Attachments

I am curious about the attachments at the end of many of the posts. Some say to infect your computer click here, others have strange email addressed with many names and links. What are these and why are they there? Will they and are they harmful to your computer ?

When someone sends you an unsolicited e-mail, particularly one which advertises something, it is called "spam."

There is some idiot out there who is "spamming" this message board. Just skip over those messages. Don't acknowledge them and don't click on any of the links in the messages.

The world is full of foul people and spammers are high on the list.

:roll:

I first started surfing the internet in the year 2000, so I've done this for a while. This year (2006), I've noticed that spammers are now targeting internet chat forums with their spam. It's not just here, but it's everywhere. I visit about 10 other forums, to include police and non-police forums -- and they're all getting spammed. It's getting crazy on the internet. Unless new laws are passed, I seriously doubt that the spammers will slow down. When they start spamming the police, then you know something has gone terribly wrong.

A significant proportion of the spam on message boards is accomplished by robots. As the message board operators introduce measures against them they are re-programed to overcome the defenses. An example of this is the "Submit Post?" box which must be changed from "no" to "yes" on this board before a message can be posted. Unfortunately, robots can overcome this kind of defense.

The most effective defense is the requirement for registration on the board, using a "curvy" display of numbers and letters which must be entered by the user because robots cannot read these.

However, the owners of this board resolutely refuse to require registration. They probably believe, correctly, that this would greatly reduce activity on the board - which would reduce the revenues available from advertising. I don't blame them for taking this position. I'm sure they will continue to strive to introduce effective anti-spamming programs.

In the mean time, just ignore and skip over the spam messages.

The most effective defense is the requirement for registration on the board, using a "curvy" display of numbers and letters which must be entered by the user because robots cannot read these.

It would be nice if those "curvy" numbers and letters had to be entered to make each and every post. That would stop the spammers!!!