Hi Nicole,
Both infractions and reported posts generate an automatic message in a moderators forum. This quotes who the user is, and quotes the message from the person who gave the infraction, and quotes the original message (the spam).
Moderators also recieve an email notifying them that this has happened.
If I'm not already logged in when I see the email I log in and go to the moderators forum to see the details. Often Sue or another moderator has beaten me too it, but basically we then deleted the posts and ban the user.
Personally I think that for Spam the infraction is a slightly better option than reporting a post because it gives you an option to temporarily ban the user and stop them posting more. A moderator can then confirm the ban and make it permenant and delete the posts. But it doesn't really matter both have the affect of alerting the moderators to get it removed.
You are right that there were several spammers in the last 24 hours. Huge thanks to everyone who reported posts or raised infractions