Who are these odd people...

[Eden]

Maybe? but how would the software distinguish between spam and legit links? I have a link in my sig line to my team's web site and its not stripped out. I have seen, in the past (but not for a while now), similar weird posts with links to buy purses and other junk...

Really now, yourself... I'm not calling to toss them off, and I don't think they are breaking any forum rules. I just think its strange. I've seen other user names do this and often their replies have little to nothing to do with cycling, are so broad and general that they don't really say much, don't match the threads or otherwise make much sense.... I'm genuinely curious. Though the cynical side of me thinks its more likely to be an attempt at spamming. I can see doing it to practice English skills - he/she might be somewhere that access to English speakers is limited and joining a board would be an opportunity to converse. I think that if that were the aim, the people here would likely embrace it and be more than willing to start a thread talking about any topic to help a person practice...