A forum set up to assist users of MYOB accounting software has been so heavily crippled by spam that users have now been forced
to join other help forums, and its owner to offload the site to somebody who can better manage it (Learn more about antispam products from our Antispam Buyer's Guide).
Typically, visitors to supportforum.com.au should find subjects like 'Wrong ledger entry when entering a sale' or 'Inventry
loaded as incorrect'. Instead, they are now greeted with headlines such as 'Super hot blonde teens' and 'Cheap drug generic
tramadol zyrtec' to name a few.
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Supportforum.com.au has grown to become a popular site for local MYOB users. It was started in August 2004 by Craig Fryer
as a result of his frustration with MYOB and its lack of user forums.
"Most major publishers have a user forum where users can share ideas and ask questions. MYOB had chosen not to do this and
there seemed to be no other alternatives. Users were often left with the only option of paying for support," said Fryer, whose
day time job is the Editor/Director of a Web site called Japanese Lifestyle.
However, so bad has the spam become today, Fryer has been forced to pass on the ownership of it to somebody who can better
tackle the problem.
"I plan to give away the site to someone who is suitable and would continue to operate the site to benefit MYOB users."
Fryer said spam has been slowly creeping into the supportforum.com.au site.
"Over the last year or so I have made several attempts to beat the spammers, but it was taking an increasing amount of time
and becoming very frustrating. We implemented several different anti spam solutions, only to have them defeated by the spammers...Someone
with time and skills should be able to recover the site to the point where it is a very useful resource again," he said.
Although the spam has been present on the site for some time, a visit to supportforum.com.au reveals it has become prolific
since September last year, with MYOB-specific questions totally gobbled up by unrelated topics associated with sex, girls
and drug products.
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