Anybody who uses email or runs a website knows about spam. For now I feel that the tides are kept at bay, but there’s no question they’ve been getting larger and more ominous.

First, check out J. Leroy’s Evolving Web where he’s noticed an increase in spam emails (here’s a link to a NYTimes artcle he references). It’s true; I’ve also seen a huge increase in spam emails, although a lot of it never hits my inbox. I’m using Google Mail as my primary email client, and its spam filter catches a ton of spams. Then on my desktop Mac, I have Mail running with its own junk mail filter.

But some email spam still gets through. The specific ones I’ve seen evading the filters are “stock tip” images with little dots all over it, and spam where the text makes absolutely no sense (so much so that I have no idea what they’re pitching) but hinting at something sexual.

Every once in a while I check out my junk mail folder on GMail and it’s just filled with ridiculous garbage: sex stuff with creative spelling, tons of Japanese characters (my last name probably got me on some list), cheap pirated software, announcements that I’ve won a lottery, investment advice, ways to promote my site, and the ever-welcome person in need of cash, usually living in a foreign nation.

In addition to spam emails, I also have been dealing with spam on this blog. I have some spam plug-ins (outlined here) that do wonders towards catching the vast majority, so they never appear in the comments.

One of the best is Spam Karma, which blogger FCHouse uses. The plug-in nabs spam and gives the commenter a “Karma” rating. Meaning, regular commenters get ever-increasing karma points while spammers move into the negatives (and therefore it’s more likely that their comments will be blocked). Check out FCHouse’s blog post to see how low a spammer can go via this system.

Anyhow, my blog comment spams usually consist of a short sentence like “Great post! I love your blog!” (or something completely nonsensical and auto-generated) plus a list of links to Viagra or mortgage financing sites.

I do have one particular comment spammer that I won’t mention by name, but he/she/it posts links to their porn site, usually loosely based on the content of the post (so the bot or the person must actually be checking the context). The spams keep hitting my movie reviews and center around the actors or actresses being “awesome” and “hot” and wondering what movie they’re going to be in next.

I’m a bit curious about this one, because the spam comments seem almost too carefully crafted to be automated. I wonder if this “job” has been outsourced and there’s a foreign office somewhere, full of employees being paid to post spam to blogs?

 Please subscribe to the Webomatica RSS Feed!

Categories: Blogs, General, Technology :: ::
Previous Post: Music Notes: The Beatles, Past Masters Volume 2
Next Post: Fun With The Nintendo Wii