Spammers Beware: Don't Waste Your Time

Someone is trying to post bogus (spam) comments on my blog, and I can be rather prickly.  Actually, a number of someones.  Most of them are just annoying, with links to presumably sell something or take you to a website you'd rather not be at.  Others, like the anti-Jew one someone attempted to post yesterday, can be downright nasty, mean, or frightening. I've seen diatribes against women (in particular, there's a pretty outrageous one floating around out here in the interwebs that rants specifically about American women - perhaps you've seen it), and rants about other topics.

But if you are one of the people submitting these comments to my blog, YOU ARE WASTING YOUR TIME.  Because you see, I have something called 'Comment Moderation'.  Every single comment that someone attempts to make on one of my blog posts, whether a post from yesterday, or one from 7 years ago, has to be approved by me.  I get an immediate email telling me about there is a comment being posted, and I then I am given a choice.  I can approve the comment, delete it, or mark it as spam.  If I mark it as spam, the comment does not get posted, but instead gets reported.  It only takes me a moment to do this, and I check my email regularly, so none of the spam comments ever are seen by anyone but me. I have a discerning eagle eye when it comes to spotting this garbage. 

So - If you post a comment with an internal link to anywhere, or are trying to sell something, you can bet I'm marking it as spam.  (I don't have advertisements or make money off of my blog, so I'll be damned if I let you try to make money by using my free blog platform.)  If you post a comment that is ugly or offensive, you can bet I'm marking it as spam. The ONLY comments I approve are those that are genuine comments or questions that relate directly to the content of my blog post.

But if it's a comment that says "Nice post!  Learn to write professional blog posts at ...(with inserted link to some bogus website)...", it is bullshit and is marked as spam.  Or if it says "Nice to see this!  Have a look! (with inserted link to some presumably bogus website)"  it is marked as spam.  Or if it says "Keep the balls rolling!! Nice posts you have given for us! (with inserted link for travel websites)", it is marked as spam.  It's all just a nuisance, like an insect.  (By the way, those are all samples of actual attempted comments I've received recently). 

I realize some of these (or maybe most of these) spam comments are done automatically, without anyone actually reading the content of the post where the comment is left, and are just harmless.  But they bug me nonetheless. For example, when I posted about painting on roofing felt, I received spam comments from roofing companies with links to buying a roofing product.  This is the result of some search engine finding the words "roofing felt" and automatically posting the comment.  But it's a time waster for both them and for me, because there's absolutely no productive reason for them to leave these posts, and I of course have to waste my time reading them and marking them as spam.

Thanks for listening!  Look for a post about Chihuly coming within the next day! 

This will be a quickie post.  For my loyal readers who like to leave comments on my blog, I want you to know I appreciate you.  I do NOT, however, appreciate the spammer who recently has been leaving links to some really inappropriate garbage in comments on the blog.  I have tried  using a word verification thingy, where you have to type what you see, but somehow the spam gets through.  Anyhow, I know it makes it much more of a pain for those of you who want to leave an honest comment.  So word verification has not been on the blog for a while and will not be returning.

Instead, as of today, I have added 'comment moderation' to the blog, which means that no comment will appear until I have approved it.  I believe I can handle these approvals quickly and easily, so there isn't much lag time until your comments appear, as I appreciate your desire to have your comments posted immediately.  This way, at least I know that these blatantly offensive comments with links to inappropriate comment will NEVER be seen by a reader of this blog.

So thank you for sticking with me.  If you are wondering about the photos in this post, they don't specifically have anything to do with the content of the post.  Though my cat does look pretty annoyed sometimes, doesn't she?  Beware to anyone who wants to mess with her; her veterinary chart has the word "WARNING" written across the top!   Seriously!  (Though usually she's a sweetie-pie.)

Speaking of pies - as for the blueberry pie above, the face on it does look pretty formidable too, I think.  It's an old photo; the face on the pie was pierced in the crust by my son, after I asked him to cut some lines in the pie for air to escape.  And this was what he did. 

Thanks again!  Next post will be back to some artsy stuff!