I was part of a fairly dead forum a while back (which has since been shut down) that was also regularly spam-botted. I don't know spambot quality criteria but it seems to be the norm for any forum...

I think you're onto the idea, the deader/slower a forum, the greater chance of feeling like there are more spambots since there are fewer mods around at any given time.

Correction! We're not targeted less. We're targeted more. But over the years I've added all kinds of things to filter out bots. So many I've frankly lost track, but it has helped over time. The hits I get from bots are still staggering, they just don't make it through.

Forums being, well, as they are a dead medium...(I saw an article claiming the late 90's-early 2000's to be the Forum Era. Hahahahaaha....

I almost suspect the death of things like forums and blogs, private endeavors, while headlined primarily by the development of social media, was made even worse by the nightmare of spam management. I remember having to delete dozens a day from personal blogs and such. It was ridiculous. Maybe that's why we are as a group not quite so bitchy about ads being everywhere. They're less intrusive than what we dealt with before, which is saying something.

I'm glad they feel that way.

Yeah I think forums are pretty much a thing of the past at this point. XD I still enjoy them but the current tweenie generation....I don't know any of them who are active in any forums..