Creating a forum for your organization can be an excellent way to build a community around your product or service. And the information provided in a forum can help customers resolve issues on their own — reducing customer service costs and improving satisfaction. But if you’re not careful, forum spam can detract from the entire experience for members and reflect poorly on your brand.
Fortunately, there are tools you can use to stop forum spam. When you leverage this kind of software, your customers won’t have to sift through pesky fake comments and posts to find what they’re looking for. They won’t be directed off‑site for malicious purposes, and you’ll be able to maintain a more professional environment.
This guide will start by discussing forum spam and all its variations. Then, it will outline the negative effects of spam and why certain anti‑spam techniques fail to block it. Finally, it will show you how Akismet’s enterprise anti‑spam services can stop spam registrations on your website.
What is forum spam?
Whether you run a small business or a global enterprise, creating a forum is an effective way to connect with your customers. They provide people with a space to discuss (and potentially resolve) their doubts and issues. And a forum can even lighten the load on your customer support team.
The only problem is that forums can become a den for spammers.
By definition, web spam is any sort of unwanted message shared with a large number of people online. This can appear in email inboxes, the comments section of a blog post or YouTube video, a contact form, and, of course, a forum.
Typically, forum spam is generated by bots with a particular goal in mind. For instance, a forum spammer may want to promote a certain product to the members. This is usually quite obvious, as they clutter the forum with messages spouting the benefits of whatever they’re selling.
Other times, spam can be harder to spot. These cases can be even more dangerous, as instances can contain hidden links to malicious sites.
There are several different types of forum spam, like content spam, profile spam, signature spam, and private messages. We’ll cover these later in the post.
If a forum doesn’t have a moderator or anti‑spam software in place, spam can get out of hand quickly. And even if it does have a moderator, sifting through huge volumes of spam can be a poor use of time.
What are the motivations behind forum spam?
You might be wondering why spam happens. Here are some common goals of spammers:
- Promote a product or service. Forum spammers tend to promote unsavory products and services like gambling sites or unregulated weight loss pills.
- Harvest personal data. Often, spam comments will contain links to malware. If a visitor clicks on the link, hackers may be able to gain access to their personal data.
- Conduct a phishing scam: Malicious actors may try to lure unsuspecting victims into phishing scams by pretending to be legitimate companies. They may link to websites that look like a real corporation and then ask users to verify account information. However, that info is just sent to a cybercriminal.
- Boost search engine rankings. If your domain has a decent amount of traffic, spammers may want to post links in your forum that point back to their website. This way, they can generate backlinks and trick Google into thinking they’ve been endorsed by your site. This could improve their rankings in search results.
These are some of the most common motivations for posting forum spam. Unfortunately, spam is always evolving, so it’s important to be wary of any suspicious activity on your forum.
What are the main types of forum spam?
To stop spam, you’ll need to understand its various formats. Here are the four most common types of spam:
1. Content spam
Content spam refers to anything that’s off-topic or irrelevant to the page that it appears on. Forums are usually centered around a niche subject, so this type of spam should be easy to spot.
Content spam is usually employed to promote a product or service and can contain links to another website.
2. Profile spam
To participate in an online forum, members will likely need to create a profile or an account. Forum spammers can use these profiles to spread spam without anyone noticing.
A spam account can embed hidden links into its profile. The most common example is a link in the username. But spammers might also include a link in the bio section of the profile.
Each time a forum spammer posts a message or someone views their profile, this link will be visible to members. But unless someone clicks on it, no one would know it’s there.
This type of forum spam is commonly used in an attempt to trick search engines or promote a product.
3. Signature spam
Signature spam is a type of profile spam. Instead of hiding links in usernames and profiles, spammers include them in their signatures.
That means that they embed a link each time they comment or post. The rest of their comment might be completely legitimate — and thus their work is less likely to be detected. This is another way to manipulate search engines for higher rankings.
4. Private message spam
As the name suggests, private message spam is sent to members of a forum. Considering that these messages don’t impact search engine rankings, this type of spam almost always has an intention of direct harm to your forum members.
With private messaging, forum spammers can promote products, harvest personal data through malware in links, or set up phishing scams. This can be particularly dangerous because moderators are unable to see or stop this spam. It’s up to forum members to flag it.
What are the consequences of spam on a forum?
This section will discuss the consequences of spam on a forum. These apply to both enterprises and small businesses.
1. A degraded user experience
Online forums are intended to create a dedicated space on the internet for a specific community. Forum members can post questions and raise concerns, or simply start a conversation around a certain topic that they find interesting or important.
In many cases, online forums can provide additional value to customers in the form of educational content. But if a forum is cluttered with spam, its members will likely have a hard time sifting through its posts. It will be up to them to figure out which comments are genuine and which ones are spam.
This will lead to a degraded user experience. It could even prompt members to abandon your forum.
2. Damaged forum reputation
If a forum becomes overrun by spam, most members will assume that there aren’t any moderators to manage it. They might also think that the business or enterprise behind the forum hasn’t invested in any security measures to prevent forum spam and protect visitors.
These perceptions can damage your reputation. Plus, it might prompt some people to look for other, more credible online communities.
3. SEO implications
Search engine bots are always implementing new ways to spot untrustworthy web pages. This is because Google (and other search sites) want to provide internet users with the best experience possible.
If your forum is littered with content that spammers are posting to manipulate their rankings, or links to malware and untrustworthy sites, there’s a good chance that search engines will catch on.
Since software like Googlebot can’t tell who is attempting to manipulate it, it could end up penalizing your forum, rather than the perpetrators using it to do harm.
This means forum spammers can hurt your website’s search engine rankings while attempting to boost their own. Your web pages may be removed from search results until you can prove their legitimacy. This will involve removing spam links and asking Google to recrawl your site.
4. Security threats like malware and phishing links
Some of the more nefarious types of spam include malware and phishing attempts. These can have serious consequences for your business and customers.
That’s because this type of spam puts sensitive data at risk. Spammers can gain access to personal information like names, email addresses, and phone numbers. As a result, affected individuals will receive spammy messages through email or SMS, or their data may be sold off.
5. Time and resource wastage
When your forum is plagued with spam, you’ll end up wasting resources on eliminating it.
For instance, if you employ someone to moderate and block spam comments as part of their daily work routine, they may be spending too much time on these messages. That means less time to focus on more important tasks, like answering customer queries.
Similarly, any spammer is consuming your website’s server resources. Depending on the level of spam you’re dealing with, this could result in lots of wasted server space.
The costs associated with hosting for enterprise organizations can get out of hand quickly. Working with efficiency in mind and proactively protecting resources is important. And for small businesses with a modest hosting plan, large volumes of spam could even impact site performance.
Common characteristics of spambot registrations
Having an understanding of the different types of forum spam can help you identify spam more easily. Still, it’s always better to stop spam before it can infiltrate your forum.
Here are some of the common characteristics of spambot registrations:
1. Generic usernames
Spambots aren’t very creative. So, one way to spot them is by looking out for generic usernames.
These include usernames like “lucky_guy” or “shy_gal”. Of course, spambots can also incorporate fake generic names into their handles.
2. Suspicious email domains
Some of the most common email domains are gmail.com, yahoo.com, and outlook.com. They are all associated with reputable email providers.
A suspicious or unfamiliar email domain could indicate a forum spammer. Spam accounts are more likely to use these email providers as they may not meet the security requirements to create a legitimate address.
3. IP addresses associated with spam
If you suspect that a forum spammer has infiltrated your online community, you can look into the IP address associated with that spam account. This can help you confirm or deny the legitimacy of the account.
You’ll have to look at the server logs and find the IP address associated with the spammy comment. Note that you won’t be able to do this with private message spam, as you’ll need access to the comment or post.
Common actions of forum spammers
This section will outline some of the most common actions by forum spammers. Hopefully, this will help you identify them more easily.
1. Replying to old/inactive threads
If a forum spammer wants to utilize your website’s authority to boost their search engine rankings, they’ll often reply to old and inactive threads.
That’s because older forum threads will have received more traffic and better rankings in search results. If your forum has been active for several years, these actions should be easy to spot.
2. Leaving minimal replies with links included
Since a spammer has no intention of actually contributing to your online community, they tend to leave short replies with a link included.
While they may offer a brief comment, this is likely something generic that has been programmed into the spambot’s capabilities. For instance, you might get something like “great content!” or “love this!”.
3. Placing a link and website description in their profile
Profile spam is very common on online forums. You’ll often see a spammer place a link and website description in their profile. In this scenario, the spammer is likely trying to promote a product or manipulate search engines.
4. Using misleading topic titles
If a member uses a topic title that seems relevant to the forum, but then talks about something different in the thread, this is a major red flag.
Essentially, this type of spam is trying to lure members into clicking on a thread by suggesting that it will contain valuable information for them. Once they’ve clicked on the thread, forum members will likely find promotional or otherwise spammy content.
5. Posting off‑topic comments
Another clear giveaway is off‑topic comments. Similar to misleading topic titles (but more blatant), off‑topic comments are explicitly pushing the spammer’s agenda without even pretending to contribute to the forum.
6. Using a website name as their username
Many forum spammers use a website as their username. This could be a spammy marketing tactic, plain and simple. It could also include a link, which would have bigger implications for search engine optimization.
7. Posting in a different language than the topic
The great thing about the internet is that people have access to forums in almost every country and every language. People often tend to congregate on forums with like‑minded individuals as well as those with similar backgrounds, so while it’s definitely not a guarantee, a new user that posts in a language rarely used by other members of the forum can signal that they’re not there for anything good.
Common anti‑spam techniques (and why they fail to impress)
Forum spam can be a serious problem, and common anti‑spam techniques might not always be efficient in spotting it. This section will discuss some of the reasons why these approaches fail.
1. CAPTCHAs
One of the most common anti‑spam methods involves CAPTCHAs. This is particularly common for online forms (like contact forms) and user registration forms.
A CAPTCHA presents a challenge or puzzle that spambots should be unable to complete. The theory is that it will prevent them from submitting content, but CAPTCHAs have several limitations.
First of all, they’re not 100 percent effective, since many bots can bypass CAPTCHAs. Plus, they’re not the most accessible anti‑spam tactic, as they can alienate people who have varying impairments.
In the past, CAPTCHAs were pretty straightforward. For example, you would have had to interpret some blurry letters and numbers.
But CAPTCHAs have become more difficult, even for authentic users who are likely to become pretty frustrated after the first or second failed attempt. These real people might even end up abandoning your site altogether.
Newer versions ask users to do things like “find all the images with stoplights.” But they’re just as annoying for humans and still not very effective against robots.
And even the latest option — reCAPTCHA v3 — seems like an improvement for users, since there’s no visible test required to gain access, but it comes with some serious downsides.
For example, it provides Google with a lot of data that many are concerned violates the privacy of users. It can deter good bots like search engine crawlers. Finally, and perhaps the most annoying, real users can be flagged as spam without any way to prove their legitimacy.
2. Question‑based challenges
Question‑based challenges are another common anti‑spam tactic. Although they aren’t as ubiquitous as CAPTCHAs and reCAPTCHAs, they come with the same limitations.
They can create an obstacle for individuals with different abilities. If they become frustrated enough, they could give up on the challenge. As a result, you could end up losing conversions (or, in this context, new forum members).
3. Email verification
Email verification is another popular way to prevent spambots from infiltrating websites. It’s a bit more user-friendly than a CAPTCHA, but still creates an additional step in the registration process.
Since getting conversions is hard enough, this tactic isn’t ideal. You’ll want to avoid any friction and streamline the signup process as much as possible.
Akismet: The #1 tool to stop forum spam registrations
So how can you eliminate forum spam without deterring real users? This section will introduce you to an efficient anti-spam tool: Akismet.
What is Akismet?
Akismet is an automated anti-spam tool that uses advanced AI technology to identify spam without any input from users. It works in the background and has an incredible 99.99% accuracy rate. There are no annoying puzzles to solve, no questions to answer, and no spam in your forums.
Whether you run a small business or work at a large company, Akismet is by far the easiest and most effective way to stop forum spam.
While it’s known throughout the WordPress community for its considered to be the best anti‑spam plugin that’s easy to install, it also supports other platforms like Joomla! and Drupal. Developers can even build it into any application thanks to Akismet’s flexible API.
When you sign up for an Akismet plan, you’ll be protected from comment and form spam, including spambot registrations and comments on forums.
At the time of writing, Akismet has protected more than 100 million websites and blocked over 500 billion instances of spam.
The value is immediately evident — it’s proven to boost conversions by an average of 3.6% when replacing CAPTCHA. That’s an instant boost in website performance!
How Akismet works
Akismet is software that you can install on your website. If you have a WordPress website, all you have to do is purchase a plan, and then install and activate the plugin through your dashboard.
Depending on your web hosting plan, the free version of the tool may come pre-installed on your website. Non-commercial WordPress sites can use it completely for free.
Businesses and other professional organizations can quickly find the ideal plan for them and the elimination of spam and improved user experience will immediately make it worthwhile.
For major organizations, the good news is that Akismet offers custom enterprise plans. In fact, with over 100 million users, it’s the go‑to choice for businesses like ConvertKit that use Akismet to boost the performance of their platform by protecting their wide network of business customers from spam.
Once Akismet is set up, it uses AI filtering and a robust spam database to identify and block spam. Plus, it operates on the cloud, so these processes won’t impact your website’s performance.
If you’re using WordPress, Akismet integrates seamlessly with some of the most popular plugins, like Jetpack and Formidable Forms.
The benefits of Akismet
Here are some of the main benefits of using Akismet to stop forum spam:
- Real‑time, AI‑powered filtering
- 99.99 percent spam detection accuracy
- “Set it and forget it” configuration
- Compatibility with multiple platforms
- No added friction to the user experience
In a nutshell, Akismet is powerful software that can stop spam in its tracks. It’s highly effective, easy to configure, and works on multiple platforms. Plus, Akismet stands out from other anti‑spam solutions because it doesn’t add any obstacles for legitimate site visitors.
A seamless anti‑spam solution can greatly improve the effectiveness of your forums. When it comes to contact forms, Akismet can help increase your conversion rates, too!
How to get started with Akismet today
If you’re currently running a forum or want to start one, you’ll need a strategy to prevent spam. Otherwise, your members could be driven away in annoyance. Plus, if your forum is plagued with spam, it could lead to a drop in your site’s search engine rankings.
That’s why your forum needs an enterprise solution like Akismet. This powerful software uses AI filtering, cloud storage, and seamless integrations to block 99.99% of spam without impacting the user experience or your site’s performance.
Are you ready to stop forum spam? Reach out to the Akismet team today!
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