[Jared]

Well the SPAM bots took their toll on the forums having indexed some nasty names in google so we have implemented a brand new method to try and stop em cold.

For those of you who are visiting, when you register you may see the new captcha feature.



~ Jared

[Jared]

Not a single spam bot registration in 24hrs. Previously we averaged 15 a day.

~ Jared

[SEOWolf]

Outstanding work as usual Jared!

I am just so sick of spam period. And not just Forum Spam!
You and I both have spent a great deal of time everyday deleting fake Members registered by spammers. The required reply to the registration verification was simply not enough to deter them but I think (pray) you stopped them cold this time.

While I love the fact that Google lives in our Real Estate Forums unfortunately they were indexing many of these bogus Members. This has had to have an adverse effect on rankings since they often use known spam triggers in there login user ID or combined characters forming gibberish. So this should really help.

Now I get to go into Google’s Webmaster Tools and delete all the bogus URLs.

Too bad there is not an effective way to stop the constant bombardment of email other than implementing this system on all of our sites and discontinuing the use of all existing emails.

I am personally wasting 1-2 hours per day combating or filtering through spam. I would love to know an accurate figure of what spam cost the American economy in time lost, software, firewalls, IT personnel and so on. Something tells me if we had an accurate figure that Spamming would be a capital offense.

Anyway, great job Jared!

~Mack

[Jared]

Too bad there is not an effective way to stop the constant bombardment of email other than implementing this system on all of our sites and discontinuing the use of all existing emails.

Mack, you know my attitude about such things.

I think all commerce related email should require a person to register and acquire a permit by the government. The very same thing is required for bulk US Postal Mail now so it wouldn't offend a legitimate business. It would only keep illegal email blasts from legitimately using bulk email.

Once the government verifies that your campaigns are not to sell Viagra, porn memberships, or online lotteries, then you can be issued the permit.

However if you are not authorized then once prosecuted the law could require a 5 year minimum mandatory prison sentence. In the US, spam would die overnight. Al and others have said who defines what spam is and isn't. The permit would make a list of legitimate uses and would make offers solely based on fraud and deception a crime and I honestly believe it would work.

~ Jared

[NealRM]

I wish it was as easy as passing a few laws or regulations to get rid of spam. Unfortunately, most spam either originates in foreign countries or is routed through them. So in general they are beyond the reach of US laws.

However, I would support a small military strike against the servers hosting the spammers.

[SEOWolf]

Originally Posted by NealRM

I wish it was as easy as passing a few laws or regulations to get rid of spam. Unfortunately, most spam either originates in foreign countries or is routed through them. So in general they are beyond the reach of US laws.

However, I would support a small military strike against the servers hosting the spammers.

I really like that idea Neal. We could launch a few Cruise Missiles against the Spammers Servers and save the U.S. economy billions in lost productivity.

~Mack