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Can you spot a forum spammer when they sign up?

# Forum Administration
December 19, 2013
Caitlin Author Level 1

Write the reason you're deleting this FAQ

What are some of the early signs a new forum member might be a spammer? And, this is just referring to actual forum members (such as human, not bot created accounts). How can you know if that member is planning to post quality content or is simply interested in posting links? Are there signs?
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Comments 4

January 2, 2014
Ethan
Most bot spammers will fill out all details of their profile including irrelevant ones such as messenger, which no one would usually share on a public forum. The idea is to make the profile look legitimate, but the only one going to such great lengths with a profile is the spammer. That's one way to tell.

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January 8, 2014
Beverly
And, most spammers sign up with generic full names (first and last like John Jones), which is so obviously fake. That's not always the situation but something I've seen on my forum. Another thing, the user might have a website as their name and the only posts they make have a fake signature line attached.

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January 9, 2014
Jade
If they register and then do nothing but post advertisements and keyword anchor text links in their posts from the start, that is a sign of a spammer. You need to ban those people right away as they don't intend to contribute good content.

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January 27, 2018
Corzhens
I have seen the likes of spammers who are active on the boards with their one liners. And after 2 or 3 days, spam posts will appear on old threads. Another type of spammer is the quiet type that posts once a day but a long one. He is observing the period when the staff is present. And when no one is looking, there goes the spam posts. But basically, it is hard to spot a spammer at first impression.

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