Just tested, and marking all messages read, doesn't add a view.

I think the reason for these messages, which do nothing, do not report anything and can't, is backlinks for Google rank. The more places that are monitored that have links to a site, the more rank it gets. So the spam is created to get a higher impression rank, if someone actually follows the link and a higher number of backlinks.

Some forums have a nolink set up so any new member with less than 10 posts, doesn't have the link displayed which defeats the usefulness. But that doesn't stop the bots from posting dumb messages with links.