What I Want out of All You Comment Spammers is...

by debra
17 replies
First: My apologies to the long post. I do feel it is worth the read though.

I have seen a lot of ranting about the subject of spamming, especially comment spamming. And, while I am chiming in on the same complaint, I want to be clearer about the subject and offer some solutions at the same time. Since, I have not been able to change a spammers mind about what spam is, and instead on focusing on serving up the same ole "Spam Fest" posting, maybe I can direct your mindset toward a more positive path.

I am going to pick on one of my sites as an example. It is not an IM related site. It is an Amazon site, ecommerce only. The site is meant solely, for selling amazon products as an affiliate. In addition, it is built on the WP platform.

Here we go...

The morning routine always goes something like this; I open my admin panel in wp, click on the spam link, that is what it is because akismet says so. And I see a gazillion:

Gilbert Estel
floratkwd.com/user/lorenburstein/
Fortson @ xxx.xxx
89.70.241.92
Submitted on 2013/05/09 at 11:21 am

I rightly desired to explain a steady say with the intention to enjoy you for the full real exceptional secrets you could live displaying on this website. Period consuming internet studies have by the end of the day previously been acknowledged with high-high quality indication to jot consume on the subject of collected with my two buddies.
WHAT? What is that supposed to mean? Do you really think I would approve it? It's a good thing you have a built in IP rotator inside what could have been a good spamming tool. Because, it would surely be embarrassing to be publicly identified. I'm sure your client would have been if not a little pissed. Hell...I was embarrassed just looking at it.

Not Surprisingly, I had 1098 of those comments just as "off base" waiting for me in the spam folder, automatically tagged as spam by akismet. And, I wasted no time hitting the "empty spam" button. Puff! Your Gone. You Wasted All Your Effort! And I'm Not Sorry Either! Idiot!

Your client should change his policy and only pay you for comments that get approved and are not on an auto approve blog. I bet that would rearrange your idiot mindset for the better.

Request Number One:
If you are going to expect me to approve your comment, at the very least, make sense with what you are saying. It doesn't have to be spelled perfectly and you can even use street slang, minus the cussing. Just at least make a complete single thought understandable to the average person. As an added note: The url you give for your website/page gives off a 404 error. Go Figure!

Then there's this issue:

true value solar
True Value Solar Reviewed By Australians - Solar Panels - True Value Solar
Gjesdal @ xxxx.xxx
69.175.77.90
Submitted on 2013/05/09 at 4:39 pm

Your style is really unique compared to other folks I have read stuff from. I appreciate you for posting when you've got the opportunity, Guess I will just book mark this web site.
This is a Sad situation and unfortunately, I had to delete it too. The keyword describes the website and the website promoted is decent. I would have probably approved the comment had it not been for the fact that the comment content is talking to me instead of commenting about my content on the page. Don't talk to me or about me. Add a comment that enhances the content on the page. Meaning, use keywords that the page content is about, add a corresponding resource in the body of the comment. Hell...make it sound like you read the stinking page at least. Talk to the content, Not the webmaster. Just give a simple quick opinion about what the page is talking about.

Request Number Two:

Leave a comment that enhances the content of the page. Leave the webmasters tactics out of the equation. The content on the page is not about the webmaster, it's about a product listed on Amazon. The fact that your website isn't on the exact same subject as mine is ok. Just make the comment say something that adds value about the subject of the page.


What I want out of a comment spammer and if you want me to approve your comment:
  1. Use "G" rated language
  2. Talk directly to the content of the page
  3. Make it reasonably understandable so it makes sense
  4. Leave out your praise about my writing techniques
  5. Give me some added value toward the page content for SEO
  6. Stay on topic to the page content

Anything otherwise, I will see as "spamming" my blog and you will be gone along with a few hundred others as quick as it takes to click a button. PUFF! Your out-a-there. You Lose! Idiot!

With that said, here is what I will let you have in return for giving my blog some respect:
  1. An approved comment as long as the url is rated the same as my blog is
  2. Your chosen keyword(s) as your name and the link kept live
  3. Even allow one linked keyword in the body of the comment body

Now isn't that what all you comment spammers want? Give My Blog Some Respect and I'll Give It Back to You!
#comment #is… #spammers
  • Profile picture of the author dvduval
    I think what most people want are contributing members to their site, not link droppers. One strategy is to let people know they will have more privileges as they particpate more (ex. being able to have a link to their site from their username).
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    It is okay to contact me! I have been developing software since 1999, creating many popular products like phpLD.
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    • Profile picture of the author AndyCole1971
      Right now my site is getting spammed to hell with comments from 'loanbanks'. I'm getting around 20 a day and I would just love to know how they came across my site and decided to start spamming the crap out of it even though I will never approve any of their awful comments!!!

      I'm not technical at all so I assume it's robots or something? :confused:
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      INTERNET BUSINESS ENTREPRENEUR | GARETH MORGAN

      est. April 2010

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      • Profile picture of the author debra
        Originally Posted by AndyCole1971 View Post

        Right now my site is getting spammed to hell with comments from 'loanbanks'. I'm getting around 20 a day and I would just love to know how they came across my site and decided to start spamming the crap out of it even though I will never approve any of their awful comments!!!

        I'm not technical at all so I assume it's robots or something? :confused:
        It's a bot. One of a few scrapers...like scrapebox or xrumer.
        On the positive side, at least you know your page is somewhere in the serps. You just don't know exactly where most of the time.
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        • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
          Debra, nicely thought out post. I do have to tell you though, your policy is a whole lot more liberal than mine.

          > No keywords as names. Period.
          > Links acceptable to me, right or wrong.
          > Show respect. Which does not include insulting my intelligence.
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        • Profile picture of the author AndyCole1971
          Originally Posted by debra View Post

          It's a bot. One of a few scrapers...like scrapebox or xrumer.
          On the positive side, at least you know your page is somewhere in the serps. You just don't know exactly where most of the time.
          Ha, thanks Debra! Yes, where in the serps is the worry I think! Knowing my luck it's mixed right in the middle of porn, gambling and black hat seo rubbish!
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          INTERNET BUSINESS ENTREPRENEUR | GARETH MORGAN

          est. April 2010

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          • Profile picture of the author iMarketeer
            Thanks for the very sensible post, Debra! Indeed, you are very understanding re 'appropriate' comments.

            I have a problem with large quantities of comment spam being attached to IMAGES on my blogs - I don't understand how this works but can anyone tell me how to prevent it, as they seem to bypass any comment captcha setup (although they end up for approval and I delete them)?

            Many thanks
            John
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            • Profile picture of the author mmh3
              I was having some non-english speaking folks spam my site every day, and so I turned on that they have to register to post a comment. That seems to have fixed my issues.. I was even getting spam in japanese, etc. What the heck?? LoL

              It seems to mainly be folks from foreign countries still doing this... they'll figure it out eventually that it is a waste.

              Trey from netBrainiac.com, a tech blog
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      • Profile picture of the author mrgoe
        Originally Posted by AndyCole1971 View Post

        Right now my site is getting spammed to hell with comments from 'loanbanks'. I'm getting around 20 a day and I would just love to know how they came across my site and decided to start spamming the crap out of it even though I will never approve any of their awful comments!!!

        I'm not technical at all so I assume it's robots or something? :confused:
        They scraped it with a tool. Also this post would be great, if spammers ever wanted a link to your site. They are looking for auto approved blogs, they use tools so they don`t really care if you approve or not, they will have a hell lot of blogs with links on them.
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        Worked as a senior editor on ThePricer.org, experienced in financial topics
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    • Profile picture of the author debra
      Originally Posted by dvduval View Post

      I think what most people want are contributing members to their site, not link droppers. One strategy is to let people know they will have more privileges as they particpate more (ex. being able to have a link to their site from their username).
      That would be the ultimate idea. But, like I said, I can't seem to change these link droppers, as you call them, train of thought mindset. Obviously, they are not going to stop. They actually seem to believe that they have the right to be there and spam you because they were given a job to link build as an outsourcer. Kind of a lame mindset, if you ask me and totally unproductive. But, none the less, I still can't change their minds. My last resort was to try and re-direct the way they approach it. I'm sure it's a futile thought.
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  • Profile picture of the author lastreporter
    There is a free plug in from Word Press called "Spam-Free" Word Press. It really works for me; I see no spam comments at all on my blogs. I used to get 10 at least a day.

    Just go to Word Press and download the free plug-in. It should solve your problem.
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  • Profile picture of the author RobinInTexas
    I just let Akismet, and Bad Neighborhood deal with 99% of it and mark as spam anything that doesn't contribute, and move on.
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    Robin



    ...Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just set there.
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  • Profile picture of the author Tim3
    Good publish, I have bookmarked your weblog

    Although getting a lot is a big time waste, you can often find some good product intel from spammer's pathetic linking practices
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  • Profile picture of the author WillR
    Anyone who approves obvious comment spam is only adding to the problem.

    The more results they get out of doing it the more they will continue to do it.

    I delete every single comment that has not obviously been made by a human about my particular post.
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  • Profile picture of the author dbrwn
    Comment spammers are definitely quite annoying. I used to get tons of them on my Internet marketing blog, and I had a good friend of mine who is well versed in Wordpress and what it can do to help me to get rid of them once and for all.

    He went in and blocked all of the IP addresses that were associated with those comments and now they can't even make any comments on the blog. And, as far as not making sense? Well that's a whole other topic altogether because many of the spam comments don't make any since because they're not written by native English speakers.
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    • Profile picture of the author Allan_Gardyne
      Debra, good points but unfortunately I don't think your logic is likely to make an impact on selfish oafs who use robots to spread their vandalism.

      What I want out of comment spammers is to see a few of the worst offenders go to jail, which is where they belong because of the millions of wasted hours they cause.

      The size of the comment spam problem horrifies me.

      Here's an example of comment spam that, according to Google, has been published on 8.7 MILLION web pages (an increase of 1 million since last month):

      "Hello there, just became aware of your blog
      through Google, and found that it's truly
      informative. I am going to watch out for brussels."

      If you Google "Plausible Lies Blog Spammers Tell" you'll find dozens of other examples.

      Email spammers go to jail. I'd like to see comment spammers go to jail, too.
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      I've sold AssociatePrograms.com - to an old friend
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  • Profile picture of the author TeriWhiteheads
    I feel the same about the TV advertisers - no, I don't need the Japanese steel kitchen knife set, which costs only $299.99. I don't need nappies. I don't need push-up bra either.

    Oh, yeah, and I LOVE the fact that my TV volume goes up by %300 during the commercials, who doesn't.

    OK, I got a bit sidetracked, we are discussing blog comments - it's just plain simple, turn blog comments off. If you want to actually start a discussion on your blog, then use custom captcha (the puzzle ones are pretty much unbreakable) and then you will no longer have comment tools posting them by the hundreds every single day
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  • Profile picture of the author Sarevok
    Comments are overrated.

    Disable them.

    Delete akismet.

    If your readers want to contact you, make them join your email list.

    Muahahahahaha.
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