Hello everyone,
I've read over several posts and emails recently and I'd like to address them. Thank you all for the genuine concern that many of you have shared about spam on our forums.
First, a note about what you can do to help if you are so inclined.
1) Most importantly, do not ever use/click the links in the spam posts as clearly some people are doing so. Since spammers track how many clicks their links get (I'm referring to the links in their posts, not links to their posts in the forum), they know when people click. They are spamming our forums because someone is clicking on them. Even if you are just curious, do not click on their links as you are encouraging their efforts. Copying the link and pasting it into a new tab does not circumvent spammers' ability to know that they are getting traffic by posting spam on our forums.
2) Do not reply to a post or topic that is spam. It only elevates that topic on our boards.
3) Please simply use our forum's Report feature. We recognize that many of you already do and your help there is greatly appreciated.
Responses to some comments:
Please keep in mind that we have seen spam here before. It comes and goes. Sometimes it goes on its own, and sometimes it goes because we applied an update.
I don't blame you for saying that our current controls are ineffective given the spam we've seen, but trust me... the current controls are doing a lot.
No, you won't get a virus from seeing a spam post on our forum... though it is possible if you click their promotional links.
The Helpline was not better at blocking spam and was far less equipped to deal with the current influx.
Many of you have offered good suggestions about how to address the problem and we appreciate that you are trying to help the community. However, please know that this is a complex issue and, even if your solution sounds simple, there is not a simple solution. Otherwise, we would have just done it. ;) Btw, spammers solved capchas long ago.
Please know that we are working to find the right way to prevent spam without creating significant inconveniences for our legitimate community members. Thank you for your patience as we work on this.