As moderators one of the things we see is fairly innocent looking new topics that are really there to hide spam. Sometime these are simple but vague questions without spam, sometimes they have spam hidden in them from the start. The ones without spam have the spam added later when the spammers think no one is looking any more. Unfortunately the forum software does not flag edits so the addition of spam can go undetected for some time. Not only is the spam a problem but our wonderful helpers can waste their time trying to help a spammer by posting what are pointless replies.
In this topic I and the other mods will post examples, with the spam removed, so our regular forum members have some idea what to look for and why topics they have contributed to are deleted (you see them as disappearing).
Recommend pls your favorite books, tutorials, and courses about Arduino. There is such a list of courses as this(spam link behind the word 'this'), maybe you can recommend other resources. Thank you in advance!
So the real purpose of the topic was the link to a web site offering training courses.
Watch out for a single coma, period or similar.
Some spammers use a single character as the reference to a link.
Then there are also many times ( but not always ) a simple "thanks you" from a brand new member.
Many spammers will throw that one up as a precursor.
Usually they don't say much more than that.
Often a REAL poster will add some form of context to the thanks you.
Onboard Board Diagnosis stands for [OBD2 ](link removed) As the name suggests it is a diagnosis system that is built into all modern cars (after 1996) which has a computer based application that monitors the performance of your car through your speed, mileage, fuel emission data etc. *
*Note: The Basics of OBD2 Technology [OBD Cable OBD Scanner for bike Car OBD2 OBD ii obd scanner for car OBD Device OBD Port](Link removed)
Please Help me to How to Read Your Car’s Trouble Codes ? OBD2 ELM 327 using Arduino ?
2 links to a retail website and a very vague question with no substance about what the OP is really doing or what they have tried. I know that sometimes such vague questions lead to proper discussion about a real project, but in this case I suspect not. I believe the only reason for the question is to post the links.
This is a variant of what I call "copy/paste" spam, where the spam post is a copy of existing legitimate content, with a spam payload inserted.
This type of spam can be especially harmful because it appears to be a legitimate post, causing the helpers here on the forum to waste their time responding.
In this case, they assembled the content from previous posts in the same forum topic:
The spam payload was hidden in the - character in the URL (the goal is typically to get SEO for the site through backlinks, rather than getting people to actually click the link directly).
The source markup of the post looks like this:
I should add that you won't be able to see the icons in my last reply if you have the forum configured in the light mode because of the white background. but I think you can turn it off and try these types of websites: https://github.com/arduino/arduino-create[-](https://bit.ly/394UY2L)agent/pull/575
(Note the - was linked to a bit.ly URL).
You can see the source markup of any post by selecting the text and then selecting "Quote" from the menu that appears. The source will then be added to the post composer window (wrapped in [quote] tags). Obviously, there is no need to actually post the quote, just look at the source in the post composer window before deleting it.
What appears to be a question is really only an attempt to get a spam link on the forum.
Please don't assume that a post is malicious simply because it contains a link. Most often these are only added by a legitimate poster being helpful by providing additional information.
If you hover your mouse pointer over the link, the target URL will be shown at the bottom of your web browser. You can often identify legitimate links immediately from this if you recognize it is from a trusted source (e.g., arduino.cc, GitHub, Wikipedia).
Note the 3rd . in the ellipsis has a link behind it, this is pretty much invisible when displayed. The main clue that there could be spam is that the comment itself is a useless generic comment, not at all helpful but also inoffensive. Always look for spam in comments like that, and consider that even without spam it might get added later.
This is why topics get closed after a period of no activity: spammers use old topics to place their spam thinking it won't be noticed. If you are reading old topics do please look for replies like the ones in this topic as they might contain spam.
There was no spam in this topic, so it went un-noticed. Having not been stopped the user then posted spam replies in 2 other topics.
When I see useless comments like this I delete them then send the user a warning. Feel free to flag useless comments for attention, they might well lead to spam elsewhere.
Spam hidden in a full stop. If you read that and wondered what the easy to use package was clicking around would have revealed a link to spam. I see 22 people clicked on the link but no one reported it unfortunately.
