Success of the bots that trawl our forum

[coppinpr]

Do we all suffer from the same result of the Google and Yahoo bots that can be seen trawling our forum? Namely an average of 150 invites per week to join slot machine casino sites, either the bots are very stupid in not realising we are not into online gambling or they are very cleaver in thinking that we might be just the type who are

[youngerap]

Never had one, Paul. Are these in the form of pop-ups? I think my Norton anti-everything deals with all that stuff. Worth every penny, I reckon.

[badpenny]

Do we all suffer from the same result of the google and yahoo bots that can be seen trawing our forum? Namely an average of 150 invites per week to join slot machine casino sites, either the bots are very stupid in not realising we are not into online gambleing or they are very cleaver in thinking that we might be just the type who are

For that to happen you must have posted your email address somewhere public or maybe use the same id on other sites where you are more traceable. I bet.

[coppinpr]

That's possible, but don't forget the bots appear on our forum as members (check the number of registered members on line against the names listed) as a member it would have access to our details one of which is the optional inclusion of our email address. I may have also put my email in posts from time to time. It's not a problem for me as they all go to Spam anyway, just interesting as this is the only place my slot interests go online except for slot forums in the US and all the emails I get are UK based. Even if the bot is linking my slot interest to an email address I use with the same login name elsewhere it shows how clever they can be when they can make money by selling info to interested parties.

[pennymachines]

Some clarification...

The bots which show up under Registered Users are all recognized legitimate search indexing bots which do not (as far as anybody knows) trawl for email addresses to sell. They don't have user accounts, but are granted "read only" access to the pages I want them to index. Spam bots, on the other hand (which would show up as anonymous guests), may trawl for email addresses, but have unregistered visitor status. In other words, they will find your email address only if you post it here (not recommended).

...as a member it would have access to our details one of which is the optional inclusion of our email address

There is no such option. Perhaps you're thinking of the Users can contact me by e-mail option (User Control Panel). Members who email you through the Forum do so from a submission form which does not reveal your email address. So even if a Spam bot gets past our ever vigilant mods and registers as a member, it cannot see your email address.

On average I get a couple of gambling related Spam messages each week to an unguarded email address, but as I get a similar number of unsolicited job offers, I don't think it's related to this website.