Spam not real...some entity is trying to hurt this site.

Since 2001, over 90,000 cyclist's have joined Cycling Forums to discuss topics from general cycling to equipment, training, racing and travel or vacation destinations (especially in europe during the tour de france). We also feature an great deals in our online store, 100's of articles, classifieds and product reviews.

I believe that the spam we are seeing on this site is not genuine spam. It is the work of someone trying to hurt cyclingforums.com. Here is some evidence:

Today in the Bike Cafe, three spam posts (http://www.cyclingforums.com/t448547.html) appeared that gave the impression that someone was trying to sell various grain oils. Reading the advertisement though made me suspicious. Firstly the advertiser stated that a metric "ton" (sic) is equivalent to 1000 liters. This is not true as a metric tonne is equivalent to 1000 liters of pure water. Oils have varying densities, and a tonne of oil is not 1000 liters. A person who's business was dealing in tonnes of oil would know this.

Secondly...it is highly unlikely that any company would have the stock of oil that this distributor carries...and the wholesale costs would vary significantly depending on freight costs.

Thirdly...and perhaps damning evidence... I checked up on the wholesale prices of soybean oil... a commodity who's futures contracts are freely traded on the Chicago Board of Trade. Soybean Oil currently trades for around 53 cents per pound wholesale. Since there are 2,205 pounds in a tonne, the current price per tonne for soybean oil on the open market is approximately USD 1,169. The quoted price in the spam of USD 250 per tonne of soybean oil is rediculous.

I suspect that the email links given either are non-existent or result in your email address being exploited.

My guess is that someone or some group is trying to attack this site for the purpose of degrading it.

A member (confusedfan) in the GT forum has informed me that many of these spam ads are found (word for word) in other forums, but are deleted fairly quickly. He also found (http://www.cyclingforums.com/showpost.php?p=3696468&postcount=5237) using whois data, that the "clothes" spam originates from China and the safflower oil spam originates from Egypt.

A member (confusedfan) in the GT forum has informed me that many of these spam ads are found (word for word) in other forums, but are deleted fairly quickly. He also found (http://www.cyclingforums.com/showpost.php?p=3696468&postcount=5237) using whois data, that the "clothes" spam originates from China and the safflower oil spam originates from Egypt.so why can't we get it under control? can't you ban ip addresses?

Whether it is real or not it has already hurt the site, and the site may not be able to recover from it. The owners and mods (if there are any) do not seem to want to, or be able to do anything about it. Emails and PMs to them go unanswered and ignored. I seem to only come in every 3 weeks or so and still see the same thing, spam on every page. Noone likes to have to sift through countless spam posts to find something on topic. The search feature is now gone...a calculated measure by the powers that be perhaps? No matter...if the problem is not corrected soon I'm afraid it will spell the doom of this forum.

Whether it is real or not it has already hurt the site, and the site may not be able to recover from it. The owners and mods (if there are any) do not seem to want to, or be able to do anything about it. Emails and PMs to them go unanswered and ignored. I seem to only come in every 3 weeks or so and still see the same thing, spam on every page. Noone likes to have to sift through countless spam posts to find something on topic. The search feature is now gone...a calculated measure by the powers that be perhaps? No matter...if the problem is not corrected soon I'm afraid it will spell the doom of this forum.
so what do we do? create a new forum? i mean i could create one, but could in no way afford to get a nice one like this...i have set up and can set up a new one though if requested..

i'm working on a temporary solution that could possibly be permanent, but it'll be a new forum...

so what do we do? create a new forum? i mean i could create one, but could in no way afford to get a nice one like this...i have set up and can set up a new one though if requested..I just don't venture in here as much as I used to, as my post count will tell you.....not many for over 3 years of membership. The spam has gotten just too far out of hand for me. I also belong to another cycling forum where I spend the majority of my time on the 'net discussing cycling. That forum had moderators that do their job and owners who make their presence known and answer queries and questions.

It is like any business, when you feel as if your needs are being ignored you just find another place that will pay attention to them. I just do not wish to put up with some of the crap in here as well as the spam. My choice? Yes. I do like to come in once in a while and still find interesting posts to read and interact with...usually from the same people. There are still a good bunch of folks in here.

Cheers,

Brian