Sunday, June 9, 2013

Viagra, hemorrhoid cream, bikini, Teflon cookware, sleeping pills, and other stuff I don't need


When I started this blog almost 5 years ago, I never knew that I'd be the recipient of so much spam. Now the only spam that I really like is the edible kind—heavy on the sodium, fried to a crisp, and eaten with lots and lots of rice. Spam should coat your tongue with umami, and not be a bother in your inbox.

All right, being the science major that I am, I did a simple experiment. I logged in to my blog's dashboard to find that I receive around 2 to 3 spam comments every hour. My goodness, that comes up to more than 40 spam comments in a day! Good thing I turned on the 'comment moderation' feature.

What do these people get from sending this digital junk? And why am I being sold hemorrhoid creams? I searched all my entries and not once have I found a post saying that I have hemorrhoids. And not because I'm pushing 40 means that I need to take Viagra soon. Last time I checked, I'm perfectly okay in that department. Sorry, oversharing.

What's even more annoying is that, sometimes, a few of these spam comments end up in the legitimate comments folder. What's up with that, Google/Blogger? I love you guys for this free service, but I think a more robust way of filtering is in order.

I can't help but think that there are 'spam mills' all over the globe, with people hunched down on their PCs, hopping from one blog to another, and then leaving their digital crap. In a way, they're shitting on your property, yes? Sucks.

9 comments:

Jack Tyler said...

Cool, somebody calling these fools out! They aren't marketing to you. It isn't worth their effort to go after one guy. The more people in your Followers box, the bigger target you are. They're marketing to people like me that stop by to offer a comment.

Some get through because they're clever. The last generation I was getting before I shut down went, "I really enjoyed your last post. It reminded me of my last roommate, who was always espousing a similar view. Feel free to visit my website, www.condomland.com, the real happiest place on earth!"

The world is full of idiots, my friend, and probably always will be; relax and enjoy the cabaret.

Peter S. said...

Hello, Jack! Now yours is a comment I'm always happy to receive.

For a minute there, I really thought you were promoting a ridiculous website. Hehehehehe.

Sheila (Bookjourney) said...

Yes it is annoying and like you, I wonder what do they get out of it. If they make it past the spam guards and wind up as a comment does someone actually click on the link and check them out???

Peter S. said...

Hi, Sheila! I've always wondered about that too, whether leaving these kinds of comments is an effective way of driving traffic to one's website.

Sharon said...

I second that! The latest trend I received was from people apparently making legitimate comments but linking back to a site selling ebook downloads, at least it was about books but still felt exploitive. Spammers are also my pet hate about blogging and to make matters worse I know one of them accessed my yahoo account and started spamming friends from my mail list, which really pissed me off!

Peter S. said...

Hi, Arabella! Oh goodness! I can't believe that they hacked into your account! I'll be extra careful with my email accounts from now on.

Anonymous said...

I think spammers are onto something new as of late. The WordPress spam blocker has failed to block a number of spam comments just this weekend. Systems miss, and the spams that got away are actually well-written (eyedrops for my Blindness post and insanity workouts for The Sense of an Ending).

Peter S. said...

Hello, Angus! Blindness and eyedrops! How prosaic of them!

Lynai said...

You should see my own Spam inbox! Penis enlargement, of all things! Haha. :))