Late one summer night, there was a topic... There was a member, but nobody else could be seen around... The member came and left a post, then turned around... but when he turned back to the topic... the post was gone!

This is why I never tell the bonfire story at camp. Now I shall provide you with something a bit more technical:

Life of a Spam Post

-Spam post is posted

-If lucky, spam post is reported

-Moderator comes across spam post

-Spam post is deleted

-Spam post ceases to exist

Despite all the evidence, I had a friend/failed love interest in Grade Seven who insisted that Darth Sidious and Chancellor Palpatine were two different people.

The forum does experience some hiccups from time to time and the occasional post is lost in invisi-post limbo, yes. Much more common these days, however, is the member utterly convinced that their post, where they managed to actually only say 'good work' (if it's even that relevant) in a paragraph's worth of words, actually added anything to the discussion and wasn't spam. Since, you know, only the new are capable of spam, and once you hit a certain length of time on the forum, all your posts are gold.

Put effort into your post. Go into depth about things. Elaborate. Please. New members taking their first steps in a whole new community can be forgiven. I expect the more adjusted, established members to know better, simply because they should.