Seems as though there's a bot infestation on TD. How does that work?

You can pretty much automate everything. There are tools out there that would help you do it without being an expert on HTML/JS/etc. Most sites have ways of stopping them but it isn't always trivial. I hate spammers

I've been reading about the TD bots lately, but haven't noticed one. Could you link a post with a bot? I'm just curious.

I will say the vetting process for opening a TD account takes a while, I don't think bots would make it through the cut. Obviously some have, somehow. But their posts have been whacked so I don't know what format they are posting.

I could be wrong.

quote:

---

Could you link a post with a bot?

---

Probably not, because the mods do a good job of deleting spam posts and banning the accounts.

A good spam post might be hard to spot because they're intended to blend in with the thread. That said, these are the signs that I look for in a spam post:

1. Young account with few posts
2. The post is kind of on topic, but just "off" enough to make you wonder if this person misunderstands the topic
3. Poster usually bumps old threads
4. Post includes a link to a site that you've never heard of, and that contains a ton of ads or tries to sell you something



It's strange to see bots on TD, because most bots are written to cast a wider net. What I mean is most online forums use one of a handful of very popular pre-built forum software packages, and there are probably a lot of pre-built bots that target those sites. All a spammer has to do is put in his payload and turn them loose. Whereas TD runs on custom built software, so the spammers have moved on to "training" their bots to use lesser-known forum software.

Spammers are basically impossible to stop completely, so it's just something site owners and users have to deal with.

quote:

---

Could you link a post with a bot? I'm just curious.

---

georgesells seemed to be a bot. started 5-6 threads back to back that were all a little bizarre.