A Book Thing

I’ve Been Discovered! By Spam…

Ok, so my blog is just a week old and I’ve already been discovered by spammers. They are, at least, for the most part, creative. They try to act like people who are really interested but there are certain hints and clues that give away spammers vs. real people.

The first big give away is if they say, “I’m a real person.” A real person doesn’t need to say something like this. I mean, what else would you be? A dog? My dog doesn’t have the manual dexterity with his paws to type. SPAMMER FAIL!

Another clue is your name. If your name is a riddle of keywords you’re a spammer. Real commentators have real names, assumed names, or pen names. Darren Rowse might get away listing his name as Problogger (something he doesn’t do by the way). Mignon Fogarty would definitely be able to get away with leaving her name in comments as Grammar Girl. But ‘Weight Loss Secrets” or “Highly Durable Vacuum Solutions” are NOT names non-spammers use. SPAMMER FAIL!

The next tip is internal links. Real people have real websites. Non-spammers don’t link drop in their comments. Some commentators who haven’t learned etiquette might link drop by ignorance but most of us will only drop links if they are relevant to the content of the post. Comments riddled with irrelevant links is a dead give away. SPAMMER FAIL!

Speaking of ‘relevant to the content of the post’. One more clue that you are spam is a disassociation with the content of the post. If I wrote a post like my “Suggest A Topic” and you write a comment that says, ‘great topic’, you’re SPAM! My request to suggest topics isn’t a topic at all. SPAMMER FAIL!

I give love to Akismet. This fantastic Wordpress plugin is adept at smothering spammers. Rarely has spam made it through the Akismet filter and rarely does non-spam get snagged by it.

Spammers beware, I’m not afraid to delete your canned meats. This blog might be new but I’m not new to blogging. If you want to promote your websites or products, get to know me, treat me like a person, actually interact. If we become friends I’ll spread word of mouth about how great you are to anyone who will listen.

If you spam me, your comments will never see the light of day.