Just want to point out something.

[Amine Retro]

So lately there have been millions of spambots, of course, you see one you report him. and that's all. nothing else.
Buuuut, there's somthing that keeps bothering me: Some users post in a spambot thread, as it makes it harder for moderators and administrators to remove the thread, they have to delete the thread itself or the posts and it just takes more time. and keep in mind your post will already get deleted because the thread will be removed as it is reported by an user.

What i'm trying to say is; do NOT post in a spambot thread. report only.

[FireyPaperMario]

Okay... I'll keep my eyes peeled!
Peels eyes!

[MacDuckBeat]

True, spambutts are usually annoying tbh. I thought spambots are a person who likes to post spamming or what else.

[Thehelmetguy1]

Do these forums use captchas? I don't remember seeing one when I registered.

True, spambutts are usually annoying tbh. I thought spambots are a person who likes to post spamming or what else.

Spambots are robots that were programmed to spam stuff, sometimes even linking to malwares, trojan horses, and other things that can damage your computer.

[Cedur]

It has been brought up many times already that replying to spam is bad, yet it happens over and over again, partially due to lack of knowledge (this is something you can't really fault a newbie for because it's nowhere stated in the rules), and also partially out of sheer whim or even knowingly. If we want this to stop, we need it to be stated in the rules and enforced as an act of rulebreaking.

The spambots themselves aren't that much of a bother even if they appear more often - they're trivial to be spotted, you all know to not click any links and to ignore them. I don't know if Joey knows about better security measures, but 1) spambots will always find new ways to bypass them and 2) complicated Captchas can also be a hassle for everyone else who wants to register.

[Zeldamaster12]

Deleting threads actually takes like two seconds. You click quick mod tools and there's a delete topic button. Even if there's posts on the thread, using this tool instantly wipes away the thread with all its posts.

We don't encourage replying to spam threads, but it doesn't really matter to me personally since as I stated, I can just use quick mod tools to get rid of the thread. We do however encourage everyone to use the report feature, so please keep doing so, as it really does make our job easier.

[Danny]

I only reply to spambot threads that elicit a good meme.

[Mivixion]

Also, please don't reply to a spambot thread telling people not to reply to spambot threads. I would have thought that would be obvious but for some people it is evidently not

[Cedur]

It's not that obvious because not all people replying to spam can be found on the chat and in the european morning mods are barely present (timezones obviously), so this would be a way of trying to prevent further stupid replies, but alright I'll refrain from that for the future

[Ecruteak]

Can I just use this topic to ask, does anyone know why almost every one of these spambots posts stuff relating to prostates?

[Cedur]

I don't know? We have spambots advertising for sexuality-related stuff, we have our nutrition and lifestyle experts, we have spammers who advertise dodgy companies, we have spammers with criminal intent, and we have some that just post blatant junk (like the korean spammers and the example in Pseudo's sig).

Mods, can we please start enforcing "don't reply to spammers" as an official rule?

[Thehelmetguy1]

In my opinion, a captcha should be added to lower the number of spambots.

[Snessy the duck]

In my opinion, a captcha should be added to lower the number of spambots.

Isn't there already a capcha?

[Thehelmetguy1]

I don't remember seeing one when I made my account

[Cedur]

There is one, it just looks like bots pass it very easily

[ElectriKong]

There is one, it just looks like bots pass it very easily

I don't remember that confirmation of registration box at the bottom though.

[krakin]

Imo there should be something better, like maybe a hidden code in that page that a spambot will go to, and then that page that the spambot goes to will permanently ban it's IP address if it has one.

[Snessy the duck]

Imo there should be something better, like maybe a hidden code in that page that a spambot will go to, and then that page that the spambot goes to will permanently ban it's IP address if it has one.

But some people could go there too if the code isn't completely hidden.

[Hawkeyeone]

I only reply to spambot threads that elicit a good meme.

Ah, nothing like the fresh smell of cheap kitchens Manchester.

But yeah guys. Just report and move on.

[Shadow Yoshi]

This site runs reCaptcha 2.0 and has an additional captcha on top of that. The spammers that get through both of those are probably real people, if I had to guess. The best thing to do is ignore it.