MsPablo wrote:

Merlin wrote:

MsPablo wrote:

Merlin, I am so very sorry you have to deal with this crazy spam situation.  I hope everyone can be patient and supportive through this time.

I/we appreciate your support and patience a great deal. Thank you!

Coming in to a new job and having the repeating spambot situation dumped on you is kind of a lot to take on in your first weeks, I would think, especially because it naturally causes the steadfast members to be highly critical of the way the site is run and that must feel like a lot of pressure on you for something that is basically out of your control, but also because the spambot situation causes an exodus of people who would potentially participate in this site.  The bottom line is how many hits does the site get, which probably includes the spambot activity, but in the long run, it causes people to avoid the site, IMO.

I admit that early last evening (my time), I posted a terse comment out of frustration that was tipped by a spammer.

I checked in later, the spammer's post had been deleted so I deleted my related post.

We've always had the occasional spammer/s but this spate recently has been unprecedented since I joined.

The question/s for me are "why?" and "why us?". Guess we'll never know . Good that new measures have been implemented 

There's no mystery as to why and why us.  They advertise here because of the popularity of the site.  The more 'hit's' they get, the more money their advertising is worth.

MsPablo wrote:

Merlin wrote:

MsPablo wrote:

Merlin, I am so very sorry you have to deal with this crazy spam situation.  I hope everyone can be patient and supportive through this time.

Nothing to apologise for, except perhaps on our end! I'd like to let everyone know we've implemented a couple of new systems that should keep spammers at bay. Any popping up now were more than likely already signed up before this week.

I/we appreciate your support and patience a great deal. Thank you!

Coming in to a new job and having the repeating spambot situation dumped on you is kind of a lot to take on in your first weeks, I would think, especially because it naturally causes the steadfast members to be highly critical of the way the site is run and that must feel like a lot of pressure on you for something that is basically out of your control, but also because the spambot situation causes an exodus of people who would potentially participate in this site.  The bottom line is how many hits does the site get, which probably includes the spambot activity, but in the long run, it causes people to avoid the site, IMO.

Maree wrote:

MsPablo wrote:

Merlin wrote:

I/we appreciate your support and patience a great deal. Thank you!

Coming in to a new job and having the repeating spambot situation dumped on you is kind of a lot to take on in your first weeks, I would think, especially because it naturally causes the steadfast members to be highly critical of the way the site is run and that must feel like a lot of pressure on you for something that is basically out of your control, but also because the spambot situation causes an exodus of people who would potentially participate in this site.  The bottom line is how many hits does the site get, which probably includes the spambot activity, but in the long run, it causes people to avoid the site, IMO.

I admit that early last evening (my time), I posted a terse comment out of frustration that was tipped by a spammer.

I checked in later, the spammer's post had been deleted so I deleted my related post.

We've always had the occasional spammer/s but this spate recently has been unprecedented since I joined.

The question/s for me are "why?" and "why us?". Guess we'll never know . Good that new measures have been implemented 

We do know why, it's about making money and advertising.   The more 'hits' they get, the more advertisers pay.

The spambot situation was much, much worse in the past.  In fact, I was surprised this onslaught wasn't worse.  In the past, 20 - 30 pages were filled with spambot posts in just a couple of hours