Canned Spam and DoFollow
Grr… I’m starting to get annoying amounts of spam. It’s really not a great big deal, since I just mark them as spam and they are gone within a few hours, but as I said… it’s annoying. I’m not about to get rid of DoFollow, because I really like it both in idea and practice, but I’m also sure that it’s leading some spam merchants my way.
Today I deleted a couple rubbish comments from somebody trying to sell Viagra and Property in “Paradise”. Now I don’t even like the old Sex on the Beach drink, and won’t darken the doorway of any bar advertising that swill, so I certainly don’t want it on my blog. Again, just a bit annoying.
Spammers are starting to remind me of viruses, not the computer kind, just the old fashioned phlegmy type. There is the truly annoying, yet harmless, ones like the erection ones that are the run of the mill cold. You get them, they are inconvenient, but easy to deal with and short lasting. Then there are the new breed-the viruses that evolve. They are Akismet resistant. They understand the filters, and more importantly, they can sneak past your natural defenses. Different names, different links, different IP addresses-same rubbish.
I read a comment that seems like a genuine reflection on my post with a query regarding linking to social networking sites. At first I see this and think it’s a normal post. Hours later I find three posts that taken individually seem legitimate, but are almost identical to the original. That’s when I realize I’ve been had and am now on the lookout for that strain. I have no doubt in a few weeks time, I will encounter a new breed.
Anyone have any good suggestions? I’m not sure if it’s a bot issue, so I’m loathe to introduce the annoying math or image questions to allow a post. I would prefer not to have to introduce anything to force legitimate posters to go through. It’s not a huge issue, it’s just this is Friday evening for me, and this is my niggling complaint. I don’t want people ripping off some poor bastard who can’t get it up on my site.
Since I have their IP addresses and links, ideally I would like somebody to tell me how to send the blogging equivalent of the ebola virus to them. Yes, I’m a bit petty as well as vindictive.
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August 18th, 2007 at 11:52 am
I am assuming here that this isa word press blog, It’s a nice template when I can’t automatically tell the difference, anyway, if it is, do you use askimet? I know that’s a small step, but with ALL of us reporting spam together, at least we won’t have to look at so many of them before to long..
August 18th, 2007 at 3:16 pm
I got probably the exact same comment you did from that “Tom Paine” character - about “dig.com” and so forth. I would guess you’re being targeted for the same reason I get a few of these comments - you’re a dofollow blog. Some of them are coming in via a service called Buy Blog Comments - who say that they have a “large database” of dofollow blogs.
It’s sad, but not totally unsurprising that people will target our goodwill towards other bloggers by pulling this kind of stunt. I think that as long as we all do what we can - be it delete comments, mark them as spam with Akismet or Spam Karma (something I can’t do since I’m on Blogger), and make it known that these comments are not tolerated, hopefully we can end these paid comments.
Sephyroth
http://www.sephyroth.net
August 19th, 2007 at 4:50 pm
Tom’s would be the first one I saw. I actually liked his name and didn’t recognize it as spam. Until a couple hours later when I got two more identical ones.
I am using Akismet and marking them as such. It’s not a huge deal, I just find these kind of people annoying and don’t want them cluttering up my site.
That’s interesting what you say about the Buy Blog Comments, I hadn’t heard about that. If they’re paying for this service they truly are throwing their money away because I will delete the comments very quickly. Maybe that’s my revenge: wasting their money.
August 26th, 2007 at 3:21 am
I’ve had more spam since I enabled “do follow” but I’ve been relying on Askimet. Unfortunately, Askimet doesn’t catch them all. I figure there will always be another new virus that gets thru.
August 28th, 2007 at 1:59 pm
Spammers will always find their way.
Anyway, robots spam is the real problem.
Surfers who spam my site at list read my posts first & then reply as a real surfer.
August 31st, 2007 at 12:39 am
The level of spam out there is getting to be depressing. I’ve got a good set of plugins to block it, but I recently realized that it’s killing all trackbacks (legit and otherwise).
August 31st, 2007 at 1:18 am
I don’t think that DoFollow is the reason of the increased spam. I have a nofollow blog, and the number of spam comments are increasing per month, and some make their way to moderation with akimest on.
September 1st, 2007 at 3:49 pm
You really can’t fault the guy who is trying to get a new site off the ground by hitting some dofollow blogs in order to build links.
I do believe that if that is your motivation you should still take the time to find articles that are of interest and contribute something meaningful to the discussion.
September 2nd, 2007 at 12:32 pm
Amm… on top of what I’ve said b4, I also agree with mlankton, but only if it’s in the way of real posts…
September 3rd, 2007 at 5:03 pm
erm.. Actually I don’t agree some of the DoFollow called as spam! That is their original post and cannot considered as Spam post because those reader (what you called as spammer) do read your article. Maybe the way they express teir comment idea is different from our idea.
Just my opinion
September 7th, 2007 at 12:08 pm
Do Follow is not going to increase your spam, the very nature of spammers dictates this. They don’t even check to see if your blog is do follow or not, they just send out millions of spam comments and play the law of averages game.
As one of the previous commentors mentioned, if you don’t have Askimet installed, get it up and running! It will capture the majority of the spam for you, making your moderating job a lot easier.
September 10th, 2007 at 1:59 am
i really don´t like “nofollow”. i think “dofollow” and reasonable “spam-protection” is the best solution for the blogging empire.
September 10th, 2007 at 8:16 am
Honestly, I don’t have a do follow blog, but I think that spam does increase with do follow blogs. This isn’t the first post i’ve seen where people say they get more spam after removing no follow, and I’ve seen pay for comment services say they will get you links on sites with nofollow removed. I’m sorry this is happening to you, I hope it goes away soon
September 13th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
at what point do you consider it spam? when someone blatently posts promotional comments? i dont have this problem as no one visits my blog : (
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:28 am
I do have Akismet installed and would probably have pulled all my hair out by now if I hadn’t. As of today it tells me that it has caught over 6,000 spam messages. I have learned to check it frequently though, as I’ve had to unspam a few comments that it mistakenly quarantined. Small price to pay though.
I don’t have a problem with people posting to link to their site, that’s the point of DoFollow. I know many of them are here just for that purpose, and that doesn’t bother me. They write something about that post, or something that is at least meaningfully interactive and then go on their way. What annoys me are posts that consist of “cheap viagra” or “I agree! Great site! Great Design! Good Information! Ok!” just so they get a link. That does nothing, and will quickly find itself in the spam hole.
September 28th, 2007 at 8:16 am
Its ironic that many bloggers talk about this but then they actually use no follow.
September 28th, 2007 at 2:29 pm
I have seen blogs talking about DoFollow but having NoFollow enabled. I believe that the majority of the time it’s simply a matter of them not being aware of it. It is possible to install the DoFollow improperly and while it is fairly easy to check, not everyone is that into the nuts and bolts of their site.
I have my Firefox set up with a plugin that highlights all nofollow links so they’re pretty easy to spot.
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:36 am
I understand your frustration for sure. I have the same issue on my blog page. It is very hard to combat it!