Our millionth user is something to be proud of, right?
It ain't necessarily so. A lot of those new "users", perhaps most, were created by some jerk doing "search engine optimization", or as it's more properly called, spam.
This comment in an open thread listed what must have seemed like a milestone: "1,051,170 registered users." But here are the user names listed in that comment:
Henry4826iyp9
rkstoll
Noah7531nbs2
Matthew4295rrq3
John1198hdq6
Aiden8494qpo1
James5777vwp5
James3715euk7
David9876dht6
Matthew3961gnr3
"rkstoll" deserves the benefit of the doubt, but the rest look like they came from the same bot.
I searched for all accounts that joined on 10 July 2014, and got 451 names; there may be more by the time I finish this diary. Of these, 226 end with four digits, three lowercase letters and one digit. None have any comments or diaries and none have been banned.
I have to go back to May to find out what these accounts are up to. Here's one. The spammer is dropping links into the bio and the "home page" entry. The source shows a nofollow tag on that link. (Are you reading this, Mr. Spammer? You are wasting your time.)
There are accounts not matching the pattern of four digits, three lowercase letters and one digit that are pulling the same stunt. Here's hoping the Lords of the Great Orange Satan are doing what needs to be done.