Author Topic: *** Beware of spam bots and commercial advertisers ***  (Read 5223 times)

Bjørn Rørslett

  • Fierce Bear of the North
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*** Beware of spam bots and commercial advertisers ***
« on: November 16, 2017, 10:06:38 »
Lately, we have had a few occurrences of commercial advertisers and spam bots trying to creep into the ranks of ordinary Nikongear members. Neither kind of contributor is welcomed here on the NG site which - unusually perhaps in this time and age - is designed to be complete free of any advertising or site mining.

The administrators cannot patrol the entire NG site continuously, as NG is a labour of love for photography not for earning any money and all maintenance actions are conducted in our own spare time. Thus we appeal to our members to be on the outlook for suspicious accounts or posts, and shoot the Admins a PM in case any foul play is believed to be detected. Better safe than sorry and we will do a silent investigation in each case and act according to what we can find.

So, what signs to look for? Any link directing to dubious sites is a tell-tale sign. Don't follow them by clicking, just see what your browser tells you about the direction. For commercial advertisers, use common sense. Any plans of travelling and photo journeys should arise from community discussion only. Brand new members starting to post enthusiastically about a new product and its virtues, or recommending a particular web site,  is a warning to look closer.

A big and heartfelt thanks to all our members for making NG the valuable site that it has become. A special thanks is extended to Andrea for directing my attention to these new challenges we are facing.