What is SPAM when it comes to the Fiverr Forums?

[fonthaunt]

When you are considering a new post or replying to a post - think about this first:

• It is spam to offer your services or even put a link to your gigs or profiles at the bottom of your post UNLESS you are posting in My Fiverr Gigs
• It is spam to reply to a thread offering your services or link to gigs/profiles unless the thread is in My Fiverr Gigs.
• It is spam to post in Tips for Buyers and say that your tip is for the buyers to buy a gig from you
• It is spam to try to sell non-Fiverr products or services, especially when including external links
• It is spam to post the same post multiple times on the forum. This is true whether in the same category or multiple categories.
• Adding an image with your logo or links in the image to your gigs/profile/website - it’s spam unless in My Fiverr Gigs.
• Adding a signature with advertising text or images in a post is spam unless it’s in My Fiverr Gigs.
• If you are trying to think of a way to post in the forums and advertise your gig at the same time in a category other than My Fiverr Gigs - that is still going to be be spam.
• If you find another post, a blog entry, or something else on the web and you copy/paste it into the forums to try to draw attention to your own gigs or profile - that is spam. This is especially true if you don’t even give credit to the original author of your copied material.

What happens if you do these things?

1. If noticed, your post will be deleted, moved, or edited.
2. If you become a regular spammer, you are putting your account in danger.
3. If buyers see that you are a spammer, most will not buy from you at all.
4. If your account does not appear to be actively selling allowed gigs or appears to be brand new and you post external links, the account will probably be banned.
5. When you spam the forums, other buyers and sellers who are trying to ask for real advice or offer tips gets pushed out of the way. Spammers are not appreciated.

Bonus thought:

While not technically spam, when you post a question on the forum that has been asked and answered many, many times it begins to feel a lot like spam. It can easily irritate buyers and sellers alike.

Questions like:

• I am new on Fiverr. Can someone help me?
• How do I find buyers/get sales?
• Please review my gig?
• Why am I getting no sales / buyers?

[fonthaunt]

Reply to @kjblynx: Good idea. A question for you- on your suggestion about formatting - are you suggesting comments about spammers who use special formatting to draw attention or something else? I don’t know if I follow you and we can all work together on this.

For the moment I’ll just add something here and I can expand on the top post later.

Instead of replying, hitting the flag button on the post and mentioning that it’s spam or serial spam is fine. Not all moderators can see flag messages, but that’s OK. Some are frequent forum users and will hopefully see it, and if not, administrators can wipe the flagged posts out later.

If the spam has potential harmful content (i.e. a link that could lead to harmful content) it is sometimes a good idea to reply to it and warn other users.

[fullcourtpress]

Did you just delete my previous post in Seller Tips? If so, I want to specifically know why so I can refrain from doing it again. I thought I adhered to the policy. Obviously, someone appears to think otherwise. Thank you.

[fonthaunt]

Reply to @fullcourtpress: I am the author of the “what is spam” post but I did not delete any post of yours recently. I can’t answer your question but perhaps someone else who saw it can. There are multiple sheriffs (moderators) as well as admins and staff so each makes judgement calls as best they can.

I advise reading the forum Do’s and Dont’s at the top of the forum page. I also advise making sure that a post fits the category you post in. For example, if it is in Tips for Sellers it should be a general tip that most or all sellers can utilize. If it comes off too close to advertising for your own gigs, that is likely to also be moved or removed.

[tracy1]

People who keep sending msg when the custom order is off clis considered as spam too, right?

[fonthaunt]

Reply to @tracy____: That wouldn’t apply to the forums. I don’t fully understand what you wrote but if you feel you are being spammed in some other way you can report it to Customer Support.

[thecreativeguys]

THE FORUM IS SPAMMED UP!!

[mark74]

Reply to @thecreativeguys: we’ve already removed spam 😃

[thecreativeguys]

Reply to @mark74: Thanks! I came and found every category was filled with junk. Why do people love doing this?? Is there a real reason? I understand if there is a link or something but just plain garbage text??!

Also, the past 2 days I’ve got probably 10, not sarcastically! Junk messages!!

Every 3 of those messages Fiverr already banned the accounts but the rest just end up killing my response rate, NOW i’m at 87% before 97%

This is really frustrating. I am not sure what to do. It just doesn’t make me feel good or motivated when I respond to every message but these stupid messages make there way in and I suffer.

[manikmunna]

Great Tips! I post several times in My Fiverr Gigs section…is it spam?

[fonthaunt]

Reply to @manikmunna: Technically you can post about your own gigs multiple times in the My Fiverr Gigs section.

The other answer is that yes, when you flood advertising in any way, it is not only spam but hurts your sales and even hurts others advertising near you.

What if you walked into a grocery market and 10 people ran at you waving different kinds of fruit. They were all screaming that their fruit was best. Do you care if it is one vendor with 10 employees or 10 vendors selling different types of fruit? It’s spam - it makes you want to leave and buy nothing. No oranges, no fruit, no items further inside the store. Flooding any market with a ton of advertising is not good.

[dhanur88]

i got SPAM messages via fiverr by indicating that i won a lottery 🙂

[fonthaunt]

Reply to @dhanur88: Yes, so did pretty much every seller. That is a different kind of spam altogether and all you can do is report and ignore. This thread is about forum spam, not inbox spam.

I still wish that lottery money was in my account!

[designbybliss]

I feel like “How do I get to be a Top Rated Seller” could probably be added under “bonus thought questions”… I’m on here trolling most days and I see that one pretty often. I don’t know why, but it annoys me… I guess it feels like people looking for a magic answer rather than working hard and putting in the time. #rantover

[fonthaunt]

Reply to @designbybliss: True enough. The TRS question was added to another post I use a lot as a referral. It’s here with the links: http://forum.fiverr.com/discussion/72631/tip-for-sellers-who-want-help-with-gigs-expanded

BTW, hashtags don’t have a function on the Fiverr forums.

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[sanmeet]

Hi
Thanks for this amazing post…

i got many spam messages in my inbox. and there one new spammer about the article writing. i got same messages from different accounts… they send me a link and tell please watch these videos i want to write an article of it… i watched and replied but then buyer was disappear. can anyone here who have same experience ???

[fonthaunt]

Reply to @sanmeet: This is not related to this post. In this thread we are discussing forum spam, NOT inbox spam. You may want to read http://forum.fiverr.com/discussion/78930/messages-that-cannot-be-opened-from-users-that-do-not-exist and participate in http://forum.fiverr.com/discussion/37005/reports-about-spam-messages/

[spacekadett]

This article in cookie cutter style captures its theme to the fullest!
I thought I knew what is spam-, but now I know so much more!
Caught me by surprise how nuanced this can be! Will spend more time reading the forum, seems worth the while. Thank you!

[chellevanhoy]

Is it spam to bump a “tips” post that you created that doesn’t include any self-promotion, but has actual tips?

[fonthaunt]

Reply to @chellevanhoy: It really depends on how it is done. If the created post is valuable but the bump just says “bump” or “up” and has no added information, it is the call of whichever moderator sees it. If the bump is done by the OP, it is more likely to be considered spam since others will usually respond if they are interested enough.

If the “bump” post has additional tips it is typically not considered spam, although moderators still have some leeway in deciding. Does that help?

[chellevanhoy]

Reply to @fonthaunt: Yes, thank you. I generally post during the off hours of the forum, so I had wanted to give my thread a second chance to catch on and bumped it. The bump was removed so I came here to seek answers. 🙂

[fonthaunt]

Reply to @chellevanhoy: I would advice posting a useful comment on the post to hoist it up. Those are rarely removed as far as I know!

[chellevanhoy]

Reply to @fonthaunt: Done, thank you. Another question: Can I include an external link to something not related to any sort of paid service, such as a free site to evaluate English skills and another to learn English for free?

[fonthaunt]

Reply to @chellevanhoy: Links are especially sensitive areas and this is partly because the forum guidelines are about to undergo some changes. With that in a fluid state, I can still give you some generalizations.

Links that benefit your Fiverr sales directly such as gig links, profile links, personal website or external profile links should only be posted under My Fiverr Gigs.

If the link leads to a page that gives out your contact info, external payment info, etc. then it cannot be put anywhere on the forum.

If a link benefits you financially with anything for sale off-Fiverr like e-books, affiliate links, adsense, etc. then it should not be posted anywhere on the forum.

A link to a site with only free info like you mentioned might stick unless it has contact info, a contact form, etc. If you think it still fits, write a post to explain why the link will benefit Fiverr buyers/sellers and then add the link. If you hit post and the link is instantly removed or replaced with “fragglesrock” it usually means the automated forum filter removed the link. All you can really do then is edit the post and instead of re-posting the link, tell readers what keywords to search for to find it.

Finally, remember that if a moderator removes a link, it isn’t going to get you in trouble unless you keep repeating the same type of violatlon. Even then, you are likely to get a PM warning so you’ll have chances to correct the behavior. Usually the only reason someone would be suspended without warning is if the post or link is malicious, is posted over and over (spam) or is offensive/abusive.

[thusie]

I find it kind of disheartening that a lot of this has to be posted and isn’t common sense.

I guess defining it will make it easier to discipline 🙂