Just let it be known that you spammers that think you're sneaky, posting links in your signature, or even not making a signature and putting a different link at the bottom of each post, don't think twice that we don't see you and if you're reading this you know exactly who you are.


I can't count how many that I have personally cleaned up this week alone (and it's only Wednesday)


Simply put, if you are not a sponsor and you're posting links to other sites that sell goods, even if they are aquarium related, the fact is that it's still spamming. Point being, don't do it. If you'd like to post advertisement links to your web site, be it a personal company or a company you work for, you must become a sponsor in some way in order to do so.


We investigate every occurrence of this that we find down to IP addresses to make sure we don't falsely accuse any member of spamming, so don't think that we just go around deleting every signature we see with a link and banning every member that links to an outside site. But we are getting strict on the spam policy, as the spam seems to be on the rise lately. And I know that I personally am constantly on the lookout for it. And if I don't catch it, there's a swarm of other moderators and admins that will; that you can count on



You as a member can also help us crack down on spammers. Every member has the ability to report a post to the moderators and admin as being inappropriate or spam. All you have to do is click on the little triangle with an exclamation mark in it at the bottom left of the post that you wish to report. It goes to every moderator and admin of the site, so the response time is typically very quick. You guys do a great job of this already, and we greatly appreciate it! The posts that you guys report make up probably 90% of the spam we clean up on the site. No matter how active of a member I, or any other moderator is, we cannot be in every section at one time, so we are going to not see one every once in a while, and that's why that "Report Post" button is there; for you to help us help you keep this forum clean and a fun place to be. So thank you again for all you guys and gals help! Keep up the good work!

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My 30 gallon planted freshwater - CONSTANTLY CHANGING

The button to report a post looks like this:
If something looks strange, please report it to us! Your report is only seen by the mods and we keep all reports private.. the person you report won't know that it was you who reported them.

Good point to make, thank you!

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My 30 gallon planted freshwater - CONSTANTLY CHANGING

Haha the lil devil on my shoulder wanted to click it just now as a joke, but that would be counter productive so the angel on the ither shoulder didnt...

HA HA HA Stan!

I wonder if some of the site problems are due to spam attacks? I love reading and responding (even if i'm not correct or only partially) here, almost as addictive as the actualy fish keeping/tanks.

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100G->African Cichlids:Kribensis-2,Bumblebee-2,Red Zebra-2,Elec. Yel. Labi.-2, Acei-2, Elec. Blu. Johanni-2,Peacocks-2 / Community: Australian Rainbow-3,Turquoise Rainbow-4,Dalmatian Mollies-2,white molly-1,Dojo Loaches-1/Cleaners:Chinese Algea Eaters-5/Murderers: Dinosaur Bichir-1And lots of other tanks,2-Gourims,6-Rams,1-Arrowanna,6-FW Flounder,1-Farlowella CF, 1-Spiney Eel

Is this post what you're talking about? It's got a link to someone selling lightbulbs.



http://www.aquariumforum.com/f14/dis...ent-12478.html

apparently so, because it's already been removed by another staff member

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My 30 gallon planted freshwater - CONSTANTLY CHANGING

So we can more or less give advice so long as they are a sponsor, doesn't that defeat the meaning of Forum.

Forum:
If folks are posting links to other sites that aren't on the sponsor list then maybe it's time for them to look at their product, if forum member recommends a different product from any that is on this sponsor list then it is up to them to improve their product so it is recommended, it is not my duty to go buy Product A or B it is the manufacturers duty to provide me with a product so good I will buy it.

Now I can see it from both ends, people come on put a product in a link not because it is good or the best but because they want to sell it, fair enough it is not allowed but if a Forum member knows of a good product and it is relevant to the topic I don't see why that should be a problem.

I don't see how you can call this a Forum if you are only expected to speak your mind so long as it doesn't upset sponsors.

I think you may have missed the point, no offense

TBH I just being someone with a bee in their bonnet, I do think selfless advertising on a forum should not be allowed, I go to a computer forum and theres always post linking websites to places selling shoes or clothes, fair enough that should be slapped down, but what I was more or less getting at is I don't think linking a website to a product shouldn't be bad so long as it is relevant to the topic.

An example could be someone looking for a cure for Ich, then I wouldn't really see a problem giving a direct link to a place where they can get it.

I post links all the time, people that care to be here follow the directions that are noted when creating your account. "Fill out your information, enter a new post into the introduction forum, enjoy the forum" but people create an account and then post about selling stuff or products/companies, or post in every thread about the same thing "LED Lighting". There is a section of the forum for that.

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100G->African Cichlids:Kribensis-2,Bumblebee-2,Red Zebra-2,Elec. Yel. Labi.-2, Acei-2, Elec. Blu. Johanni-2,Peacocks-2 / Community: Australian Rainbow-3,Turquoise Rainbow-4,Dalmatian Mollies-2,white molly-1,Dojo Loaches-1/Cleaners:Chinese Algea Eaters-5/Murderers: Dinosaur Bichir-1And lots of other tanks,2-Gourims,6-Rams,1-Arrowanna,6-FW Flounder,1-Farlowella CF, 1-Spiney Eel

What is meant is the free.advertising. Not hey this product will cure ich heres the link.

If yiu post on here, I just created a product here is my ordering link check it out, how does that.help this forum stay up n running? Thats whats.being.taken care of, not here is what you are looking for to help your fish, or here is a helpful site for plants. We talk aquabid n craiglist all the time on.here but as a tool for people.

Sorry for the typing errors, using my phone

A lot of spam postings on the site today!!!!

Yep, too much, Ill be back later once the place is cleaned up.
This never used to happen before, we had this place moderated 24hrs a day. Helps when a few of us suffer from insomnia.

Speaking of this instance......

Jarred - it's obvious that this is stuff generated by a computer. I can't remember, but does this site make you go to your email and click on a link to acknowledge your membership before you're able to make your first post? Seems like that would keep a computer from generating stuff like this. If we had to do that, I don't remember. Maybe that wouldn't help?

LOL, insomnia, huh? Things die down substantially after midnight EST. At least from my experience.

Yep, around 4am they kick up again, depending what time zone you live in.
Oh yeah, insomnia is my best friend. I come up with good aquascapes at 2am when the house is dark though.

Thanks for this thread, I have been a bit confused about this. So a link in a sig file to somebody's business is spamming and not allowed. I'm assuming recommending a business you have a commercial relationship with is probably not a good idea unless they are on that sponsor list - yes? But if you have no commercial relationship with a business, you just think they offer a superior service or product that is needed in that situation, it is okay to recommend? Or is that inappropriate? I need to go look at the sponsor list. Use this forum a lot, I should support the businesses that support the site.

Pretty much in a nutshell,yes. The owners here are business partners with the sponsors, it takes money to make the world go round and while yes it helps pay for web service and all the stuff we like but it also shows the hobbyist that these sponsors are TRUE to the world of aquatics and are time proven to be some of the best products and customer service out there.

I will be a sponsor later in the year when I get my business off the ground and its an investment on my part to drum up new business and I thank these site owners who offer this kind of marketing and advertising.
I would highly recommend clicking the ad links for the sponsors here and on any trustworthy forum.

Please remove Blogcenter4g from the forum and delete their posts, very annoying .

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100G->African Cichlids:Kribensis-2,Bumblebee-2,Red Zebra-2,Elec. Yel. Labi.-2, Acei-2, Elec. Blu. Johanni-2,Peacocks-2 / Community: Australian Rainbow-3,Turquoise Rainbow-4,Dalmatian Mollies-2,white molly-1,Dojo Loaches-1/Cleaners:Chinese Algea Eaters-5/Murderers: Dinosaur Bichir-1And lots of other tanks,2-Gourims,6-Rams,1-Arrowanna,6-FW Flounder,1-Farlowella CF, 1-Spiney Eel