Comments on: Comment spammers – Stop wasting your time

By: bgrggfe

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By: Adam Winogrodzki

Adam Winogrodzki — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 22:41:24 +0000

Maybe this is why captcha was invented.. ;)

By: mat

mat — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 22:07:01 +0000

You can pretty much disregard my previous question, on re-reading the topic and some of the comments, I think it was actually out of context as it looks like you’re not really concerned with those who leave a more personal note than a two word snippet.
Although it still brings up the interesting question of how comments work now and how the entire post/comment threads are now valued and cultures/communities can almost revolve around them.
Cheers, great post.

By: Mat

Mat — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 21:56:05 +0000

While I do concur that you bring up a great point, I am also curious what people now expect out of comments…
What is someone wants to just say: “I find this hilarious, great post!” – would you consider that spam? Should it go in an email instead?
Going by your Quality/Quantity judging, has comments turned more into a forum with a master topic starter where basic gestures of appreciation need not apply?
I get what you’re saying of course, and I don’t really disagree, I’ve followed your blog for over a year now and rarely ever comment…sometimes though I’d like to just compliment and thank you for a good read, how do you (besides the typical tell-tale signs) know when a person is truly being genuine or not?
This post brings up some interesting points for sure.

By: Paul Boag

Paul Boag — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 07:35:25 +0000

@Michael – It doesn’t take much to prove you are not a spammer. Instead of writing ‘I agree’ you write ‘I agree with that there is way too much comment spam, Paul’. By being specific and mentioning the authors name you prove you have at least read the article. That is not taxing.
As for you, even if you did post ‘I agree’ I would know you are not a spammer because I know you. You contribute regularly to boagworld. You do not just turn up, post and leave.

By: Michael Montgomery

Michael Montgomery — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 20:52:07 +0000

I agree with your point: focus on contributing to the conversation, rather than trying to game the SEO thing.
However, I disagree with calling them spammers. Many times, they are well-intentioned but busy fans, part-time freelancers, professionals in another industry, or any other person who may “agree”…, but not have the time/courage/etc. to write more.
I’ve been there, wanting to express my agreement, but forcing myself to say more because people like you might call me a spammer. Which, since I’ve met you a few times, would be annoying.
Some may be spammers, but not all (or even most). And those who aren’t will be most likely to get their feelings hurt. Shouldn’t we encourage new participation, even if it doesn’t add much? Maybe we should forgive them, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

By: Jason Grant

Jason Grant — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 12:05:09 +0000

The nofollow attribute has been implemented by Google, but chances are that other search engines have not implemented this (arguably I have not updated myself on the nofollow topic for a year or so now, so I might be slightly out of date here).
Also, if you think about a spammer who might be linking to a site selling a £200 item from your blog and he is able to get a 1000 click throughs to it and from that 1000 get 5 sales, he has made £1000 from one comment post. In most countries of the world that sum of money is considered a fortune.
I suppose that is the main motivation behind comment spamming. Of course, achieving something like I outlined above is highly unlikely, but I suppose people are always hoping for things.

By: Paul

Paul — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 11:58:11 +0000

Perhaps some people do just agree with the comment. Granted it isn’t the best statement in the world, but I fear you may half the number of comments you get, because people people now have to wonder whether a comment they make may enlighten someone.
I have no problem accepting comments like this. From web companies, it looks a little dubious, but forum spam is way worse.
If you really don’t like the comment, why not deny it and not display it?

By: Joshua Clanton

Joshua Clanton — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 17:03:25 +0000

Hmm. Looks like the link wasn't accepted. You can try clicking through my name on this comment if you're interested. (Yes, I do realize the irony.)

By: Joshua Clanton

Joshua Clanton — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 17:01:07 +0000

Agreed. I sometimes have the same problem on my blog (mostly when a post of mine becomes popular). Though when I have time, I've taken to switching their links to this instead.