Spambot: "Nice blog! I'm going to bookmark it!"

The BBQ Pit
1

I’ve been keeping a blog more or less regularly for nearly a year. I enjoy it. Sometimes I’ll post some original stuff that I don’t know what to do with, but mostly I just use it as a clearinghouse for my posts on various internet message boards (including this one.) I don’t suspect it would be anyone’s favorite blog, but it’s more for my own pleasure and a kind of organization of my thoughts than anything else.

I keep it open for comments, and sometimes I get them. More often than not, these comments come from people whom I passionately disagree with, but hell, anyone who’d be bothered by something like that has no business being on the internet in the first place. What pisses me off is when I get a chunk of spam on one of my posts that reads something like, “Great blog. I’ll be sure to bookmark it. You should check out my site. It’s about eating a low-carb diet. Check it out!”

What the hell? This chunk of spam offers up a high compliment like “I’ll be sure to bookmark your site,” which means, “I just discovered your writing, and you’re so obviously talented and interesting that after seeing it just once, you’ve left me hanging for your next brilliant post!” I know, I know, there’s plenty of insincere spam out there, offering the warmest, kindest words to complete strangers, interested only in increasing traffic to a web site or selling you imitation Viagra. Junk mail does the same thing. And before junk mail, there were sleazy hucksters who sought to pry a few coins from the peasants through con games which have probably been going on since before language itself developed.

Regardless, I resent the hell out of this crap. There’s nothing that can be done about it except deleting the offending posts from my site, as well as avoiding the sites that advertise this way. Which I do. I just don’t see why I should have to put up with this nuisance, or why anyone else should. It helps no one and nothing, and just clutters up the world with unneeded garbage.

The worst example I can think of is the how it destroyed the forum on Larry Gonick’s site. It was an interesting forum with some interesting stuff on it, but all discussion was stifled by a number of spambots hawking aphrodesiacs and easy credit. Literally hundreds of them, in fact. Disgusting.

So. all of you out there who write spambot programs or use them or advocate them: you suck. And what’s the point in driving up traffic to a site by tricking people into visiting who aren’t really interested in going there in the first place? I hate all you failed human beings and your ilk. Stay the hell off the internet and go back to junk mail with fake checks inside, if you must harangue people somehow.

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Do you use Blogspot? My friends who have been using Blog Spot have been getting 5-10 spams per entry, tis terribly annoying.

I’ve yet to have this problem on LiveJournal, so you might want to consider switching over.

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DiosaBellissima—Yep, I use Blogspot. The spambot thing has been relatively new, but on more trafficked blogs, I’ve seen more spambot posts. I may just look into moving over to Live Journal if this gets bad on mine. I have no problem with profit motive, generally, but so often profit motive worms its way in and wrecks things that are otherwise good, which really sucks. I realize that Blogspot is offering this as a free service, but hell, how is this appropriate?

Thanks for the tip.

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Whenever I get comment-spam, I go in, remove the link, and edit it to say, “I am a dumbass” or something like that. I use Wordpress, which allows a lot more freedom (but requires you to buy your own Webspace and domain and all that).

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It’s a pretty constant battle for me too. I use b2 evolution, which has pretty decent anti-spam protection. I just have to ban each URL they come from once, and I can also ban certain words, like “texas-holdem.”

If I let it go, it gets really really bad. >_<

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I have the same problem with my blog. Blogspot, however, does offer the ability to turn on “word verification” (those images that contain distorted words that you have to type in to prove you’re not a bot) to prevent it. I haven’t turned it on yet, because I haven’t had a horrendous problem yet, and I figure it’s inconvenient to the people who do read it. But if it does get to be a problem, I’ll turn it on.

It definitely is annoying though.

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I use blogger, but I have my own domain (a friend of mine keeps a webserver in his basement back in MN). So far, in three years, I’ve had one spam comment, which was followed by a couple of friends making sarcastic comments.

Just my two cents…

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I love Larry Gonick :smiley: Just thought I’d say that. Sorry about the spam.

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Okay, I’m taking TellMeI’mNotCrazy’s advice and I’m turning on the word verification tool. I’ve never minded using them, and I can’t imagine it would bother anyone else, either. With the way these spammers are ruining the internet, I suspect this is going to be the norm. It’s a shame we need this kind of thing, but that’s life, I guess.

My first post this morning was suddenly greeted by three chunks of spam, which I quickly deleted. I just posted again, and in the past five minutes, nothing. Hopefully it’ll keep clean.

Thanks for all the advice. I imagine I’ll get a domain name sooner or later, but that’s another thread, I guess.