How to stop the idiots?

[mal-j]

How do we stop these idiots hijacking the threads with links to sites selling handbags and shoes and so on? Can they be removed or can we hijack their sites?

[John]

I just saw your reported post message and banned two spammers then removed their messages. Thanks for reporting this.

A few years ago the trouble with the spammers / spambots on TW was a lot worse. It was terrible, actually. We've gotten it under control for the most part, though, but are still spammed from time to time.

I'm not sure that there is a perfect solution to this issue, but what we have done on TW has helped significantly. Beyond that, the best thing for us to do at this point is to remain vigilant against the spammers by banning them, deleting their messages, etc.

Non moderator members can assist with this effort by reporting spam type messages using the forum feature for that.

[Lawn Tennis]

Yeah it's not too bad. On average, there seems to be a spammer every other day. That's less spam than I get in one of my emails.

John, just curious. Do you ever look for a trend in regards to spammers' IP address? I know you said it's not a good idea to block IPs for several reasons, but if one IP address is throwing out spam like no tomorrow surely something can be done.