Other messages that make even less sense are 'bump'-messages on topics that they
do not own. Examples linking to their corresponding post:
-
Bump -
Up -
Up -
Bump -
Bump -
Up -
Bump -
BumpNone of these bumps are on topics that they own and make therefore no sense at all. I am not sure if this has already been discovered by anyone else and I am also not sure how much of a problem this is going to be, but this activity seems very suspicious (and perhaps simulated by some kind of bot?). Anyone have an idea what the reasoning behind this would be?
I usually note down the name of the thread OP when I see others bump the thread. It can be potential evidence that the OP is using alts. I then keep a close eye on the OP for messages that are the same as the Bots or alts and report them for plagiarism if it turns out the case.
I also take specific note of the senior accounts that appear to bump or shill scams or spammed threads. Sometimes they are the senior accounts of bot operators and a lot of intel can be gained from their previous posting history. I then keep a close eye on the senior account for messages that are the same as the Bots or alts and report them for plagiarism if it turns out the case.
Banning senior accounts and copper members that start the ANN hurts the spammers more than reporting their newbie bot accounts.
I'm not advocating NOT reporting the newbie accounts and if your are reporting masses of newbie accounts - you have my respect - I'm just saying:
"keep an eye out for opportunity to hurt them hard by banning senior accounts and copper members that start the ANN"The spammers spam so frequently that they occasionally slip up and spam using the wrong account.