search engine ratings.
Chris
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New member 1: Does anyone know if [weight loss product/drug/technology] works?
New member 2: Yes, it does, and you can buy it at www.spam.com
Wow! I never knew SPAM was weight loss product/drug/technology.
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Advertising, non-related links I guess