Some spam disappears almost instantly. A few times some posts have become 404 before I even looked at them (phony real-looking posts are all the rage now). I had my account disappear once because I had a key word in it. Yet these *streaming* posts overwhelm us. Comprends pas.

Yeah, I could only count what was visible. I assume from reading Mishima's account there were many more unseen. Another 12 showed up in the next hour. It's never going to end.

I do wish it would come to a screeching halt and suspect that is the reason the server runs so slow.

The only explanation I can think of, and I've said as much directly to TPTB, is that they pay to be here. Maybe the only reason this site manages to keep treading water, although barely.
Who knows for sure since my former hero the big K and company never, ever, speak of "the issue."
Sure is irritating ain't it! I flag them sometimes but it's like work, and doesn't seem to help, so why bother?

Mission - look, it's all been whisked away. But now the machine has come to a near halt. It's like trying to control the tides.

tr ig - if they aren't being paid to allow the spam, maybe they're generating it themselves. In fact, that may be why you never get any answer from TPTB, because they're all too busy earning the rent money by posting streaming sports and hidden porn listings.

I wonder why they don't screen like other sites. They should stop the automatic sign in... Maybe that is what they are working on. I am keeping my fingers crossed!!!

Last Sunday morning, for most of the morning, not one post had any comments nor rates. For the most part, I think most of us have given up. EEEMMMIIILLLYYY!

My mother claims that Spam is an important part of any diet and I am proof of it's benefits...or at least I am proof that it doesn't do any harm...no, wait....let me think about this and get back to you.

Resistance is futile.

Susie - the more I think about it, the more I'm convinced what they're "working on" is their own spam posts.

Jeff - wow. That might be some sort of record, but how would we know since the place shuts us out so much of the time?

Michael - if the stuff were edible, the world hunger problem would be solved.

nana - I agree.

let's assume (correctly, i think) that there are people in china who work for a company that pays them, oh, six cents for every account they create on OS. manually, with their fingers, typing in the CAPTCHA squiggle replica. not an automatic or machine-generated bunch of new users but ones created by real live people. and that there are OS volunteers who delete them, one by one, as has been described in earlier posts here (mishima was one).

the only way to keep them out (that i know of) would be to institute a fee to join, which many of us have said we would be willing to pay. but to do that, mgmt would have to rewrite the s/w. and that wouldn't solve the server problems at all, the crashing, offline, snail's pace, etc.

so, to me, there are some logistical problems but mostly it's about $$$. and it's sad, knowing what it used to be like. the numbers (views, users, posts) are down so dramatically, and a lot of that is tied directly back to these problems. crap crap crap.

~waves at mumbles~ have a good weekend anyhoo, curly-haired dog!!

Candace - so if the Chinese are getting six cents per account establishment and our cops are getting nothing per account erasure, that means that...never mind. Not going there. Crap crap crap is what it all is, in a nutshell.

There is not a quid pro quo as suggested by trig, except what happens passively. And frankly, I don't understand how Google AdSense puts up with it since they have such strict rules about how revenue is generated. Maybe there is some safeguard from sanction in the contract that SMG has with Google on that.

I no longer have an AdSense account, nor AdSense ads on my page (not counting the OS site ads) because shortly after the program was introduced a friend (!) took it upon herself without my consent or knowledge to repeatedly click on the AdSense ads on my blog page. Of course that is strictly prohibited behavior according to the GAS TOS, and in spite of my non involvement, I was banned from GAS for life.

If you look at some OS members blogs who have long since abandoned the site, as in Joan Walsh, you will see comment after comment that have links to offsite services. I'm just going to assume that there are some nearly legitimate online businesses doing that, regardless of the ethics involved, but there are clearly some nefarious links as well, to satiate sex or greed.

But if some lowlife somewhere is entering in search strings into Google looking for such nefarious goods and services, it's not surprising that some of those links to Joan Walsh's posts (and many others) show up in the search results. If the link in the Google search is clicked and it brings you to an OS page, then there is passive revenue generate by the visitor's mere presence, and even more if someone clicks on the legitimate ads on that page. But it might result in a terrible cost if some of the spammer's links are clicked, but the spammers are hoping for just that to happen. They in turn probably get passive revenue in addition to whatever profit or scam they might generate from what they're offering inside their digital trench coat.

There should indeed be a nominal, or slightly more, cost to participating on OS, but it goes against the general model for what happens on the web. But then what generally happens on the web is a more robust back end that prevents and eliminates or blocks spammers access. I think you could make a reasonable case for banning nearly the entire Putian/Fujan Provence in China, as a huge chunk of the spam is generated from that area. You might eliminate a potential 100 million members from joining (theoretically) but it would be a small price to pay for added comfort here. (And, theoretically, it ought to allow the populace in Fujan to rise up against their local officials who probably have their graft hands in the process anyway--but really, not likely that would ever happen.)

So, as miserable as the spam is, though there are ways around being bothered too much by it as seen in Catherine Forsythe's latest post, it's a Hobsen's choice perhaps to allow that passive revenue to continue...it might be the only thing keeping OS afloat.

And all the spammers may contribute to speed load issues, but I think it's more of a problem with the backend hardware...a Mac Classic Plus with an attached string of SCSI connected donated external hard drives just doesn't make for the most reliable server experience...at least it doesn't cost much.