Tag Archives: Blog Comment Spam

Thanks, Akismet

Posted on by The Old Wolf

I’ve been running my blog long enough that Akismet pretty much knows which comments are spam and which are not. I haven’t actually seen a spam comment for approval in years.

Today I just peeped into my spam folder to see what sort of things were being trapped by Akismet, and there were 35 “comments” there; below, a list of the comments and what was being linked to:

Great post. I used to be checking continuously this blog and I’m inspired! Very helpful information specifically the final phase. I handle such information much. I was seeking this particular information for a long time. Thanks and good luck. (Hairstyles website, probably collecting clicks and views for something else.)

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Parker Pen Store in Moscow (Russian – knockoff goods)

Fertilizer are intent with pus medications list (Phony advertorial with embedded links for CBD oil)

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Completely vile conglomeration of pornography keywords

Howdy! I just want to offer you a huge thumbs up for your excellent info you’ve got here on this post. I’ll be returning to your web site for more soon. (Link for “testosterone booster”)

bookmarked!!, I like your site! (Link for cryptocurrency)

There is certainly a great deal to know about this subject. I like all the points you have made. (selling Internet proxies)

I was able to find good advice from your content. (selling Internet proxies)

Howdy! I could have sworn I’ve visited this site before but after looking at a few of the articles I realized it’s new to me. Anyways, I’m definitely happy I discovered it and I’ll be book-marking it and checking back frequently! (selling internet proxies)

I just couldn’t depart your site prior to suggesting that I extremely enjoyed the standard info a person provide for your visitors? Is going to be back often to check up on new posts (Beauty supplies)

Its not my first time to go to see this web site, i am browsing this site dailly and get nice data from here every day. (Clicks for a YouTube video)

Which supplements help burn fat? (Hawking a worthless nostrum)

Today, I went to the beach front with my kids. I found a sea shell and gave it to my 4 year old daughter and said “You can hear the ocean if you put this to your ear.” She put the shell to her ear and screamed. There was a hermit crab inside and it pinched her ear. She never wants to go back! LoL I know this is completely off topic but I had to tell someone! (Link to “fashion styles” website with many embedded ads)

Enjoy our scandal amateur galleries that looks incredibly dirty (Just what it says)

Cialis online ordering

Link to a malware website

I blog often and I genuinely appreciate your information. This article has really peaked my interest. I am going to book mark your website and keep checking for new information about once a week. I opted in for your RSS feed as well. (Selling internet proxies)

That is a very good tip especially to those fresh to the blogosphere. Short but very accurate info… Thanks for sharing this one. A must read article! (Selling internet proxies)

Multiple links to international online casinos (Russian)

Agrippina Keifer (Selling Online Proxies)

Cialis Over the Counter

Purchasing Cialis Online

Buy Cialis Online (Canadian Pharmacy)

Viagra

Retin-A Micro Gel

Unknown dead link

It is evident that blog comment spammers are still active, hoping for clicks and views at their disreputable websites. WordPress does a great job filtering this garbage out so a blog owner never sees it, but I have been to blogs and bulletin boards that have either been inactive for some time, or which don’t have a spam detector like Akismet, or which are relatively unmoderated – and they are full of literally thousands of junk comments like this hoping for wider internet exposure and search engine visibility. (I mentioned this 8 years ago in a previous post, but the algorithms and apps needed to blast out comments to every blog in the world are cheap and easy to obtain, so they’re still at it.)

If you have a blog, make sure you either have a good spam filtering process in place, or moderate it regularly. These people are the hqiz of hqiz-eaters; don’t give them any oxygen at all.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

A new twist on blog spam

Posted on by The Old Wolf

 

I’ve written about blog spam before, a particularly underhanded and sleazy way of driving traffic to another website by flooding others with comments which contain backlinks or IP addresses.

The following chain of comments (unedited) appeared at various posts two days ago; it took me a minute or two to figure out what was going on, wondering if someone was really getting ad-based notices from my blog.

“you advise me to come to thjs site to unsubscribe, yet all i see are ads for your company which is wich you tell me”
“unsubscribe me thank you i am not interested”
“for the third time i an not interseted please do not send me any more blogs”
“not in the least bit interested, thank you”
“stop sendind me ads”

These all came on a single day within 6 minutes of each other, with a name (Salvatore Monda), an email address, and an IP address attached. It’s the IP address that provides the basis for raising search-engine rankings for spurious websites – aside from the fact that this tactic rarely works any longer, Google and others having factored it in to their search algorithms. Yet somehow, devious and stupid people keep trying.

I checked out the IP address – it appears to be defunct already, meaning someone has shut it down before anyone could be driven to it for whatever purposes – advertising, malware, who knows what. Akismet does a good job at filtering out most blog spam, but these look legitimate enough that they slipped through. Fortunately, I get to approve (or trash) comments at this blog before they go live – which I have done.

Salvatore Monda, this one’s for you.*

No Because No

The Old Wolf has spoken.

An Especially Devious Spam Comment.

Posted on by The Old Wolf

People can be so bloody dishonest it makes my brains hurt. This comment showed up on my post regarding combating elder fraud:

I don’t know if it’s just me or if everybody else encountering problems with your blog.

It looks like some of the text on your content are running off the screen.
Can someone else please provide feedback and let me know if
this iis happening to them too? This may be a issue with my
browser because I’ve had this happen previously. Manyy thanks

Looks legitimate and reasonable, except for the lousy spelling, but I know a lot of bad spellers and bad typists.

What was the dead giveaway was the user name: “Miracle Dr. Oz garcinia cambogia dosage,” and the link to a spammy review website promoting this worthless garbage, which then links to an even spammier order page. Dr. Oz should be ashamed of himself; he’s the health world’s “Mr. Popiel,” hawking anything and everything to the drooling viewers of late-night cable stations and internet infomercials.

As for this comment… into the spam can it goes. I won’t be increasing your SEO rankings, thank you, and what I would like to say to people who do this sort of thing – not to mention those who hawk worthless snake oil to the gullible masses – is not fit for a family-friendly blog.

Old_Wolf_Curse

The Old Wolf has spoken.

二！Spam comments from Chinese pirates.

Posted on by The Old Wolf

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Recently a Chinese pirate outfit has been blasting blogs (including this one) with spam comments. The last four I received were:

  • Hello,I noticed your blog named “Weight Loss Lies, Redux (for the jillionth time) | Playing in the World Game” like every week. Your humoristic style is witty, keep up the good work! And you can look my website about 雷神索爾. (That’s the Chinese Title for “Thor”)
  • Dear Sirs,I read your article named “Marketing moves the goalposts again. | Playing in the World Game” on a regular basis. Your humoristic style is bravo, keep it up! And you can look our website about 無名套裝. (No-name suit, whatever that means)
  • Hello,I saw your blog named “Weight Loss Lies, Redux (for the jillionth time) | Playing in the World Game” like every week. Your writing style is awesome, keep doing what you`re doing! And you can check my website about 藍光影片. (Blu-Ray)
  • Hello,I checked your blog named “Marketing moves the goalposts again. | Playing in the World Game” on a regular basis. Your story-telling style is awesome, keep doing what you`re doing! And you can see our website about 藍光影片. (Blu-Ray)

Thank Mogg for services like Akismet, which has filtered 31,614 spam comments from my blog since its inception[1], and some few still get through, which I have to filter out by hand. Websites that are not moderated can accumulate hundreds or even thousands of spam comments on a single page.

The point of this exercise is that each spam comment has an embedded link to a product site, which links serve to boost that page’s ratings during a web search. What the spammers don’t get is that Google is doing its best to make sure that pages which try to increase traffic in this way are punished. The downside is that if you allow comment spam to accumulate on your own blog, its rankings will also diminish. So if you’re a blogger, make sure only valid comments are allowed to stay on your pages, and if you’re using Akismet on WordPress, make sure you empty your spam folder regularly, just for extra safety.

In case you were not sure, any company that engages in this kind of practice to increase their business is immoral, unclean, reprobate and nefarious – not to mention downright criminal – and you should never deal with them. Most of this garbage comes from Asia; I would love to see anyone who spreads this kind of ejecta spend a few years in a hard-labor re-education camp.

It is conceivable that some of these blog spam comments have been placed by disreputable marketing firms hired by legitimate businesses – as Eric Turkewitz has commented over at his personal injury law blog, “outsourced marketing = outsourced ethics.” Frankly, I’ve never seen one.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

[1]And some 25 billion total between 2005 and 2011. By now the total should be significantly higher.