This is different.
It may be the way I have things set up that makes them standout to me, but lately I've been getting about a half dozen to a dozen Spam comments every day. They're always to old posts, and this is the strange part, they will comment repeatedly to the same post over a period of days. I've had posts from 2010 or 2014 that just get commented to over and over again. It's like they latch onto that post and keep trying to get through.
The way I have the blog configured is that comments to posts over 14 days old go into moderation. I do this for a couple of reasons: first, to know that comments to old posts have been made. The blog displays about the last 30 posts, about a month, and I don't go watch comments on posts more than a few days old. When they show up in my Gmail inbox, I can go read and react if necessary. The second main reason is that older posts tend to be found by whatever mechanisms the spammers use and it's best to delete those comments rather than clog up the reading for people who come across the post later. Occasionally, though, I get comments on old posts that are valid and related to the post. I approve those and let them post. My twin posts on getting ripped off by Ian Sinclair Design for their credit card knives are an easy, good, example. Between the two posts, they got 128 comments over more than two years.
These latest Spam comments have all sounded like they're either auto generated, or left by non-English speakers. They alternate between random words, flattering comments on how wonderful the blog looks, or ask questions about things that seem designed to get me to respond. It might be an AI system learning or just a simple SpamBot.
My assumption is that if I post them, that will tell the spammers that they can post their ads or other things they're posting. Or get their credit for whatever they're doing.
Anyone else seeing this?
(Spambot image source)
I suspect I get much less traffic than you do. I get one barrage of spam a month. That and my topics are more odd-ball.
ReplyDeleteI let comments free-flow into the blog. I get email notifications.
When I get spammish comments, I leave the oldest one and delete the rest. I consider spam to be part of the internet ecosystem.
The total dumb-froggery of most spam makes my least-gifted "real" commenters look like MENSA candidates.
Your mileage may vary.
I haven't noticed any recently, but I've had times when what you're seeing happened to me.
ReplyDeleteAnd then it just stopped.
For two weeks ending a week ago there was a wave of spam that (knock on wood) appears to have stopped.
ReplyDeleteHappens occasionally, but currently no more than usual.
ReplyDelete-Aesop
Hi SiG,
ReplyDeleteI get a bunch but it gets put into awaiting moderation.My settings is for 14 days. There, I just delete them all at once. I "rarely" get an a comment that goes directly to spam. As you noted, they are all random and most have nothing to do with the post itself. Once in a while one or two will get through to a post and I will just delete them.
I read your blog every day. All last week, no new posts. I was getting worried. Then yesterday, BOOM, seven days worth showed up. Strange.
ReplyDeleteThat is very strange. Never experienced or heard of that.
DeleteOn the right side bar blogroll, where the latest post title shows up, that's regularly wrong. A few times a week, I think, it gets a day or more behind. I've never even seen that a week behind.
I'm not seeing more spam recently. I too require moderation for comments to older posts but the Google spam filter seems to be working pretty well for me. But I don't allow anonymous comments because I was getting ~300 spam/day a few years back.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteUnknown, you had to go and ruin it, didn’t you.
ReplyDelete