From an online dictionary, the term "Spammer" is explained as follows.... a person who sends unwanted or inappropriate electronic mail to multiple recipients, often advertisements...

I have seen the word mentioned many times on different forum threads (deleted, spammer) and in conversations but their reasons don't appear to be correct, as per this explanation.

What is your interpenetration of this word and your reason for it.

Thanks

do you actually see them before they are deleted?

to me a spammer is exactly what the dictionary definition says.... & don't forget, the mods & admin have access to IP addresses etc., and can check anything they are suspicious of with spammer blacklists & so on..... before they post multiple times

Some you can see before they are deleted. Those containing urls/links are automatically filtered out by the BE spam filter...you cannot see these but mods can. Mods then decide whether to approve or delete the post or thread.

Yes, I have seen posts and when I have returned, they are gone, and the term "deleted, spammer" or words to that effect.

My question was, the definition of the word!

I have seen someone mention a business website and the next time I looked (to take the details of the website) it was gone. I might have been one person but surely that cancels the term "Unwanted".

This is an open question, to confirm what I think, not saying it's right or wrong.

yes I realise he might have seen them - I just wondered what he'd seen that he didn't think was spam

Perhaps his own link

unwanted by the forum owners &/or mods??

presumably against the no advertising rules at the very least

From what I remember, it was a someone asking a question and someone replied with a link to a website (not on this forum). I was on my way out at the time and went back to the thread later but it had gone.

Thanks lynnxa,

That makes sense, I guess that would be classed as advertising. But the definition says "unwanted or inappropriate electronic mail to multiple recipients", would the owners / mods be classed as multiple.

I can't get my head round this term, confuses me.

Sometimes the posts contain hidden links to ads/services. You can't see these when you read a post but if you click on the reply tab you can see them and they subsequently show up in the quote.

They are deleted because of the no advertising rule.

Thanks Jerseygirl,

So really it's advertising, not spammer?

Often they will post in multiple BE forums. We try to ban the spammer as soon as we can but sometimes they manage to make several posts...sometimes a dozen or more across a dozen forums before we spot them.

Spammers may also post several non descript posts. When they have posted 3 times they can starting sending people spam PM's. If we can we ban them before they reach the 3 post mark...to prevent them from PMing people.

I caught one this morning in the US forum. A short post out of the blue...bearing no relation to the subject of the thread. When I checked him out he had an IP from India but claimed he was in the US.

The IPs usually come from India or China...'nuff said.

Sometimes...but like I said quite often they post in multiple BE forums. Regular members may or may not be able to see all their posts...so quite often members have no idea how many posts they have made.