Spammers Motivation?

Dog Folks wrote:
Thanks all for the fast answers.

This is what makes this forum so great.

You have saved a old man from walking around all day, scratching his head, and saying to himself: "I wonder....." :)

Yeah. But this site and conversation really did not happen. It is all inside your head.

pconroy328 wrote:
LIL (Last in Line) almost all spam posting is now automated. So there's pretty much zero effort. Which makes *any* reward, no matter how low the probability, high.

So... Would not a CAPTCHA image in the sign up area of the web site stop that cold?

Or is this site just not willing, for whatever reason, to implement it?

Thanks for of you helping me understand this stuff.

LIL (Last in Line) almost all spam posting is now automated. So there's pretty much zero effort. Which makes *any* reward, no matter how low the probability, high.

I'm a software tester and one area I sometimes test is malicious embedded code that can be introduced into a system by inserting it in obscure ways. I've often wondered how rv.net handles such code that could be attached to uploaded posts. Perhaps all these bizarre posts are really attempts to introduce malicious code to capture ... whatever. ... from rv.net ... Resulting in potential hacks for our personal identity information. Sound crazy? No. I actually test for some of this.

I've read that just clicking on an unknown link and opening it could introduce viruses into your computer. Don't know if that's true, but I get weird emails from friends' apparently hijacked email address lists sometimes with no message, but an oddly titled link, and they get deleted unopened.

Thanks all for the fast answers.

This is what makes this forum so great.

You have saved a old man from walking around all day, scratching his head, and saying to himself: "I wonder....." :)

When speaking specifically about email spam, generally it is accepted that about 1 click in 1,000,000 emails is all it takes to be profitable. It is so cheap and easy to automate the process, that all they need is a very small number of people to believe that they will make money when they help the recently deposed Nigerian Prince. On forums it can be a little more difficult as there is additional security they need to bypass ie the ability to create accounts automatically or actually make the accounts manually. In this case the threshold may be closer to 1 in 1000, but if there are 1000 people actively using this forum, it only takes one who thinks they can get rich by helping the Nigerian Prince to make all these gibberish messages worth it. And in some cases people are trying to generate advertising money from clicks. With youtube, everyone who watches (even by accident) is more money in their pocket. Some do not care if the sports video is absolute garbage, if they get enough people to click on the link, they make money.

Many of the sports relate spams are a link to that video which then requires a fee to watch it.

your right also telemarketing is gaining more calls every day. I just hang up.and I ,m on the list I checked.

Many spammers are "phishing" for your one of 2 things. 1. your info (i.e. I got a million bucks for ya). 2. your business. (i.e. Cute girl for rent in your neighborhood. or buy your GNC/TV/new gizmo through me.)

It must work on some or there would be no effort.