I checked my spam box before starting on blog items this morning, deleted 53 comments, and it occurred to me to wonder why people bother. It’s abundantly clear that those who “comment” on my various articles and updates etc. haven’t read them, aren’t interested, and wouldn’t know me from a bar of soap. A friend tells me that they do this because having been cleared to comment once, they are then able to log in and comment on anything at that site for evermore. That puzzles me. Surely there would be a mechanism on any site to stop that, like unfriending on facebook?
And if there is such a mechanism, then surely it still isn’t worth their time to keep checking the site to see if they can upload some publicity for whatver they’re pushing? Don’t these people have anything better to do with their time? And if they’re doing it because they’re paid, doesn’t the employer have anything better to do with his money? There are times when the internet and some of its population baffle me!
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The people employed in the spam industry are typically “piecework operators” — paid for results, like a real-estate agent or a sewing machinist.
For such people, a “result” is a service “made available” to their employer, by any means possible: usually illegal and always corrupt.
So they pretend to be real (albeit lame) commentators so they can then hand their newly validated login credentials on your site to their employer, in exchange for cash. Those are then given out to a completely separate contractor to start posting spam on as many sites as possible.
The operate like drug cartels or resistance sleeper cells; nobody knows more than their immediate “supervisor”, so if they get busted they can’t dob in the king-pin.
By the way, talk to your hosting admin: your site’s clock is fast by 4 hours; the time now is 16:45 NZDT +1300.
Correction, it’s slow by 20 hours; the *date* is 2nd March 2012.
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interesting, I still can’t believe that it’s worth someone’s time to do this, but I suppose most of them come from third world countries where hitting even one site that opens for them is worth it.
And yes, I realized that the site’s running slow, but as whatever I write is rarely time-sensitive, I haven’t worried that much. I’ll mention it to admin when I remember and when she has time she can maybe fix it.
I think I’ve fixed the incorrect time stamp. Sorry, I should have noticed that problem before.
As for people being able to post spam, there is no way to stop it from coming in, but the spam filter usually does a good job of stopping it from actually appearing where anyone but Lyn and I can see it. I’ve got the site set so someone who’s once been approved can post without approval in future, but I can turn that off if you want, and then you’ll need to approve all comments. Let me know if you want that changed.
I think there’s a way for me to block specific individuals who have had a comment approved, if they then start posting spam. Let me know privately if there is anyone you’d like me to block.
Cheers, Jean (Lyn’s admin)