Wow, oh, wow. Everywhere we go, spammers will be right there! I mean, it’s part of daily life, it seems. Junk mail, spam e-mails, telemarketers, comment spammers… wait, “comment spammers?!” Yup! It seems people have just found a new (it’s actually old) way of spamming. And get this: These comment spammers are just regular bloggers!
First, What is Spam?
“Spam is flooding the Internet with many copies of the same message, in an attempt to force the message on people who would not otherwise choose to receive it.”
Now, as for comment spamming, a lot of people seem to use the drop-and-go method, sort of like Entrecard droppers. Instead, they copy and paste a generic message that seems legit so it gets past the spam filter(s). Here’s an example:
“The ideas and insights are very worth reading. You really gave me valuable information. Thanks for sharing it!”
So, it looks like a regular comment, right? But if you check out the post it was commented on, they didn’t mention anything on the actual article. So, I was curious and decided to use a simple technique I remember Maki of Doshdosh.com mentioning - Google that exact comment with quotes around it.
And looky, looky, guess what I found? As you can see from the screenshot below, there are quite a few results. So, I decided to go to these blogs and “oh look!” it’s the same exact person who spammed me with that generic comment.
So, of course if you clicked on the screenshot (or Googled it for yourself), you’ll see that this person put the same exact message in quite a few comments on peoples blogs.
Now, is this right or wrong? Well, given the fact that I highly doubt they even read the article post(s), then they’re just abusing the commenting area to get backlinks or some traffic?
And if you need to be aware of this comment spammer, it’s Aurelius Tjin. And I was thinking, should I give this person a backlink? Sure, why not. I mean, he’s comment spamming for a reason, right? So, I guess that’s what he’s looking for.
In my next example, it was a person who happened to leave the same message on two of my blogs.
The message:
“I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you.”
Now, I highly doubt that this person found me on Technorati for both of my blogs he left a message on. And that makes me think if he really added me to his Google News Reader. But wow, if you read that for the first time, you would think “Wow, I got another RSS Feed subscriber, that makes me feel happy!” And he would’ve gotten away with it if he didn’t leave the same exact comment on two of my blogs.
So, yes, I Googled the quote. But this time I had slightly different results.
What was it?
Well, it seems that quote has been used quite a few times. And I’m not going to lie, I checked out a few sites and the difference from the first instance I gave was the fact that every single blog I went to, it was from a different commentator, a different name, a different site.
My assumptions (even though they say you make an ass out of yourself - too late!): Either people are using this comment because it a low-radar quote and would pass as a regular comment, plus, who doesn’t love hearing that someone subscribed to your RSS Feeds? Either that, or the same person was commenting for others with the same exact quote.
I was thinking, why would someone comment for others? My only conclusion would be the fact that people would possibly pay for people to do that. Believe it or not, you’ll find some interesting ways for people to get paid just a few bucks. I mean, do to DP forums and you’ll see the wide range of things that people offer for a few dollars.
Now, I have to ask, are you a comment spammer?
Honestly, I knew a few of my blogging friends who has used this technique, and don’t think I don’t know who you are. But I’m not going to put you out there because you’ve never really done it to me. (Or at least I don’t know you have
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company once in a while. Just imagine if I wanted to start an online adult store from my site, then these companies would basically sponsor these “products” and I would make quite a fair share of money.


