So, I read through the contents of my spam filter and thought: ” Some of these comments are actually quite good and some, although a bit silly, are very entertaining. ”  I needed more comments for Bloggasaurus, and as other bloggers have discovered, legitimate comments are often in short supply, so, I reasoned that, perhaps, I could find a way to use these rather than delete them. 

A few months before, a blogger left a comment on my original blog, in which he suggested to me that, perhaps, I should not be too rigid in  not approving comments which had commercial links or addresses attached.  Until that e-mail, it was my policy to ban, outright, anything remotely resembling spam that ended up in my spam filter.  He reasonably made the case that there was no harm in allowing some selected spam comments to be used as valid comments as long as there were no embedded, “no-follow” links in the text.  I thought about that and decided that he was right.  I do not remember his name because his comment along with all the data in my database was erased in a host company debacle early in the year ( see “Apologies, Farewell and Welcome.”) and I owe him my thanks because he taught me that flexibility can often bring rewards in more creative choices.

After this “Aha!” moment, I began to look at comment spam in a different way and realized that many of the comments that had been filtered out by my spam filter could be reconstituted for use as valid comments, as long as I would permit a commercial URL or link.  That is when I decided to start using selected comment spam as regular comments in my posts if they have some merit, in my opinion ( although, I still tag them as “spam” to let readers know that these were not ordinary comments-necessary since my responses to these are not ordinary responses.)

The advantage for me (and for any blogger that also decides to try this) is that, while valid comments are still rare, I still can use a large number of comments culled from my spam filter  that more than compensate for the lack of ordinary, valid comments.  Some of these comments are, frankly, quite amusing, although they were probably not intended to be, and, I thought, it would be a shame to waste them without sharing them with interested readers.  A few of these comments from my spam filter are a bit sarcastic and a little arrogant too and  some writers seem to feel that I need to be lectured.  I like these.   I enjoy them because it gives me the opportunity to have a little fun (admittedly, at the expense of the spammer, though with no malice on my part) and to dust off my rarely used dry sarcasm which is reserved for spammers only.

So, although I do not like spam and think it would be better if we didn’t have to deal with it, I have found a way to use it and enjoy it.  In my next post, I will share the best of these reconstituted spam comments with you and my responses to them.  The comments are often a bit bizarre, but so are my answers and I hope some of my readers, especially new bloggers or ”about-to-be new bloggers” will enjoy seeing what a blogger has to deal with sometimes.

Converting selected comment spam into valid comments is only one way to make practical use of spam.  There is another use.   When you select the comment that you will approve and respond to, you allow a commercial link and this is a link that you can click on to visit your spammers site.  It is only fair that you should be able to leave a comment of your own on his or her website, along with the url to your web site.  You should always check out the site of the  spam commenter to ensure that it is appropriate and acceptable to your professional standards and to the sensibilities of your readers if any of them should decide to follow that link.  In some cases there are pornographic URLs or other objectionable sites attached to the comment spam and it is not always obvious until you click on the link.  Always check out the links.

When you realize that comment spam can be of some practical use as raw material for valid comments , you will be able to greatly expand the comments attached to your posts and by using the spammer’s URL and link, you can go to their site, leave a real comment and forge a potentially valuable backlink.

To examine some of these comments and see examples of how to use them in a , hopefully, engaging and entertaining way, please have a look at the next post which consists of the best examples I have rescued from my spam filter and used in various posts as  bona fide comments.

Take care and “see you next time.”

–Wil

     Spam is a problem because it quickly fills your spam filter or otherwise accumulates on your web site like the detritus in a roadside gutter after a flashflood.  OK.  maybe that’s a little dramatic, but the more traffic you have the more spam you will get and you have to manage it.  It requires extra time  to cull and sort and delete and empty from your filter.  This is time you could spend more productively to write posts, search for interesting products to promote or answer legitimate comments.  It is not just the overwhelming volume of spam on your web site that is annoying.  It is the unprofessional disrespect and inconsiderateness of the spammers who send out their spam to your site without, apparently, any thought about how they are impacting your site; the “host” site, to use a term from parasitology.  Their sole aim is to promote their site and they are not interested in any mutual agreements with the spammed sites to promote each others’ sites.  They are self-serving .

     There are several ways in which spam may display on your site and there are distinctive identifying hallmarks to indicate that a comment is, in fact, a spam comment:

 1. It is in your spam filter.    (Spam filters are quite advanced and are very good at screening out  spam comments.)

2.  A characteristic of these comments is that the urls have one or more subdomains attached and usually bring you to a commercial site.

3.  If you click on the link, it will bring you to a third party site which is not owned by the spammer.

4.  There are imbedded “no follow” links within the comment.  Here is an example:

      Hello dudes , this is a great forum! if yas dont mind, im trying to improve my forum, can you guys give me some feedback please : privateserver (link de-activated) also is it possible to donate to the owner of this website? its great

5.  The comment is totally irrelevant to your post. Example:

      This is really good news today……  (In response to the post about “…Doorknobs.”)

6.  The comment is so general, it could apply to any post.  Example:

      That’s a very interesting information. I didn’t know about it. Keep developing your site!

7.  The comment has been cobbled together by an automatic article writing software device or something similar and it is, mostly, “gibberish.” Here is an example:

Lemons.a abigail of the most authentic alkalinizing foods, are pattern to tropical Asia, where cultivation dates spring endorse from at least 2,500 years. In the twelfth century the Arabs brought lemons to Spain and Africa. It was Christopher Columbus, who brought the seeds of lemons with him from the Canary Islands on his damaged voyage. In the Redone Men, lemons were introduced at calligraphy control means of the Spanish adventurers in Haiti, then known as Hispaniola. In the Appraisal States, Florida was the in the principal stock lemon-producing limit, and this awe-inspiring led in origination of lemons until a mournfulness integrate in 1895 killed the lemon groves. They were not in a million years replanted. In the mount circumstances, to 95 percent of the lemons against in the Pooled States and Canada are produced in southern California. The other 5 percent are grown in Italy. Italy and California together postulate in return all reasonable purposes the bund’s make whoopee equipping of lemons

8.  If you try to contact the sender, you get a “failure” notice because the e-mail address is not real.

 9.  The comment is gushing and effusive with fulsome praise and excessive flattery out of all proportion to your humble accomplishments and, of course, has links attached to promote the spammers’web sites. Example;

I want this post has been up top, up top! Top up to everyone to see!

 and you already saw this one above:

Hello dudes , this is a great forum! if yas dont mind, im trying to improve my forum, can you guys give me some feedback please : privateserver (link de-activated) also is it possible to donate to the owner of this website? its great

10. The comment is attached to an illustration on your site and not to a post.  You cannot publish this kind of comment.  It will not appear in the comments of a post.  Here is a comment that was attached to a picture of a doorknob:

Great points…I would note that as someone who really doesn’t comment to blogs much (in fact, this may be my first post), I don’t think the term “lurker” is very becoming to a non-posting reader. It’s not your fault really , but perhaps the blogosphere could come up with a better, non-creepy name for the 90% of us that enjoy reading the content .

By the way, this would have been a good comment if the sender had commented in a legitimate way.  I wanted to post it but was unable to put it in the correct comment group. (so, I show it here as an example.)  I actually answered this post and, I might as well include my answer here as I was unable to link my answer and the comment to a post:

11.  Comment spam may also be identified by the frequency of its occurrence.  “Same Spam Different Day” would aptly describe this tactic.  I have received two or three comments from  from different IP addresses.  The duplicate comments are exactly the same, ostensibly from different individuals, sometimes from the same people. They can reoccur weeks apart or appear after a month or more.                                        

     Spam is here to stay.  It is a part of the Internet Scene.  so far, no one has been able to eliminate spam completely, but there are ways to control it.  The most obvious way to do this is to have a good spam filter.  There are many but one of the most powerful and effective filters is Aksimet from WordPress.  If you want to save time you really need a spam filter.  

 Spam comments, especially those generated by “bots” can be foiled with the use of CAPTCHA codes.  This prevents anyone from simply pressing a button to send spam to your site, because the spam device cannot “read” the code ( sometimes I cannot read the code either ).  The person has to manually send his comment  This is time-consuming and not favored by those spammers who want things to be easy. 

Some sites ”build” all kinds of virtual barriers to keep spam at bay.  They will use CAPTCHA codes, make you register and sign in every time you want to leave a comment and so on.  I don’t use this simply because many readers do not want to “jump through hoops” just to leave a comment.  I believe, and this is my personal opinion, that readers who do take the time to leave you a comment are contributing to the interest of your blog and I don’t like to put obstacles between them and my site, which might discourage them from commenting.  One of the most common complaints of bloggers is ” I am not getting enough comments.  How do I get people to comment more?”  The answer is very simple.  Encourage readers to leave comments and make it as easy as possible for them.  

    Spam is a problem, but, believe it or not, I have found some spam to be really useful.  I actually have discovered that spam can be interesting and entertaining and I look forward to checking my spam filter for potentially “useful” spam.  I will tell you all about it in my next post:  “Recycling Spam.”

Take Care and “Blog-On”

–Wil

1. Spam in blogs (also called simply blog spam or comment spam) is a form of spamdexing. It is done by automatically posting random comments or promoting commercial services to blogs, wikis, guestbooks, or other publicly accessible online discussion boards. Any web application that accepts and displays hyperlinks submitted by visitors may be a target.

     Adding links that point to the spammer’s web site artificially increases the site’s search engine ranking. An increased ranking often results in the spammer’s commercial site being listed ahead of other sites for certain searches, increasing the number of potential visitors and paying customers.

     From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comment_spam

2. Comment spam

      Comment spam: Comments made with the sole purpose of gaining a backlink, which in turn will send traffic or link juice (provided the blog in question doesn’t use the no follow tag) to the site of the spammer. Some spam comments are very explicit and come with several links to drug or gambling related sites. Other forms are more subtle, where the commenter actually tries to leave a relevant message on the blog.

From: http://aris-haryana.blogspot.com/2008/11/bloggers-glossary-part-2.html

3.   Often blog comments include URLs, as a result spammers will often post blog comments in an effort to boost the incoming links to their websites. Comment spam often make no sense and the comments are simply a product plug. : Comments made with the sole purpose of gaining a backlink, which in turn will send traffic or link juice (provided the blog in question doesn’t use the no follow tag) to the site of the spammer. Some spam comments are very explicit and come with several links to drug or gambling related sites. Other forms are more subtle, where the commenter actually tries to leave a relevant message on the blog. 

To summarize: Spammers hope to send their comment spam to your blog so that the link they have embedded in their comment will create a “backlink” ( linking your site to theirs) thus making their site seem more popular and relevant to search engine robots. This can result in their site getting a better page ranking. You may not wish to be the unwitting host parasitized by spammers. Spammers do not ask your permission to use your site for their sole advantage.

     Spam was not much of a problem for me (until recently,) but as anyone with an established website can tell you, as soon as your traffic increases , so to, unfortunately, does the volume of comment spam.   When you set up your blog, you can expect the same and that is why it is a very good idea to make sure you have installed a spam filter on your web site.

 Take care and hope to have you visit again soon.—wil