That’s right it’s another post about the wide world of spam. Now, I know what you’re thinking; man, he must be completely out of any new ideas at all if he’s going to this well again spam is such a complex topic that I’m certain he has something fresh to say about it.
Back in July, last year, I noted that we felt we had achieved a major goal when we hit the 1000 spam mark. Little did I know how much we would take off in the time since then. Just a couple of days ago (okay I’ve been procrastinating battling the weasel flu, it’s been almost two weeks) we surpassed 50 000 spam comments.
I have to hand it to the spammers out there, they are definitely getting more creative. Some of them take quotes right out of the post, some of them steal our Beer Buddies’ names to try and slip the spam in that way and some of them are even going so far as to steal our Beer Buddies comments and try to pass them off as their own. That last one I’ve noticed on two separate occasions (coincidentally both times it was a comment by Steve-The Trade Show Guru that got stolen, and his title has been stolen a few times as well [congratulations Steve the spammers like you, they really like you]). Unfortunately, sometimes when moderating the comments I’m a bit hung-over from too many Blue Beaver Beers tired from working so hard, so I may have let some thieves slip by thinking that they were being witty all on their own.
There has been one unfortunate side effect from all of these spam related shenanigans (spananigans?) Sometimes people will leave what seems to be a legitimate clever/witty comment but when I click on the link back to their site it will be in some foreign language. Now I don’t want to seem prejudiced and I’m sorry that I can’t read Esperanto but I just don’t know what your web-site is saying. It could be inciting everyone to spread total anarchy throughout the world by leaving cupboard doors ajar. I simply cannot condone such behavior.
It kills me to have to delete an otherwise spiffy comment when the sender’s name is something like “Sulfate Free Hair Care Products.” But I feel stupid replying to that name. If they can get their acts together and actually write a “real” comment, provide a normal name, and an ambiguous-sounding URL, they might get away with it.
Rah! I hate spammers! However, with all of the information you’re providing, I bet that I have accepted spam comments on my blog without even knowing. Still, I am more used to those generic spam comments that say “great post”. I even had one person say that they weren’t sure if what I had written about was true, which initially did insult me, but then I realized that it was a cleverly disguised semi-rude spam comment. The nerve!
Spam is really complex topic and it becomes more complex when you tackle thousand of spam comments on your blog every week, like you have mentioned.
I do have a blog but I but my spam comments figure didn’t reached that far. Spammers are so smart that they even spam twitter… believe me I’ve been a victim of this spamming.
It kills me to have to delete an otherwise spiffy comment when the sender’s name is something like “Sulfate Free Hair Care Products.” But I feel stupid replying to that name.
Why not just delete the URL and leave the comment in there?
I do that a lot these days.
Spam is a real big problem. But in your case I can clearly see it has become a headache. Searching for spam comments from a pool of comments.. (rather searching original comments from a pool of spam comments..
). I hope some AI geek develops a wordpress plug-in to find the spam posts. That would really help world wide bloggers.
You know, I’m surprised you even get comment spam like that when you have the KeywordLuv plugin. You pretty much give people the opportunity to leave a real name and a link, so why can’t they leave a real comment instead of stealing someone else’s? As for the foreign websites, just past the URL into the Google translate tool (google.com/translate) and you’ll see the whole site in English. That is, if you really want to know what the page is about, I know it’s time consuming to go through all those comments in the first place. On my own blog I simply remove the link if it’s an intelligent enough comment.
WordPress developers are working on different plug-ins to stop spam comments. With a combination of some plug-ins a huge reduction in spam comments has been seen. A single plug-in is never successful but a combination can really prove a foolproof plan.
Ernie,
Thanks as always for watching my back!
There is only one original trade show guru, and that is me!
A pox on those spammers. May all their beer cans leak, and may their next hangover last an eternity.
~ Steve, the one and only trade show guru
One thing always fascinates me is that how do they break the captcha. Manual spammers can easily do that, but at times I get disgusting bots posting spams too
(obviously under manual instruction). I have installed wordpress plugins like keywordluv and commentluv which has significantly reduced the amount of time i spend moderating spam posts. But there is surely way to go like you said spammers are more and more creative and technically sound than normal weblog owners like us.
Regards,
Mack McMillan
Spam is the biggest pain ever, i really hope they create a wordpress thing where they can see if it is a spam comment.
Mark
I guess these problems are what I’m looking at facing if anyone ever discovers my blog exists, lol. Yeah, sorry about the spammers. Seems like there’s always a bunch of idiots who just don’t get it.
yes i do agree with you..
Spam is the biggest headache for the bloggers, as I do have a blog and daily I need to delete the those spam comments.( although its not as much popular)
anti- spam word also does not catch some comments..
some geek developers must find the correct measure for this.!!!
yes i agree spammers are the headache for a blogger. i also want to get read of spammers.i think askimet plug in is great for this aspect.
yes i agree spam is really a big problem.i do have a blog and i want to stop spam comments.i think captcha really works here.
spam sucks , I wonder if they can earn money from that spams?
spammers are the really headache for a blogger. i also want to get rid of spammers.i think askimet plug in really works for this .
Hi, spamming is really an head ache for the bloggers in web world, spam is one of the threats for the rank of the page, well, I too want to stop such spamming across the inter web but I can’t think how it’s possible to do.. For the spammers, think about the ache you bring, stop spamming and be a true person. Be professionals. Because your attitude reveals in your comment. Thanks for this article, I hope someday spammers will be vanish.
Since installing the KeywordLuv Plugin, I have seen a bit of an increase in backlinks so very pleased about that. Couple of spam comments to deal with but I guess that was to be expected. Thanks again.
So you use KeywordLuv, CommentLuv and captcha plugins to reduce the spam / encourage comments.
Moderation is a problem but if you are trying to develop relationships there has to be some “give”.
It’s really is unfortunate that there is so much spam out there. I can’t count the number of times that posts have come into my San Diego real estate website that are promoting products for men to improve themselves in various ways. But overall, having a do-follow blog is worth the trouble. Please keep up your good work.
glad to see you went with the keywordluv plugin. it does tend to increase spam, though it hopefully ups your volume of quality posters who wouldn’t otherwise have found your blog. looking the page over … insurance quotes and real estate, foreclosures … all the big keywords covered. got to wonder whether you’d ever receive so many thoughtful posts if you didn’t have keywordluv plugin. some I’m sure are forcing a thoughtful comment out just to qualify for their backlink. begs the question … does a forced, yet thoughtful comment (only made to earn a backlink) still qualify as spam? I found it curious that you’d not allow such a thoughtful post if the page linked to wasn’t English … even if the post was done with only the purpose of making a thoughtful comment and not spam … what would the page being linked to have anything to do with it?
I hate spammers too ! But you can delete all spammers from one blog by activating the comment moderation option..
Spammers will always be creative as they see the benefit being so high. I wish someone would create a white list of blog commenter that would integrate with Word press
Unfortunately, spammers will always be around. No matter how much we try to avoid it, there will still be ways for them to be able to do what they usually do. Hence, it is our responsibility to put in moderation all those crappy remarks they are making. Indeed they are a headache.
Spam in blogs (also called comment spam) is a form of spamdexing. It is done by automatically posting random comments or promoting commercial services to blogs.well i got very good points here i keep them in mind for future reference.great work.
What I do for our blog at our wine site – is we installed a plug-in that ‘sniffs’ out these types of spams. The most famous one is ‘Askimet’ , but the captcha you now have is PRETTY good – but I think plugins that sniff out artificial intelligence is the best to use.
- Pete
It’s really is unfortunate that there is so much spam out there. I can’t count the number of times that comments have come and keep coming.
Spam is flooding the Internet with many copies of the same message, in an attempt to force the message on people who would not otherwise choose to receive it. Most spam is commercial advertising.informative post. spammers are the really headache for a blogger.thanks
Spam costs the sender very little to send — most of the costs are paid for by the recipient or the carriers rather than by the sender.There are two main types of spam, and they have different effects on Internet users.it is not to easy to get rid of them.thanks to you for providing this information i leaned many things here.thanks for sharing
There are two main types of spam Cancellable Usenet spam is a single message sent to 20 or more Usenet newsgroups. Email spam targets individual users with direct mail messages and may more.thanks to you for providing this useful information.
The true cost of spam can be hard to quantify. There is the cost of the time spent cleaning up spam and it is very tiresome and boring too.
I RECEIVE MORE THAN 5O SPAM IN EVERY POST ON MY BLOG.I ALWAYS TURN ON THE MODERATION OPTION TO PREVENT FORM BEING GETTING B SPAMMED.WELL I GOT GOOD POINTS HERE HOW TO GET RID OF THEM THANKS TO YOU FOR SHARING YOU KNOWLEDGE.
there are many types of spams and they have different effect on internet users but as i gone through your post i came to know that its not a big deal to deal with these spams .well i learned lot here.thanks for sharing your knowledge.
I second the use of akismet for wordpress blogs. We install it on all of our new setups now. Its not perfect and requires a little monitoring…occasionally it will mark things as spam that are not…but all you have to do is move that comment over to the whitelist and its ok.
This point of view may be a bit unpopular, but I have more than a little sympathy for the spammers! Why? Because the system (i.e. Google, Yahoo etc) give the little guys little or no option. To rank in the SERPS, you need links – one way links from sites with good page rank. If you’re a big business, or have a ton of money for marketing, you’ll never have to struggle for links or traffic. Just throw some money at the problem. All the rest of us have to resort to obtaining links by other means. And don’t respond by saying ‘content is king’ and people will naturally link to your site if it’s good enough. Yes, fine…but they have got to see it in the first place. So spare a thought for the poor old spammer. He/she, after all, is only trying to earn a crust or two!
I think Askimet is a good one to prevent spammers.
I have a wordpress blogshop that has over 3k spammy comments. lol. I did not manage it for like a year and just today, I decided to delete ALL the pending for approval comments from phpmyAdmin. It feels so good to see it clean. XD
Halim@Blogshop´s last blog ..Cheap dresses/ accessories from Korea/ Japan and China.
My blogs has akismet…its wordpress
You can try download spam tool on internet.
I have got to say your post here makes me laugh spam is a nightmare but if you have commentluv and keywordluv then thats what happens unfortunate I know.
Not all spam created equal, some are good posts.
liza@seo questions´s last blog ..SEO Article Writing
I love your site it is so funny, spammers are twats and they do my head in, why cant they build there own blogs and spam the hell outta them ?????
I bloody love spam it is bloody lovely !!!
Leon @ Scrap Car´s last blog ..Scrap Car North Kiscadale, Scrap your car for free
My keyword is lovin the KeywordLuv, Thanks!
The worst ones are the stupid spammers – the ones who disguise their spamminess by disguising their well thought out contribution to the discussion as a completely irrelevant comment. So following an article on crime on college campuses, for example, you see a comment like: “You should keep your skin and hair long and healthy with Vitamin E oil and body moisturiser.”
I love all the comments I see on blogs that consist of horribly written English. And then you look at the name and it is something like YouWeightLoseNow. While it is an annoyance, sometimes it does make me laugh how bad these people will get.