I've read numerious threads suggesting ways to reduce and control spam in the forum. Many of them include really good creative ideas, but unfortuntely they seem to suffer from a couple of drawbacks. One major disadvantage is that some of them require increased work for moderators, or increased costs for the forum. The ones that suggest major policy shifts such as the banning of bounty programmes, could result in a loss of income for the forum. I propose that the responsible bounty managers are given a tool to evaluate the results of the posting habits of their affiliates.
My suggestion is that managers use a reference link to check the activity generated by signatures. Many affiliates are low value spammers, and are frequently put on ignore by many members. Their posts are less likely to generate quality traffic than the signatures of more responsible members. A unique pseudo-directory can provide such a link. Obviously this will be a temptation to dishonest affiliates to attempt to cheat the manager, but this is not too difficult to detect, and can help to discover fraudulent and cheating affiliates.
I like to take a look at the posts of members like you who think about creating initiatives to improve the proper functioning of the forum. The initiative seems good but the progress will depend on the bounty managers is my humble opinion.
I am a beginner with my signature thanks to the approval of the good bounty manager of Arcona which has created rules that forces us to be more efficient when creating a post or comment. Experience tells me that I must follow bounty managers who do a good job and I think I'm on the right track. I also recognize that I have a lot to learn, it is my commitment, I must give my best effort.
Thanks for the initiative!
Cheers!