arent there plentry of plugins for making it difficult for spammers ?

Spam free? I think I made some comment like that when I was a kid, so we switched to potted meat……that was a joke.

I had 87 spiders hit Gunsandall.com the other night and I about freaked!  At first I thought they were actual visitors but then I realized that they were logging in and out in a timed pattern so I figured out they were not human.  Since then the links on Yahoo have skyrocketed.

Well yeah, but spiders don't buy and sell guns do they?(lol)

This is a topic i seem to be well versed in despite my lack of even wanting to know this stuff.SEO (search engine optimization) im sure in your search for finding ways to get more traffic you have run into this or  maybe even have a great amount of knowledge in it. Either way i would say dont waste your time and energy in trying to learn about it. Its basically a cheat when it comes down to it. Google and other search engines do a fine job of searching out sites, when you do massive seo it tries to up the page rank and it can do that quite well also. The problem with it is as soon as the search engines get modified to compensate for such seo practices the sites that were way up top fall way down low. In some cases maybe even blacklisted so the google bot wont be back again. 🙁There is no replacement for content, eventually this site will be ranked in search engines as it should be. with the amount of relevant content it has. So stay focused on what you seem to be best at and dont worry about the rest. It will all be history shortly.lolHaving outside links to your website will help the most. Try doing link exchanges with other relevant sites. all they can say is no, but all it does it help both sites. but dont let it take time away from actually adding content to the site.be thankful for the bots, even though they are spammers they are another member signed up, while this doesnt do anything other than say we have XXX members and so many topics and this many people online. that plays a big factor on if people will join or not.So if they spam delete it and ban them but they also may be the cause of someone deciding to join or not to join. Nobody goes to a cemetary to find friends or advice.So although it would be great to have a perfect forum with no spam members and ever person active, but that probably wont happen. Even members who have many great posts might become stagnant or just burnt out on it for long periods of time. this is really quite normal.Word of mouth, bumper stickers, signs in areas like schools that are eye catching, and most of all, what do you have here that historyforums doesnt? the content is everything, and having unique content is what will do the best for you. (even though most sites will steal it right away)The most important thing that will be tested by this website is you, your longevity and your ability to persevere when it isnt becoming all you hoped for, and all you thought it might, when it lets you down and all hope for it seems lost, hopefully a revelation will come for it, maybe it will be you.

Good post Rhino56. I think this is a great site that will have it's day if we just give it a chance.

If someone joins my site, I'll reciprocate.  If not, then I really don't have the time to mess around with them anyway.  Of course it would probably help if the person you are exchanging posts with held similar interests.  If their site is about Celtic Mythology and your site is Western Civilization, they might not be enthused to join.  Now if this were a porno forum……..:)