OK, Members, we have two people posting in the Foodie Chat pages, sometimes dragging up posts from many months ago to post a recipe link and picture. The recipe link is genuine, to a blog with recipes. I've checked each time. But the poster is making no genuine attempt to interact with other FL members. Do these posts bother you or are you OK with them?

I find them irritating, Lorna, but perhaps I've become an intolerant curmudgeon!

I agree with Stephanie. It’s the interaction bny foodlover’s members that makes this site so enjoyable and also valuable.

Thank you Stephanie 39 and Chris. I'm the same, I find them irritating but I'll wait till I've got a few more responses from members to get some sort of concensus.

Me too. I always think “Oh no....they're back”

Ali W Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Me too. I always think “Oh no....they're
> back”

I think that too Ali!

I always think of them as spam and they're annoying. Always so "empty" and fake in what they say.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/20/2019 05:29AM by J1.

I agree too with the others Lorna - when I see that the date from earlier posts (before their one ) is ages ago I scroll on by. I dont want to engage with this poster & continue the attention if you know what I mean.
Frustrating & challenging for the spammer removal lady - I just want to enjoy reading the updates from FL's

Agree with others, these posters don't appear to want to engage, just show off their photography which you'd have to say is very good!

However, if I was feeling particularly charitable, I might say that they are trying hard to engage but with limited command of the English language, they are using their photography as a means of communication.

From a forum moderator's perspective, it's a bit of a tricky one as it's not spam in the usual sense of the word.

Your call Lorna...

Regards,

Barbara Anne

Edited to add that if it is not the poster's own photography then that is a completely different story.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/20/2019 08:27AM by Barbara Anne.

So, the overall response has been the same from all of you who have responded so far, so I think we will treat them as spam. I'm not sure if those two posters are the same person, but both are posting about the same blog, so who knows!! If anyone wants to save the blog as a favourite for themselves, it's up to them, but I don't think we need the continual posts on our forum.

Lorna I too agree with all of the above.
Regards,
Dawn

Spam, and probably not actual people, just trawling for clicks.

I've deleted all the posts and also deleted the two posters concerned. Let's hope that's the end of them.

Good job, Lorna.

Cheers, Lorna. You are doing an excellent job.

They seem to be the people who stand up at meetings, have nothing much to say but say it anyway. Maybe I am being a tad too cynical. I am trying so hard not to be but I suspect it must be in my DNA.

Thanks Lorna. The "Stephanie" s stand united on this issue.

I just looked at a new post in the lime thread in the food forum which looks very similar to the ones we commented on here.

Thank you Chris. I usually only visit the forums once a day, usually in the morning. I have now deleted that person and the posting they made.

Stephanie D

Looks like we have had new members join who just provide links to recipes and photos.

Yes, Chris, that's what's happening. I'm deleting 2or 3 spammers most days at the moment. All their posts point to the same blog called Cooking Club by someone call Allyson something or other. Very annoying but it's easily fixed.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/2019 12:43AM by Lorna.

You are doi g a great job, Lorna. We all appreciate your efforts.

YAY! No spammers today. But I won't hold my breath, no doubt they'll be back. Thank you everyone for your support and appreciation.

Agree, they are just attempting to get traffic to their pages/blogs.
Most people seem wise to it but its nicer without this type of thing.
Vanessa

Well done Lorna. There appears to be a 'glitch' on FL however and that is if I mark forum as read and don't open the spam email - all posts are marked as read and I have no idea of new posts. Just did a posting myself on this forum, and it hasn't been as quiet as I thought it was.

The same thing happens to me Irene, every once in a while there have been no red flags for days, I then notice there are recent postings, click on the forum topic and find everything is red flagged.

Sorry, Irene & TPANDAV, I have no idea of how to fix that. I only deal with deleting the spammers. However, I myself never use the 'Mark Forum as Read' button because as you read each posting the red 'marker' disappears. Irene, I don't really understand what you are doing. Are you marking the forum as read before you've opened it to see what postings are there?

It happens when I look at the 'home page' for the forums. If I see a last post name from someone that is obviously a spammer (ie posted on lots of messages rather than one), I just mark the forum as read, and then it happens. It obviously is some programming glitch I think

That's what I do Irene. I don't think it's a OS or browser issue as it happens to me on Mojave + Firefox, and also on iOS 12.3.1 + Safari.

I don't understand why you mark the forum as 'read' when you've opened, say, the Non-Food Chat forum and you see strange names in the list of topics. 'Mark the Forum as Read' will remove all the red flags that indicate there are unread messages.

I open each FORUM in turn, and see the list of TOPICS that have red flags denoting there are NEW POSTS in that forum. I open each topic and can see red flags beside each new post. I read the new posts and if there happens to be a spammer in there, I copy the name and then go to the admin area and delete that poster, return to the topic and delete the post, which now says 'anonymous poster' because I've deleted the poster.

Try to not 'Mark Forum As Read' until you've read the new posts in each topic, and if there happens to be a spammer there, just ignore it. It will disappear once I've done my part. I can see no reason for marking a forum as read, especially when you haven't read it!! Or am I missing something?? Am I misunderstanding what you do?