Cyber Terrorism vs Authonomy, The Spam Wars

How do cyber-terrorists invade Authonomy, a writer’s site run by big 5 publisher HarperCollins? By invading the forums with post after post of spam links to live-streaming sports and other programs (less than half of the posts in the photo below are from legit forum users).

But isn’t the website for writers with unpublished books, seeking critiques and eventual publishing representation? Err, yes it is, but the forums are quite active there and fun too.

Why would the spammers do it? Good question. Probably to rank higher with search engines by having hundreds of one-way links coming from a site used by thousands of people, even if the links aren’t getting clicked by the writers.

Who are the spammers: people or bots? Debates rage on but it appears to be people, probably making very little money but hey, a job’s a job. And they were winning for awhile, filling the forum with so much spam that good people were leaving in droves, possibly being forced to do some actual writing. Thankfully recent updates to the forum’s captcha code and the efforts of diligent admins plus forum watchdogs have finally prevailed, at least for now. Writers can get back to where they’re needed: the forums.

So is it really safe to return to Authonomy? Some of us aren’t sure it ever was safe to be there–ala a monumental waste of time trying to reach the coveted editor’s desk when we could have been writing–but that’s another blog post.

For now, yes it’s safe. Grab digital equivalents to yellow pads, pencils and erasers and come back to the site that helps writers beat the slush pile, or become authors–or complain about that not happening in a spam-free forum with thousands of others.

Personally, I’m glad to spam is gone. The place feels like Autho again.

Thoughts or comments? Do share.

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