In Justice We Trust
Gender: Male
Location: Southern California
Rank: Admin
Joined: Wed Dec 12, 2007 6:31 pm
Posts: 4200
Yep, the spambots are back. Because of how many of the blasted things are coming in, we've been making efforts to get rid of them before they post. Why do new users need to know this? Because there's a risk that you'll be mistaken for a spambot as long as your post count is zero. To my knowledge, no humans have ever been mistaken for spambots here, but it's still in everyone's best interest (especially yours) for you to distinguish yourself from a spambot as quickly as possible.
What is a spambot?A spambot is a computer program that creates an account for the express purpose of posting spam. The ones that show up here are usually designed to post ads for products or sites or simply boost their search engine ranking by creating as many links as possible.
Clicking these links is strongly discouraged, as it is very likely that the sites they link to contain spyware, viruses, or other stuff you really don't want on your computer.What do we do to spambots?Crush them, of course! Our standard procedure for dealing with spambots is to ban them, delete their posts, and then delete their accounts. The username is banned for life, any IP addresses the spambot used are also banned for life (meaning any new accounts or posts created through that IP address will be rejected), and the spambot's email address is banned for life (meaning any new account created through that email address will be rejected). After that, we delete the account and its posts--essentially, the spambot disappears from the forum like a dissenter from a dictatorship.
How do I prove I'm human?Regrettably, the automatic systems already in place are insufficient to keep spambots from registering and posting. Below are some things you can do to help ensure you won't be "disappeared" by mistake.
- Personalize your profile. Some spambots will make a signature or choose a generic avatar, list their interests, etc., but there are often telltale signs of their inhumanity in the way they do it--such as by having the name of a product or site in their custom user title. That being the case, personalizing your profile in a way that doesn't resemble spambot behavior--such as by putting an explicit reference to the Ace Attorney games in it--helps you stand out as human.
- Don't advertise any sites in your profile. The one exception to the "personalize your profile" bit of advice is websites. Not all spambots bother with advertising sites in their profiles, but if there's a link to an obscure or dubious site in your profile, it's going to make you look suspicious.
- Post. As I pointed out in the beginning of this post, there is a risk that you'll be mistaken for a spambot as long as your post count is zero. Now, this doesn't mean you'll get banned for lurking; we respect your right to not post. That said, the content of a user's posts is pretty much decisive and incontrovertible proof of their humanity (or lack thereof), so posting is the best way to get out of the "possible spambot" category.
What if I'm banned by mistake?To my knowledge, this has never happened, so I doubt you have anything to worry about, but as with any ban, we have a system in place to address this problem. Most of us staff members have our respective email addresses and/or one or more of our respective IM addresses visible on our respective profiles, so just contact one of us through one of those media and explain your situation. Once your IP address has been removed from the banlist, you'll be able to register a new account here (sorry, but since we delete spambot accounts, restoring an old one is impossible). You can also contact the forum staff as a whole by sending an email to
courtrecord@gmail.com.