Spammers here in The Pit

[Richard Chrz]

I’ve been busted!

[FireMan]

Oh yeah? Yer mama wears army boots!

[RonB]

I agree - we need to be cautious with suspected spammers. I was guilty of less than kind comments when these types of posts first appeared, but thought about it and this is what I post now:

"If you are for real, I apologize in advance, but we get a lot of spammers trying to sneak in by posting on old threads. So, if you are truly interested in what this site has to offer because you like to grill and/or BBQ, welcome and tell us what you are cooking on and what you like to cook."

I saved it and all I have to do is either paste if I haven't saved something else since posting it, (like a link), or copy and paste.

[Troutman]

Seems like all the signs point directly to Panhead John. Could he be a foreign agent incognito?

[CaptainMike]

And then suddenly there's a gofundme request. Caveat Emptor.

[Jared49]

Appreciate the update.
i are knot a spamr butt heers a grate linc:

https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/forum/announcements/misc/1068496-spammers-here-in-the-pit:

[Huskee]

This is a copy & re-post of a topic Meathead created many months ago. I'm re-posting it to add a few more details to what was posted prior.

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Once in a while we see spammers in The Pit. Here are signs of spam:

1. It just sounds funny. Often it's full of broken English and poor grammar. Google Translate perhaps.
2. It comes from a Trial Member. Spammers don’t pay to spam.
3. They have a low post count.
4. They've made rapid-fire posts as soon as they joined- 2, 3, 4, 5 or more posts often right after joining.
5. They resurrect old topics to make a random, often one-line comment out of the blue.
6. #s 4 & 5 are them trying to blend in, as if we can't tell.
7. They post a link to some website- this is what makes them a spammer.

Sometimes right away there is a link to some website, maybe a food or grill-themed site, maybe not. Please, do not EVER click on any questionable links!

Another tactic they're using is to make a bunch of posts, seemingly harmless (but you can quite often tell they're spammers, see #1-5 above) without any spam links at first. THEN they will come back and edit their posts later and insert a spam link. Don't worry, we're wise to this.

We ban spammers as soon as we spot them, at least as soon as they prove themselves to be spammers. Trouble is we can't always be logged in 24/7, so if you spot spam rest assured we will spot it too and we will ban them soon enough.

I get email reports hourly of Free Trial members who post links. Even if they've edited their earlier posts to add a link later on, I still get notified. So I try my best to stay on top of it. Of course I can't always be online, so sometimes it may take hours to the point that it looks like we've missed it. If I can't be online, Jerod, Spinaker & Meathead will often see them and delete them.

Lastly, calling out a potential spammer with rude or sarcastic comments to them might not be the best thing to do. Sure, it's usually true if it smells fishy then it's a fish...but perhaps someone with broken English will join as a legitimate Trial Member and wants to say hi. Automatically suspecting they're a spammer, and telling them so, might not be a very warm welcome if they are here for real. If they are a spammer, then they really couldn't care less what you say to them so it's moot anyway.