Classified Ad Scammers are worse than ever!

Just for your info, and this has nothing to do with Rick, or Mary or this fine website. I ran a classified ad last week and received 5 immediate responses from people that want to buy my boat --- right now! Reading between the lines, it is obvious that these people don't know what they are asking about, don't ask the right questions or any for that matter, and don't speak English very well. They are only concerned in method of payment and how fast we can seal the deal. Beware guys, they are lurking out there. Like the old saying goes, "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is".

And as you all can obviously see, we are strongly warning folks about the scams -- At the top of this Forum, right on the top of the Classified Ads Page, and when you run an ad.

They are pretty easy to spot. Read the post above fixed near the top of the Open Forum to be sure you are up to snuff.
Thanks,
Rick

I am parting out my H17 for sale, but I was actually interested in "fake listing" it to see if I could catch one of these guys in the act of fraud. There are websites out there that detail how some of these people fight back against these scammers and expose them.

Speaking of dodgy people, check out the User List. It's not pretty. If you sort by total posts[/i], you can find dozens more zero-post users which are spam entries.

I mentioned this list to Rick some time ago.....

WOW! look at those homepages grotesk and not good. If you insert one of those search lines into google, I am sure catsailor can come up. That would be really bad, some sicko searching for bestiality and he gets a link to catsailor.

That WOULD LOOK REALLY BAD!

Rick, if you need a hand administering the database or the forum, let me know. I am volunteering my time to help you out. I administer two websites and moderate their forums as well. I have some knowledge on forum databases, where I can manage it without hesitation.

Contact me via PM if you choose.

Just wanting to help you out getting rid of the rotten rats around here.

If you were searching for something like that, catsailor would be the least of your worries. That stuff, while a bit disturbing, is harmless. The only time I've seen it is when you guys just posted the link.

Agreed!

Seriously, how many times have we seen a post were is a guy is looking to get busy with a chicken on this forum? Although that F16 forum can get a bit out there, all that talk about racks, and child abuse... very disturbing!

Robi, if it wasn't for this post you never would have known about it.

Well, I didn't know all that stuff was there, either. The only time I go to the user list is when I am looking for a specific name. I'll ask Rick if he can delete it.

When I asked Rick about this some time ago he decided that there was not the time to delete it, that is was not going to turn up on search engines and so not to worry.

Well excuuuuuuuse me for offering to help out. Atleast im offering help to get rid of the problem.

They have been there for years and are harmless, but I am working on batching them out. They join lists like this to get better search results, although they never post or interfere with the Forum.

In the admin of the Forum each one takes about five minutes to work on and they could be imbedded with legitimate posters. A bit of a problem.

But, I am doing what I can.
Rick

I dont know how this forum is designed, but I guess all data is stored in a SQL database?
If so, it should be trivial to write a SQL script you can run to delete all users not logged in for the last 6 months who have posted less than eg. 2 messages. Yes, you will probably delete some 'false positives' as well, but not many active users..

I run a small-scale forum for our local sailing club, and lately commercial postings have been posted to it. I suspect that some new "spam" software for automatically posting to forums have been made. Very annoying!

Count your blessings while they last, it is going to get a lot worse!
Someday (soon?) you will need some code to exchange to know you are talking to an actual person.

http://www.silkroad.com/papers/pdf/STAFF_BOTS_SURVEY_BASS_v2.pdf


Regards,
Martijn - the person version ;-)

Jeeze. I guess I'll have to start TALKING to people again.

maybe we can just leave messages scrawled in the sand..

Hey, don't give the scammers new ideas.