I know some readers will get after me for having the temerity to suggest something be done about it, but would it be too much to ask to have someone with managerial access to the forums or the web host delete all the spam and put some form of check in place to stop robotic posts?

It's been ages since I signed up: is there a Captcha on new account creation? If so, is it any good or is it one of those cheap knock-offs which are easily scripted around?

Maybe what is needed is to add a Captcha to enable the Submit button on each message?

Or is it a deeper problem like a vulnerability in the forum hosting software?

You know, a little attention to things like this would go a long way toward mending your flagging image with your customers.