For those of you who run a blog, this might be of interest. Someone posted a comment on my blog with a fairly unique nickname, which he uses in domain forums and other places. Having seen his “handle” before, I approved the comment after briefly reviewing it.
Shortly after posting the comment, virtually the same comment came in with the same handle, but it had an extra sentence at the bottom of it. Since I just woke up, I immediately approved the comment without much review, as I do for most people I know and trust. I received an email follow-up from the initial commenter who mentioned that he didn’t add the erronious sentence at the end.
I looked into it in my referrers/IP log, and sure enough, it wasn’t from the same IP. In fact, the second comment contained a back-link to a porn site – clearly unrelatated to the original commenter. Essentially, the spammer assumed (correctly in this case) that I would simply approve his comment.
Usually I check the back link (even though all back links are “no follow”) just to make sure I am not approving spam. You can tell what’s generally spammy when there are hyphens and other interesting URLs. Needless to say, I will now be more cautious when approving comments to make sure someone isn’t trying to get me to post their spam link.
Wow, thanks for the tip Elliot. Spammers sure are getting more and more creative…
haha!
CWB just for fun, I’ve just checked CreativeSpamming.com and CreativeSpammer.com lol.
still available!
Now Seriously, thanks for the tip Elliot. I’ll keep an eye open!
It seems that spammers will never stop and are always learning. Belshass those might be great names as spammers evolve.
The same thing has been happening on Reddit, in their comment/discussion system. Reposting of people’s comments, with a hyperlink at the end.
“I agree”, “nice catch” etc. some people also leave comments like that, they even read the title and write something relevant (I have read all the post! prove: I read that you check the backlinks hope you enjoy our designs!)
@OMC – If I think it might be spam but can’t be certain, I just remove the url 🙂
Another cool thing that spammers do is take comments by other people made from one “news article” that isn’t on a very popular site that gets read by many and re-post that comment/s on the same exact article / topic at other sites such as techcrunch that discuss it as well and so on and with a link at the bottom as well. Those links will get clicked on hundreds of times and the SEO boost is there too.
Spamming is a business.
Duh!
We forgive you, Elliot. Your good sense was temporarily suspended by ummm… a hangover!!! Just admit it! You were out partying that night, taking advantage of all chicks after you because you rocked the Playboy Mansion a few months ago.
My good buddy, just ask me how to write articles, comments, emails and other commentary when you’re not in the best “mental or physical condition”. I have A LOT of experience in that area. 🙂