Something I have noticed about some new MEMBERS here.....

I check out the new members periodically and ONE of the things I have noticed is this....a fair number of them have
a particular "twist" to their names. Here's an example"



bEmmettPittmanp

The "twist" I am talking about is the lowercase letter ahead of and after the main name. This seems odd to me and
I wonder if it isn't some automatic name being generated somewhere, somehow.

A couple of these folks have no apparent email address or web address, but several of them are from the UK.

Is this just one or more people using some "bot" to radomly generate memberships, or are these people really
interested in auction storage buying and selling?

Anyone have knowledge of such things?

This looks like some useful info about this topic. Reading down through it, it seems that this technique might be what is being used in our forum.

http://hubpages.com/hub/Forum-Profiles-What-They-Do-Not-Tell-You

edit: reading about SEO (search engine optimization) is worthwhile too.

  Looks like you may have stumbled on to something here Movieman Spammers are always searching for new ways to do their dirty deeds!

bEmmettPitmanp list his website    hemorrhoids treatment no doubt a spammer

Looks like you may have stumbled on to something here Movieman Spammers are always searching for new ways to do their dirty deeds!

bEmmettPitmanp list his website    hemorrhoids treatment no doubt a spammer

Yep, I just saw that myself. Apparently these folks join forums (and there are a ton here) and then a little later (an hour or a day) they come back, either change their profile, or actually post, then the fun begins.

Here's another one:

aFeliciaBarrons

This one meets the name "twist" I mentioned above and you can bet there is mischief afoot.

Drew....hope you see this and can somehow monitor the members usage on non-usage. Perhaps this is part of
what accounts for nearly 2000 members but little response by the bulk of them.

Been doing research on this and the misuse of forums is incredible.

There are several websites which allow you to plug in a website name and it tells you who is BEHIND the website.

The "spider-web" that is the internet is great for us in some ways, but a real spider TRAP in other ways.

I hope Drew can find some tools to get rid of these members who are obviously (or not obviously) using this forum to promote their hemmoroid treatments, poster board sales, etc.

Here's another SPAMMER.

aceceiniolop

He joined in late March and has just made his first post.

Spam all over the place...this one IS from the UK.

Yea I have been noticing this as well for awhile just need the time to do some research to find the best way to prevent it. But it's weird that tons of them donot ever post anything thus never getting their link posted??

Here's another one....in my opinion...and he's on right now at 5:10 pm Pacific Time, 4 13 2011.

grow taller

even his screen name here is a dead giveaway, let alone his web link in his profile.

OK, I'll grow the list in this post by just adding to it:

aBrittaCookv................................ joined 4/16/2011
uZackaryChristianm...................... joined 4/16/2011

uLavernHuffmanv......................... joined 4/17/2011

gparkercarterv............................. joined 4/18/2011
balvarogilmorem.......................... joined 4/18/2011 shows a hotmail acct...genuine interest?

l154c.......................................... joined 4/19/2011 another u.k. address....do they have storage auctions in England?
lmarydwarfb................................ joined 4/19/2011 marydwarf ? cute name
antoniomckin716.......................... joined 4/19/2011 another u.k. address

Beesignee................................... joined 4/21/2011 check out the sig line and website address on this one ! (inversion tables)

qfranklynanderseng...................... joined 4/22/2011 another alphabet member from the United Kingdom !
CaroleeM2................................... joined 4/15/2011 came back 4/22....has an acne treatment website in profile.
rSanayiTicaretFirmailanla............... joined 4/222011 another with the .aramamotor.net address (bad news !)
jticaridizini................................... joined 4/23/2011 aramotor.net
xLeontineSuarezj.......................... joined 4/24/2011 he DOES have a hotmail address...that's a possible good sign.
Ather19....................................... joined 4/25/2011 lives in MO, signature line is for air conditioning service in PA.
RichieNu2.................................... joined 4/25/2011 acne medication at his website.
sleeklike...................................... joined 4/26/2011 "greek" info in all profile info.
yschroederj.................................. joined 4/26/2011 meets "alphabet" criteria AND has U.K. address
stephanaco................................... joined 4/262011 stayed online awhile and added his online pharacy website !
iraroth718.................................... joined 4/27/2011 has an "alphabet" special email address

The link I provide in this post is a document telling people how to drive business to THEIR website.
focuses on joining forums and gives specifics on how to wiggle your way into forums in order
to then further YOUR blog or forum.

I think a large number (in the hundreds?) of the near 2000 members here are just folks like this.

One post I saw in our threads from a new member (some clothing salesman) said "good point". This person had no more interest in auction lkrs than the man in the moon, but this is one of the tips in the link below. Join, slowly post, etc.

Anyway, here's the link:

problogger.net/archives/2008/10/20/how-to-use-forums-to-drive-hundreds-of-thousand-of-readers-to-your-blog/

See reply #8 for a growing list of the "alphabet" members.

Here's the latest I've found:

qfranklynanderseng

Many of these people have email addresses in the U.K. (United Kingdom).

Another one later in the morning:
This one MAY be legit but has an acne treatment website listed in profile.
When I see half a dozen posts that TRULY relate to auction buying, I have a different view of these folks. Hasn't happened yet.

CaroleeM2

*****
this one has the aramamotor.net ending for his email. There have been others of this ilk.

rSanayiTicaretFirmailanla

Here's another aramator.net joined 4/23/2011...what are the odds of so many using this same (minor) net?

jticaridizini

On our blog, we get a lot of people making posts like "I really love your blog", but instead of posting in the "rate us" category, they make their comments under some obscure category like using PayPal. I guess they think flattery will get them a link. I reward quality posts and articles with links, the ones I think are just trying beat the system get their links removed. Perhaps if their websites or blogs had better content, people would want to link to them on their own.

Our newest member....4/25/2011

Now I know where to go for my air-conditioning needs in Pittsburg, PA
Ather19

Need acne medication? See this new member's website.
RichieNu2

Edit: 4/26/2011

sleeklike.....his signature line and other info on profile are "greek to me"
yschroederj..joined right after sleeklike and meets the "alphabet" critera and has a U.K. address.
stephanaco...I'm sure we'll all want to use his online pharmacy.

Sleeklike whom I noted in post 12 above actually stayed on line here for a few minutes and added his website (in Russian) which translates to "handmade soap".

This guy has a lot of profile info in Greek (too much to translate).

Amazing what these flakes will do...and to what end? Do they actually think that even if someone goes to their
website that we would actually BUY soap or acne medication from them. Of course they may have other nefarious ends they are trying to achieve also like hacking into accounts to get financial info etc.

I don't know if there is any software a forum admin can use to detect and delete these folks, but I hope so. Doing
so manually would really be time consuming.

Here's a new one and I'm going to build the list in this post. Reply #8 above is getting filled up. Of course there are many I've missed too, but I do like finding these "alphabet" members.

The first two below were found in 10 minutes online here at the forums. Can you imagine how many slip through?  A lot.

vKelyFrankg............joined 4/27/2011....has a beauty supply type email address ?
gwendolenald.........joined 4/27/2011...depression medication in website link
vfreebusinessdirectoryy...joined 4/27/2011 .....dead giveaway and the email is the aramamotor giveaway too!
alvarobauer1230............joined 4/27/2011
Medicalb........................joined 4/27/2011 U.K. email address  quite a trip to buy a locker !
Dajcic............................joined 4/27/2011 wants to help you incorporate your auction buying business !
gEveMontest...................joined 4/28/2011 check out the sig line and email address...auction buyer? Right!
kukakikulisme.................joined 4/28/2011
fredcarroll614.................joined 4/28/2011
louisbooth11..................joined 4/28/2011 Need a loan modification? This new "member" can help you.
OrergoExtex..................joined 3/27/2011 on April 29,2011 actually posted about 40 links for anxiety workshop sites
gvanessawhaleso............joined 5/30/2011