I've been Splogged!!
Many of you faithful Daily Duck readers may have noticed an increase in spam in the comments section. Well, here's the straight dope on this new and annoying phenomenon from Wired:
Rest assured, faithful readers, the Duck will do everything within his power to eradicate this scourge from the DD. It is on my "To Do" list. Right up there with "get rid of funny smell in basement".
At first glance, it seems like a regular blog. But look closer and you'll see there's something very odd about the blog's content: It's very familiar. Too familiar.
That's because you wrote it, six months ago, on your own blog. The rest of the content doesn't make sense: The same word repeated over and over again. There are ads all over the sidebar for products like Viagra and mortgage loans.
The phenomenon hit an all-time high recently, when Google's blog-hosting service, Blogger, was inundated with more than 13,000 fake blogs spawned by a script (all have since been taken down).
Splog topics are often so nonsensical and wide-ranging they can be hard to pinpoint. Scott Beale of Laughing Squid said some really strange splogs have shown up on his watch list, everything from "Phish Rocks, Dude" to "Geeks Meet Greeks."
Rest assured, faithful readers, the Duck will do everything within his power to eradicate this scourge from the DD. It is on my "To Do" list. Right up there with "get rid of funny smell in basement".
posted by Anonymous at 6:53 AM
8 Comments:
I've thought about the cost/benefit ratio of those types of activities, and unless the response rate to online ads is MUCH higher than I believe that it is, I don't see how it makes sense to do anything other than straightforward spamming.
(Or actual, y'know - WORK - at like, a job).
On a related topic, I have tried to delete spam posts, but the trash can icon Blogger says I am supposed to see is absent.
Any clues?
Skipper,
I'm the only one with admin priviledges, which includes deleting posts. Do you want me to make you an admin?
If it is easy, sure.
On a completely unrelated topic, I flew my last flight with NWA today, and in the process, might well have set a company record for hours in a month.
Why? Because many guys about to get furloughed decided it was appropriate to use up their sick leave.
Mere statistics alone would means at least 80% of them are adhere to Divine Command morality.
Not so as anyone would notice, though.
The last couple months have provided a lot of low hanging fruit for essays on economics, technology, unions, and morality.
Since I am no longer working two jobs, maybe I will find the time!
Skipper, Brit & Oroborous,
I've granted you all admin privileges, so you can delete spam when you see it.
Good luck with your other job Skipper, I'll be happy to see you more active on the DD.
Duck:
I'm sorry I didn't have any time in MSP -- I was sure I would get at least a few nights there.
It will be a couple weeks yet until I can clean the decks of the stuff that accumulated while I was working two jobs, but it shouldn't be too much longer before I can start contributing again.
Does anyone actually order Viagra from an ad on a random website?
One would hope not, but apparently so.
I've read about people becoming overnight millionaires from setting up virtual pharmacies and spamming, so the demand appears to be there.
I've also read about some of those newly-minted millionaires fleeing the country one step ahead of the law, because they don't do any of the required medical screening before OKing drug purchases, and they sometimes provide counterfeit drugs...
So, caveat emptor.
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