Every day for several months now the YT website has been under "attack" by an overseas company attempting to post hundreds of advertisments for "Nokia" phones and other mobile phones. They post ads in the KountryLife.com site, the Truck site, TodaysTractors.com, the YT site, and everywhere else possible. They've even put ads in the Tractor Town guestbook!! I've written filters to keep them out but they keep finding ways to exploit the software we have. So each morning I go through all of the ads and delete the ones that have managed to get through. I'm thinking that maybe someone from the YT online community bought one of these mobile phones and now this company in China thinks we all want one!
There are two additional exploitation attempts that are currently attacking our site, and it's been going on for at least two months. One is a "Texas Hold-em Poker" exploit where a gambling company has attempted to post thousands, yes thousands, of messages per day to the forums. They have a program or software that goes through our entire archives and attempts to reply to each post with a "go to this online poker site and gamble" garbage. The other exploit is doing basically the same thing but the theme is "Home Loans". Maybe it's the same company? Hmmmm, I get it, they want us to take out a home loan, then spend it gambling online!
It may be obvious that I'm fairly angry about these exploitations. They're all over the internet so I don't take it personally but I have to stand ever vigilant at the doors of this great community and fight them off. Once and awhile something gets through to the forums or ad areas but as soon as I'm alerted I chase them out with my broom. Or the skillet, whichever is handy.
4 comments:
The internet has been a wonderful tool. If it wouldn't be for it, I wouldn't be the "tractor nut" I am. It's given many countless opportunities. Unfortunately some people instead of using moral opportunities choose to exploit others. In this case by spamming. In my book, they are no more innocent than the guy who shoplifts. Keep up the fight Kim.
It doesn't make any difference, but Nokia is I believe Finnish, not Chinese. It's one of those evils that have to be dealt with. Until other creative ways to block them out of the sites are found, it will continue. Don't take it personally - it's some dweeb that thinks by brand placement all over will result ultimately result in more sales. Well, I don't see me buying a Nokia any time soon. Keep up the fight!
Why not fight back? I avoid using any service or product that resorts to spam as a marketing tool. Same with telemarketing. If they want my donation, they better not call me at home!
I'd actually like to see web sites start to publish a "DO-NOT-BUY" blacklist. Vendors who use shoddy marketing practices could be listed, with a description of their crimes, and given a chance to respond. Perhaps the potential buying power of your patrons will cause them to rethink their marketing strategy.
I think some spammers are bothering your site. I do suggest that you do moderation so that you can regulate the entry of comments. It happened to my site once, when a bunch of viagra messages flooded by forum. It was disgusting to see irrelevant things posted in your site. Because of that, my site was wasted and led me to go back to square one.
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