Why do "bots" infiltrate Internet forums?

[kenny]

What are they looking for?
What's in it for them?

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

i have no idea

and you raise a valid point

but any form of spam pi**es me the hell off Kenny

 

[LilAlex]

Most of the ones on this forum seem designed to sell something. It's usually something tangentially related to the forum or to the theme of -- or a single keyword buried within -- a long-dormant thread.

Lots of others are designed to sway public opinion -- just like those innocuous-sounding push-polls to your home phone.

Oh, unrelated: I hear this new thing called crypto is about to blow up...