Normally, blog spam takes the form of “you good” followed by 100 links to v1agra, midget p()rn, or Vicod1n casin0s. But lately, I’ve been getting messages like these:
Advertising for Notebook Computers
Hi , your blog is excellent. As I was surfing around today looking for detailed info on notebook computers. I somehow ended up on your page. As your site is exactly related to my search, I am certainly glad I stopped by. Oh well, back to surfing and I am sure I will find what I am looking for, and should you ever need information about notebook battery , then stop by for a look.
Advertising for Survey Scouts
Hi! What a great blog! My name is Martha, I am 16 and I am doing some research on the ‘blogging’ hype. I hope you do not mind me posting this, as I would like to show my teacher coming thursday, that I have been here too. Thanks 🙂
For Data Recovery Services
Hi, super blog. My website is based on this type of data 2005 business call conference continuity papers.How long has your blog been up? Do you have to make many changes to it ongoing?. Visit me if you want, PARIS
Stock Photography
Hi, my name is Molly and I wanted to say thank you! Your article here helped me in my homework and wanted you to know it. I was searching for info about royalty free stock photography and I somehow ended up on your blog. Tomorrow my teacher is going to get a very good homework done! I wish we can keep in touch, thank you again.
Very nice, very polite, and generally pretty smart. Most of these contain only one link to their site, capitalizing on the following facts:
- Most blogs put a 1-link threshold on their replies (meaning that if a reply has more than one link, hold it in the backend for moderation). All a blogger needs to do is accept one of these one time (even if by mistake) and that login can now post as many spam messages as they want.
- Most bloggers are self absorbed egotists who don’t get enough attention. When a post comes up telling them “hey, nice blog” (stroking their ego), they may either (a) mistake the message for someone actually liking their blog, or (b) put it in anyway just to fool other people into thinking that their blog really is worth reading. In either case, they’re using a particularly good form of social engineering, straight out of How to Win Friends and Influence People. (Uhm… present company excluded?)
Now, there are certain plugins like SpamKarma which would block most if not all these messages, so this isn’t a huge problem (yet). Still, its entertaining to see that spammers are getting polite, if not smart about their practices.