NOT ALL SPAMMERS ARE CREATED EQUAL

i'm pretty sure i know the thread you mean, and i wondered about that myself

Yeah, that's probably obvious. I have had some problems with my e-mail account, so i haven't been reporting posts lately. When i saw that thread, though, it made me wonder how i would react if i were still reporting spam.

I think the usual answer when spam reports come up is to go ahead and report, and the mods can decide whether it's something they are going to address or not.

I'm not sure which new poster and thread of which birthed this discussion but let me bring a little digital cynicism and reasonable paranoia to the table.

Regardless of the tone and alleged intent of any particular new a2k member, one has to question destination from clicking on the proffered link is a safe one. That the address hasn't been spoofed and that the site where ones browser lands upon isn't a phishing site or a malicious webpage ladened with malware, spyware, worms, etc....

I say we need a basic history from any given member before we can trust that they aren't here to do harm. Of course, that doesn't prevent any particular member from playing the long game. That of creating a posting history and establish trust only to lure unsuspecting marks to his or her web of deceit. But that's a case of who one can trust online and that's a philosophy discussion for another time and another thread.

I wasn't talking about clicking on links. I wouldn't click on a link of yours, unless the url address contained the name of a recognizable news source. I was only interested in the issue of whether or not one should report a seeming spam post if one approves of the idea being promoted.

Let me edit this to say: " . . . whether or not one feels that one should report, etc. . . ."

If I see spam or a suspect new thread, I report it right away. Makes no difference the subject matter.

That's exactly what I do, edgar.

I had a sort of similar experience early this morning. Couldn't sleep so I logged in and saw a thread asking for help adjusting settings for the wallpaper on a specific android phone. It seemed like a genuine question, very specific - and in fluent English. There was at the end of the post a little image that I assumed was the poster's home screen pic and some accompanying link.

Well I spent a while coming up with an informative reply, but when I hit the button - the post had been removed. SPAM! But I thought, I just spent the time writing all this, might as well start a new thread and post it there. In that post I mentioned the deleted thread and that particular device and gave my advice; with a couple of links to the android market. My new thread was deleted. SPAM!..


So. It turns out I'm a spammer. I didn't even know. Guess it sneaks up on a guy. And I'm probably the most patient spammer ever. I waited over 1-1/2 years and contributed 650 diverting posts before I launched my unscrupulous plan: to sell . . . free apps.

Keep the kids away from me. Lord knows how long it'll be 'til I do it again...


Hope you didn't hold your breath...

Too soon after the real spam. It probably looked like more of the same.

Well, that's at least three of us. I see someone posting a commercial link, or even phishing for a response so a link can be posted on an interior post, I report it immediately. (I'll even pursue the matter with more reports if this is a serious flood of spam; happened last night, in fact.)

I’ve only reported two new posts, it’s when someone was trying to advertise their product and posted a link to their website. The next day I noticed the post had been deleted.

Sometimes I think new people may not mean to spam, are just giving a link to support a point, and then I report it as possible spam, or maybe spam. Sometimes the mods leave the rest and just take out the link... in fact they often do that.

Yeah, I reported a link that turned out to be a fart button.

I figured that may have been the case. I suppose I should be grateful that these sort of measures are in place to protect us from being annoyed . . . potentially for minutes.

in the interest of full disclosure (and little else), my post was restored