Whats with newbies and this Smiley Emoticon?

[saving107]

I don't know if this is in the correct forum (if not please move).

Whats with Newbies and this Smiley? I have been noticing many of these, always from a newbie and I can't figure out if they are all related or if that smiley has a special meaning or are they just spammers?

On many of those smiley's I have checked the image address and they all seem to be from a different source, yet the same emoticon.

I have noticed newbies who post that smiley have been getting banned, so I'm just curious what's up, does anyone know?

 

[Macman45]

Is it Different

I don't know if this is in the correct forum (if not please move).

Whats with Newbies and this Smiley? I have been noticing many of these, always from a newbie and I can't figure out if they are all related or if that smiley has a special meaning or are they just spammers?

On many of those smiley's I have checked the image address and they all seem to be from a different source, yet the same emoticon.

I have noticed newbies who post that smiley have been getting banned, so I'm just curious what's up, does anyone know?

Image

To the normal one? If so, I guess it could be spammers, can't say I've noticed it TBH

 

[Hellhammer]

That means they are usually just spammers. I don't know what the smiley really adds but I think it gives some kind of traffic to their site, or tracking etc. The content of the post you linked is fairly irrelevant too, which suggest a spammer.

Report cases like these and we will handle them.

 

[OllyW]

They are usually used to boost the traffic of websites by view tracking.

If you see these smilies please report them and let the mods will deal with it. Don't quote and reply to them as you'll be helping them with their spamming.

 

[saving107]

SNIP

SNIP

Thank you to you both.

I did suspect spammers, but I just wasn't sure (now I know).

 

[grapes911]

I think it also links their site with MacRumors during a Google craw to get a higher search ranking.