Something that shocked me when I first started blogging was the existence of “comment spam.” I had no idea that spam existed outside the world of emails. But then, every day there’s roughly 50 comments for my blog that aren’t real comments from real people.
They have different levels of sophistication, too. The simplest ones are just extensive lists of URLs for places to buy drugs online. Those are easy to pick out.
However, the majority of them look, at first glance, like an actual comment. They don’t have any links in the body of the comment, and many of them just have (usually) flattering but unspecific comment.
For example:
Essentially, the article is actual the sweetest on this noteworthy issue. I consent with your consequences and will eagerly look forward to your next updates. With your authorization allow me to grab your feed to be up to speed with future articles. Thank you a million and please keep up the fabulous activity.
This is an actual comment spam that is pretty typical of a lot of spams that I receive. And of course, there would be a link to some site that they would put in the “website” field, so that they can get some links from my blog to theirs. (Being linked to gives one a higher spot in Google search results, and of course just makes it more likely that someone will click the link in error, which is why there’s so much spam of this type.)
Then, there are also comment spams that are just weird or ungrammatical:
I not to mention my guys were found to be looking at the good hints located on your web blog and so immediately got a horrible feeling I had not expressed respect to the web site owner for those secrets. My young boys appeared to be totally stimulated to see all of them and now have certainly been using these things. Thanks for truly being really thoughtful and for making a decision on this kind of important guides millions of individuals are really desirous to understand about. My honest apologies for not saying thanks to you sooner.
My temptation is to remove the back-links, but keep the vague and flattering comments and respond to them all as if I actually believed that these spammers found my website helpful in such a nonspecific way.
Here’s an interesting and somewhat related question:
Recently, I went to my (actual, physical) mailbox in my apartment, and found an unsolicited print advertisement had been delivered there. I took it out, and remarked to my friend that I had only received spam. At that point, we both wondered whether something can be spam if it is in print, or if that appellation is suited only for emails? Can I get spam by post?