Beware of 50 Shades of Gray Postings

Just report them when they show up. The mods will take them down when they're around to do so.

Unless you are going to report them (I generally do) hopefully most people won't even open them. They are pretty obvious spam.

The problem is that you need to click on the post (which is a link) in order to report it - you can't just click on the OP's name. Or you can send the Webmaster a PM - that's a better approach than clicking the post.

One would think that this website would have the most rudimentary filter, which is to automatically not allow post titles which are in the format of a link (i.e. they start with "www" or "http"). Such titles are obviously spam.

Agnes, could you please do a fact check on your statement? I don't see such a post to check myself. I do not have to click on any link OUTSIDE RickSteves to view or report a thread on this newsboard. I click on the subject line for the thread (which is a link to the thread, one constructed by the newsboard's software), and use the Report button beneath the offending message.

The contents of the newsboard link show at the bottom of my Firefox screen when I hover over the subject line. I don't have to click to inspect the contents of the newsboard link.

"The problem is that you need to click on the post (which is a link) in order to report it "

I have always thought that looking at the post was safe. Obviously clicking the link in an obviously spam post is not wise, but I never thought that simply clicking on the post (and then the report button) to confirm it's spam was a risk-am I wrong on this? The report button is just that, no?

"One would think that this website would have the most rudimentary filter"

Webmaster-comment?

Tim,
The Webmaster already cleaned up the posts, so I can't point to a specific example. To recap, the Title (subject line) of the post was itself a link (it started with http...probably created by some bot; it has nothing to do with RS software) and it's not wise to click on something that's looks like a link because you really can't trust the author or the link. The title was a bait link to entice someone to click it. You can't report something without opening the post first (in this case, because the title looked like a fake link/gibberish, I stayed clear of it). It's pretty obvious when you scan the posts that some are spam because the spam itself is the title (no need to open the post to figure it out).

^^^ I do remember that, now that you mention it-got it.

Folks, and the webmaster can correct me if I am wrong:
Any Post's Title is only a link to the post itself on the RS web page, it can't take you anywhere else. The coding behind the title is part of this web site, not anywhere else. The links to elsewhere are then in the post text. I'm not sure about all of them, but it looks like they. tkae you to places to pirate the movie.

In any event, there will surely be more of them soon. What's fascinating is that almost all were posted to Italy. take you to places to obtain pirated copies of the movie.

Larry, Tim, Dave, et al -
You are right, my bad. The Title link can only take someone to the posting itself, not to any web address outside the RS universe, even if it's a legitimate web address. I just tested it with my own dummy posting by typing in the actual NY Times web link as the title. Clicking it just led to my post, not anywhere else. So I deleted the post. Thanks, this was still a useful exercise. Now I have more confidence in how this works. I thought that a bot fake post could take you somewhere off the site with a link in the title but, to do that, the link has to be right in the post itself. I thought the OP was warning everyone not to click the title of the post, but it's Ok to click it and report the posting.

Thanks Agnes, now, if you'd please resume keeping an eye on those folks across the river ;-)

There is a post still showing.

"The problem is that you need to click on the post (which is a link) in order to report it"

Just to clarify, AFAIK it's perfectly safe to open the post on the RS forum, however you must not click on the embedded link (highlighted in blue), as you could be subject to infecting your computer with Malware or Viruses. Hopefully the Webmaster can confirm that. Once the post is open, you can click on the "Report" button.

I've just reported another one. This time the spammer didn't use a weblink (highlighted in blue) so anyone wanting to actually view his website would have to cut & paste the link.

As an aside, I tend to report the spams (I am sure many others do as well.) To be sure it is spam, I click on the poster...... someone with 1 post is almost always a spammer. Even when people have many posts I will not click on outside links (it is too easy to post from a hacked computer--although likely very rare on this forum.)

Yep, just clicking on the title of the post - so that you can bring up the report button - is perfectly safe. You just don't want to click on any live links within the post text itself.

Those little devils have been mighty busy, haven't they? Good thing we're on to them! 😈

I just noticed this thread and wanted to jump in to answer some questions that have popped up!

• Thank you for clicking "Report" on these! We have been trying to delete them as quickly as we can, and the best way for the admins to be alerted is to click the "Report" link. That way, we get an actual link to the post and can go in quickly. It can take a bit more time when we just receive a message about the spam without a link to the actual post/spam user account because then we have to go digging through the forum to find the correct post/user to block.

• We do have some basic spam filtering set up on the forum, but unfortunately it can't keep everything out. We err on the side of doing a bit more manual clean-up of spam ourselves since making the filter tighter can often result in legitimate posts not going through or real people being accidentally auto-banned on suspicion of spamming (this does happen--though, luckily, not too often).

• Clicking on the title of the post will only take you into that specific post, not to the spam website. But, clicking on any link WITHIN a suspicious/spam post is not recommended--we can't guarantee where you'll end up!

These types of spam posts seem to ebb and flow and we're staying on top of taking them down as much as we can. Thanks to everyone for helping us keep the forum spam-free! Those of us behind the curtain really do appreciate how much you all care and take the time to hit the "Report" link or reach out to us through PMs/emails. :)

I reported about 4 of these posts on the Italy forum. I wrote to the webmaster and gave the user names of the posters. All were 4 letter nonsensical names for the poster.
Webmaster wrote to thank me and said in the future to open the post and report is from within the post. Wonder if it is safe to click on the posts?

"Wonder if it is safe to click on the posts?"

Dana answered that question in the previous reply.....

"Clicking on the title of the post will only take you into that specific post, not to the spam website. But, clicking on any link WITHIN a suspicious/spam post is not recommended--we can't guarantee where you'll end up!"

You can click on the post to open it and see the content or use the "Report" feature, but do not click on the weblink within the post (highlighted in blue), as that could open your computer to malware or viruses.