BEWARE "Sneaky Spam" !!

[zen-r]

Lately I've been finding (& reporting) an increasing number of "Sneaky Spam" ......



It looks like a normal post by someone, usually quite short, & without any links in it.

It often doesn't really make a lot of sense, but sounds like it's talking about something relevant to the thread, maybe in reference to an earlier post. So people usually just ignore the post because it looks pretty normal, & is by a newly joined member.

However, I'm calling it "Sneaky Spam" because ;


It actually does have a link in the post, usually at the bottom, & hidden by the use of white text so you can't see it.

Since no-one is likely to click on an invisible link, it is presumably intended to work as a back-link to increase the site's page-ranking.



So next time you see a post by a new member that looks a bit pointless, you might just check that it isn't "Sneaky Spam" !



How do you see white text? - There are 2 easy methods ;

1) Click your mouse in the area you wish to check, & drag it so as to highlight anything which may be there.

or

2) Click once in the intended area & press Ctrl+A to "Select All" items on the page.

If anything is there, whatever colour, it will now be highlighted so that you can see it. If it is a link, it will also show as being one when you hover your mouse over it.

Here is some white text (not a link) for you to test on : This is White Text <-



If you do find anything like this which is in breach of x10's posting rules, you can report it in the usual way, by clicking the Report Post icon ( ) which is found in the corner of each post.

Keep spam off our forums. Zap a spammer today!

Please click my Reputation button (at the corner of this post) & make me -it costs you nothing!

If I've traded services/credits with you, please remember to leave iTrader Feedback. Thanks.

[tittat]

Nice post zen-r! I have seen users reporting posts like crazy ;)

[Livewire]

Christopher's been giving me a hard time cause he keeps getting email-spammed with stuff that probably looks like this:

"X10Hosting Forums: Livewire has reported a post"



Although I haven't seen the sneaky-spam as of yet. Lately it's been spambots for rival webhosting companies (although the ads themselves are horrible and get erased in a hurry) or people violating the TOS within their first 5 posts.

Now I know to keep an eye out for this new spam attack. Christopher's gunna hate me if I find some though ;)

[galaxyAbstractor]

I think there is a lot of these post in the biggest thread ;). lol j/k. But I haven't noticed anything like this yet.

[zen-r]

That's the thing - they're hard to spot.

Plus, I jump on them early & get them zapped! ;)

Hopefully, if we get them removed quickly, it will discourage the spammer(s) from continuing, & should nip this in the bud early on, before it becomes a noticeable problem.

[zapzack]

this cool idea

x10hosting.com - Best Free Webhost

I'll be suprised if zen-r checks this ;P

[zen-r]

this cool idea

x10hosting.com - Best Free Webhost

I'll be suprised if zen-r checks this ;P

Actually, yes I did check your post for hidden text!


It's a shame that it didn't read something like "50 free credits if you spot this"! ;)

[zapzack]

Actually, yes I did check your post for hidden text!


It's a shame that it didn't read something like "50 free credits if you spot this"! ;)

hahaha.. it was worth a try.. But will he see this?!?!?!?

[svetoslav]

hahaaa, interesting:happysad:

[ichwar]

Someone needs to find (or build) an addon for firefox that will highlight ALL white text when the page is loaded. ;)
Edit:
Actually, there is a way to do that from the firefox settings.