Direct answer
The study's prevalence numbers are historical, but its central lesson remains: observe final behavior across redirects and contexts, and do not trust a harmless-looking first response.
Practical steps
- Record each hop.
- Revalidate DNS and address safety.
- Compare context-dependent behavior.
- Publish limits and avoid vulnerability overclaims.
Common mistakes
- Reusing old prevalence as current evidence.
- Following redirects automatically.
- Calling every external redirect malicious.
Limitations
- Old platforms and engines.
- Manual blacklists and small malware seeds.
Primary sources
- A Quantitative Study of Forum Spamming Using Context-based Analysis — NDSS Symposium; 2007-02-28; 2026-08-14.