Well done HQ

Still a couple left.

Berlin Wall and New Arrivals.

All things connected to Friendsavailable too.

What is it about Gransnet that seems to attract these people - I use other social media websites and they do not seem to get as much of this rubbish. Wonder if we are getting this because some of the schools/colleges are out for the Christmas holidays!!

There may be one in Health too POGS.
I think that it is spam?

That is the one to which I referred.

I rarely get annoyed but if this person thinks it is OK to use the 'Can't sell my dad's empty bungalow' thread to self promote his own business then I have no problem in doing as I have in calling him crass and despicable .

What a b----y cheek.

They are out to cause mischief and want attention.
By responding, you give them exactly what they are after.

soontobe

I whole heartedly agree but the post is cleverly worded and emotiveemotive and it is better to draw attention to the fact the poster is 'using' GN for others to decide whether to respond to him or not.

Can I be pedantic, and just say it is better to write, reported, or something like that. Though I appreciate that we all have times when we feel like letting rip at them..

It is possible to do both, soontobe. Then those reading it know not only that it has been reported and will probably vanish, but also that what we think of the poster, and that they should on no account respond.

My reaction to the Blessed Michael was to look up his name, business and phone number and report what I found, with my opinion.

He has more than one iron in the fire, and he makes a claim to a chapel connection in Reading. Members of that chapel may be interested to check him out, and claiming a connection to a non-existing charity may not endear him to the rest of the congregation.

If his puppy reservation scheme is exploiting puppy love, there may be organisations of professional breeders who would be interested in him too. The Eden and Alpha Property Service does not appear to exist either.

The Michael one may be a slightly different case, but for the others, they feed on reaction.

I know it is all a futile case really, as people wont do as I am suggesting, partly because a few like the fun of responding, and as long as just a tiny few respond, that is enough to keep motivating the spammers. {I dont think you were responding in fun POGS, or Elegran].

I think we should do our part by merely responding with a reported. Though nothing wrong in chasing the people up if we can.

That has been said many times on Gransnet, and the number of responses is very low compared with some social networks. It is not generally thought as fun to keep up an exchange with these halfwits, so not many keep it up for long.

Sometimes it is worth commenting on a dodgy post, though. There are occasional naive posters on GN who believe that someone who has put forward an image of themselves as a nice, innocent, person, perhaps seeking enlightenment on a tricky topic they don't understand, or wanting support for a dreadful situation that they describe in detail, must automatically be genuine. So they get drawn into a correspondence that gets more and more bizarre.

It doesn't happen often, but there have been cases where these posters have been rumbled by GNHQ and suddenly vanish from the scene.

The number of responses are low on here? Oh good. Most we can hope for I suppose.

soontobe

This is a case of GNHQ being unable to react appropriately at the time of the first 'numerous' spam posts that literally swamped the sitesite from the early hours of this morning.

You obviously were not in the position to see what was happening so please accept that if I or any other poster has responded to them it is certainly not for fun, to give them oxygen but to genuinely warn some posters who would not be aware that the spam poster had been prolific in posting.

I accept you have not made any comment of a personal nature but I just wish to point out that some times posting without full knowledge or understanding of events may give rise to a lack of understanding why some posters have acted in a manner which you would not have done.

If I and other posters have reported, taken a pot shot at this poster it's because he deserved it and fellow GN's usually learn to leave the thread or poster well alone afterwards, which is the point of doing it.

My answer is still the same as the 11.08am one.

To be honest, if I cant persuade the likes of you, whose posts I mainly agree with, on this issue, I cant manage to persuade many.
So I give up.

Good.

The "old hands" have been doing exactly as you suggest, soontobe for three years and more. Occasionally we post a warning in case our newer or more unworldly members are conned into being exploited by the scammers. Some people believe everything they read, after all.

We know how to suck eggs, thank you, so perhaps giving up on this line is indeed your best way forward.

Decidied not to give up now!

So why didnt everyone should post "report"?
Because they didnt, did they?

You are on your own, then. This is not a productive argument.

Who the fuck cares anyway?!

Precisely, JBF A storm stirred up in a teacup. GN members and HQ between them can deal with spammers. Some need ignoring, some are dangerously seductive. Common sense is a useful commodity.

No need to harangue each other about it.

I thought that people didnt like spam?
There is loads of spam on this forum. Spamming is trolling.

Trolls are supposed to be ignored and reported according to the guidelines. So just a "reported" by one person on each thread is enough.
There is no need for any interaction with them.

Make some mince pies?