Comment Spam
October 3rd, 2007 by HeywoodHere on Blogadilla, and on most blogs I’m sure, we’re flooded with comment spam. Fortunately, we have Akismet to handle it, which usually does a great job. Nevertheless, a few spam comments slip through to moderation here and there, and a few legitimate comments make it into the spam filter, so I have to check it periodically.
Most spam comments are relatively standard in appearance, with links to sites where you can buy prescription drugs illegally, or enlarge your penis, etc. I’ve always thought these looked all goofy, and for someone to click on them, they’d have to be somewhat of a halfwit. I’m not sure of the exact economics of spam, but one can be sure that it must be effective on some level, or else spam would cease to exist.
Just today, however, my attitude toward spam changed, as I found a new spam derivative: ‘witty-quote spam.’ Sure, the email addresses and sites linked to are similar to the aforementioned spam comments, but at least in this case, the spammers are giving me something: witty quotes. I’ll spare you the link for pirated software or val1um, but here are a few of the good ones I got, just today:
“To the Honourable Member opposite I say, when he goes home tonight, may his mother run out from under the porch and bark at him” — John G Diefenbaker
“A sure cure for seasickness is to sit under a tree” — Spike Milligan
“Why don’t they make the whole plane out of that black box stuff” — Steven Wright
“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away” — Philip K Dick
“I would have made a good Pope” — Richard Nixon
October 4th, 2007 at 1:01 am
I hate spam, but it lightens my day to comment on it. If you are having a bad day, just post some of the spam you get, along with your comments, to your website. It will really make you feel better.
I have a ton of domains, and was getting like 5000 spam emails per day. So I bought a spam domain, and I post some of the spam I get to that website. I try to make sure I remove my email address, but other than that, I leave the headers and body intact, and just include my comments.
What then happens is that newbie’s get online and check the web for more information on some of the spam they’re getting… Like the bank fraud stuff or the “We’d like to put $10,000,000 in your bank account” Nigerian emails. They come to my spam site, read what I said about the scams, and go away a little more savvy in the ways of internet fraud.
What’s really funny is that I put some adsense on the site, and I’m now making money, selling antispam software, off of spammers…. Now that feels good. LOL
Greg
October 13th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
Greg- that’s awesome! Nice work.