• If you would like to get your account Verified, read this thread
  • The TMF is sponsored by Clips4sale - By supporting them, you're supporting us.
  • >>> If you cannot get into your account email me at [email protected] <<<
    Don't forget to include your username

Profitably Spamming the TMF?

T

TonyInMyThroat

2nd Level Orange Feather
Joined
Feb 16, 2008
Messages
2,476
Points
36
I understand the potential profit motive for spamming regular e-mail accounts because of its ease and large broadcast volume. But spamming the TMF I don’t get.

There's nothing fast, easy or automatic about creating an account here, so what could be the motive to do so only to have the account and associated posts deleted just as quickly? Even if the Mods got lazy, could there be any profit realized by the few posts per hour someone could squeeze in on any given account?

Am I missing something about spam payoff, or are these individuals just hoping that no one will notice? Perhaps someone here closer to that line of work knows the answer.
 
There are computer programs sophisticated enough to register accounts automatically. It is harder with scripts like vB that have anti-bot measures in place but it can be done. When bots fail spammers often employ citizens in countries where wages are low to do the registration for them for not much more than the bot would cost. Just like email spam, it only takes a few people buying the product before it becomes profitable. Think about it: if it costs a fraction of a cent to send a spam email or make a spam posting here and the produce costs maybe twenty dollars, how many hundreds or thousands of spammings can you finance with one purchase?

The simple solution to spam is to make it not worth it to the spammer. Don't buy what they sell, eh?
 
from what i understand, as i had a few people approach me to do the very same work, that spammers can get paid a pretty good amount of money per forum they "advertise" at. while the TMF may not be as easy going on spammers, some board admins don't give a damn. just takes a bit of time to find that one forum to make some cash off of.
 
HisDivineShadow said:
There are computer programs sophisticated enough to register accounts automatically. It is harder with scripts like vB that have anti-bot measures in place but it can be done. When bots fail spammers often employ citizens in countries where wages are low to do the registration for them for not much more than the bot would cost. Just like email spam, it only takes a few people buying the product before it becomes profitable. Think about it: if it costs a fraction of a cent to send a spam email or make a spam posting here and the produce costs maybe twenty dollars, how many hundreds or thousands of spammings can you finance with one purchase?

The simple solution to spam is to make it not worth it to the spammer. Don't buy what they sell, eh?
Click to expand...
With the CAPTCHA image verification required at registration, it cannot be done by bot, so it has to be manual. I can’t find any statistics on average spam volume per sale, but even at third world labor costs I find it hard to believe there’s a payoff to spamming boards such as this.
 
TonyInMyThroat said:
With the CAPTCHA image verification required at registration, it cannot be done by bot, so it has to be manual. I can’t find any statistics on average spam volume per sale, but even at third world labor costs I find it hard to believe there’s a payoff to spamming boards such as this.
Click to expand...
Bots can get past image CAPTCHAs now. Even Gmail's supposedly impenetrable CAPTCHA was recently broken. What's astonishing to me is that they can break audio CAPTCHAs now. Crazy stuff. Mind you, the success rate for breaking audio or visual versions is not 100% (more around 70%) but if you do many tries per minute that adds up to a substantial percentage that get through.
 
cloudgazer2k said:
from what i understand, as i had a few people approach me to do the very same work, that spammers can get paid a pretty good amount of money per forum they "advertise" at. while the TMF may not be as easy going on spammers, some board admins don't give a damn. just takes a bit of time to find that one forum to make some cash off of.
Click to expand...
I guess that would make sense, but if one spammer gets regular access then others would also. Seems like the increased competition might cancel the access advantage, not to mention the reduced viewership/participation (remember AMT).
 
HisDivineShadow said:
Bots can get past image CAPTCHAs now. Even Gmail's supposedly impenetrable CAPTCHA was recently broken. What's astonishing to me is that they can break audio CAPTCHAs now. Crazy stuff. Mind you, the success rate for breaking audio or visual versions is not 100% (more around 70%) but if you do many tries per minute that adds up to a substantial percentage that get through.
Click to expand...
If you’re only burning CPU & bandwidth I can see where it starts to become practical, but it just seems like a lot of effort. You would think that individuals with that much ingenuity & energy would do better in legitimate sales/marketing positions.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
What's New
7/19/25
Take a moment to check out the TMF Chat Room, Free to all members!.
Door 44
Live Camgirls!
Live Camgirls
Streaming Videos
streaming tickling videos on demand at the TMF!
Tickling videos on demand!
Pic of the Week
Pic of the Week
Congratulations to
*** brad1704 ***
 The winner of our weekly Trivia, held every Sunday night at 11PM EST in our Chat Room
Back
Top