What the spammers are up to

Y'all have noticed that from time to time there will be an odd post on these boards which will pretty much always include a web link. One example is the 'Class Lexion' post below, which inexplicably hasn't been deleted even though I reported it yesterday. So what are the spammers who make these posts actually trying to do?

I'm pretty sure most if not all of the spammers are trying to do 'search engine optimization' (SEO). They're operating '<a href=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Link_farm>link farms</a>', which are simply websites with links to other websites. The idea is to generate a bunch of links to the site they're actually trying to optimize in order to improve its ranking on Google and other search engines. But this only works if those link farm sites get indexed, and they're unlikely to get indexed unless there's a link to one of them from a legitimate site. Which is where YT comes in. YT has a pretty high ranking with search engines, and it's easy to spam. The spammer just has to post a message on YT that contains a link to one of their link farm sites, and search engine robots from Google, et al., do the rest. When Google indexes YT (which happens frequently), it will follow the spam link to the link farm, bumping up the ranking of the link farm.

In the case of the 'Class Lexion' post, it contains a link to 'explorepdf.com'. If you go to explorepdf.com (it's probably harmless), you can see it's obviously a link farm.

Are the spammers doing any harm to YT? Not really; they're just freeloading off YT's good reputation and high page rank.

BTW, although you'll see these spam posts a lot on Tractor Talk and Tool Talk, you rarely see them on Tractor Tales. That's because the spammers have done their homework and know that posts on T-Talk are never indexed by search engines.

Interesting. I can't recall seeing any post like that here before. They must get deleted before I see them.

Seems like an awful lot of work to research individual sites, figure out what categories are best to post to, and come up with almost on-topic posts. A nonsense post with the same link in it bulk posted to every forum would achieve the same thing.

I have to give it to you Mark, you're a better educated man than I am.

An awful lot of work to you and me, but to someone who just plays with their fingers on a screen -fun!

That's what they get paid to sit there and do. The thing that tripped me up on the Claas post was that he even took the time to go back and edit it. Never saw that in spam before. Also, the link didn't show up in Classic where I was reading it. As far as why it's still there, Chris has warned us not to respond to spam because it makes it harder to delete for some reason. We all piled on that one and must have botched it up to where it wasn't worth the effort to get rid of it.

Thanks mark, for the explaination
Jim B

Thanks for the explanation, Mark. I knew there was a reason I post my inane tripe over on Taler's.

On a side note, I just got an email letting me know I won a toolbox from "WALMART DEPARTMENT" sounds legit, heh heh. I didn't even know Walmart sold toolboxes, never having ever been in one and all.

Never been in a toolbox Jimmy? Put that on your bucket list, you'll never regret it.

This guy is best there is, Don't get scammed! Please overlook his hair color and focus what the content of his videos are about!

My wife and I have enjoyed many of his videos. He pays backs all the Indian scammers in the most satisfying way possible.

Scammer payback. Watch all his videos on YouTube, he is the best by far!
Scammer Payback

I just received an email telling me that
my order was on its way and included an
attached file. No company identified and
came from Tom Kazansky [iceman in Top
Gun]. And into the trash it went.

Just had a call from some Indian-sounding woman, thanking me for the donation, and would I like to donate again??? I asked her, when she was a little girl, did her mother teach her honesty, and always tell the truth, and do not take advantage of anyone. always be a good girl??? She got very upset, told me she didn't have time for this, and slammed down the phone. I hope that had some sort of impact on her.

> Seems like an awful lot of work to research individual sites, figure out what categories are best to post to, and come up with almost on-topic posts. A nonsense post with the same link in it bulk posted to every forum would achieve the same thing.

Apparently the spammers are learning. Nonsense posts on YT tend to get poofed quickly, often within minutes. Pull together a reasonably coherent post and it will probably last a lot longer. The 'Class Lexion' post is still up a day and a half after it was posted. Frankly, I'm impressed at how authentic it looks; someone with no knowledge of farm equipment would have had to spend quite a bit of time doing enough research to make it sound credible.

> I have to give it to you Mark, you're a better educated man than I am.

Not really better educated, Randy; I just had the misfortune to work in IT for over twenty years. And I know nothing about Oliver tractors or animal husbandry.

I've gotten so many lately from ''Ace Hardware'' that if I collected them all,I could own the local store!!!!!...........................................gtm

(quoted from post at 08:20:00 01/25/23) An awful lot of work to you and me, but to someone who just plays with their fingers on a screen -fun!

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I am someone who "just plays with their fingers on a screen" by day, and it's an awful lot of work for very little reward.

It would be much more lucrative to have that link lead to a ransomware site.

> It would be much more lucrative to have that link lead to a ransomware site.

True. But search engine optimization is legal even if it's unethical. And it's profitable, just not as profitable as running a ransomware ring.