Comments on: how comment spam is ruining forums

By: Robert

Robert — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 16:03:53 +0000

aaah, I can at least glance over spam, unlike these spam articles, designed solely for the purpose of spamming search engines w/ “fresh useless content”. These articles are far worse than one or two lines with a url in it. We don’t need to control spammers, but spam article writers.

By: Jim Durbin

Jim Durbin — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 01:19:32 +0000

Part of the solution is to track IP’s of offenders and share them. Comment spammers are never particularly smart. It’s a horrible business model – especially as it’s just as easy to leave a real comment as it is to write a fake one.

A second part of the solution is to report it when someone asks you to leave comments in a manner like Mark said. It’s one thing to suggest a friend leave a comment if you know them. It’s quite another to mass email people and ask them to flood a site.

On my sites, I moderate the comments and identify the violators. They’re not as anonymous as they think.

Although Cheezhead does get a lot of goofballs who mock blogs and then can’t stay off the site – coming back over and over like a monkey in a science experiment, boosting site visitors again, and again.

By: Donato Diorio

Donato Diorio — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 19:22:58 +0000

The problem is being compounded by companies setting up systems for connecting cheap labor to do “under the radar” comment spam. I recently looked at bids on projects at Mechanical Turks (mturks.com). When you can pay 5 cents per comment, many companies with much ambition and little vision will be using it. On my blog, (here comes my plug: http://www.idonato.com) people have to register, if they post one bad comment, I delete them. Like the avatars that are being used cross-site, perhaps those can be extended. Basic concept: if you post crap and don’t rank, you get deleted. I’d like to refrain from continuing to hash over the positives and negatives and slam the door shut on comment spammers with a solid technology solution. Look what Askimet has done for blog spam with WordPress. Good post. Got me thinking.

By: Martin Snyder

Martin Snyder — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 17:47:51 +0000

Mark it was my lax attention to the sentence struture of the comment- most certainly directed at the Mold, not toward you.

Also earning MY respect is no badge of anything.

Maybe I was a little too strong with the friends comment (sort of the old “if you want a friend buy a dog” idea) but I was serious that you can’t count on comment threads for much more than a sense of what people are thinking/saying about a subject-

Thanks for the kind thoughts- with respect ;-)

By: Anon Semi-Regular Reader

Anon Semi-Regular Reader — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 14:09:14 +0000

Anonymous here for good reason. No need to have every water cooler comment permanently stuck in outerwebspace wiff my naymz on it.

Hang on good buds. Moldy was quite accurate. Bloggers at first bitched about being held to “higher” standards. Now you are holding commentors to higher standards?

That is a double standard.

This world y’all have created wherein you banter back and forth about job boreds, ATS “solutions”, and did I mention job boreds (intentially misspelled for effect) how much of this shit are we obligated to read without slapping up a comment which may not be exactly to y’alls liking?

Also agree though Moldy was most likely tongue in cheek with his comment – blogging is for those who dint really make it in the field they now blogs about. So now with the powere youve gained during the “everyone wins” economy you want to demand certain levels of accuracy as the world turns sideways and half of you slide off?

Don’t think so homey

How anybodys make a living in this virtual circle jerk among the small crowd of recruiting suppliers still defies the imagination.

P.S. Sign up for Dayak and get 10 commission free job fills if you combines it wiff a Careerbuilders account (also in conjunction wiff a LinkedIn training series of DVD from a social media expert). If you do this you will make yourself millions – but only iff you blogs about it. Constantly.

By: Mark Newman

Mark Newman — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 00:43:28 +0000

Martin –

You are one person who I have never had a problem with. You add a tremendous amount of value in your commenting and are clear when and if you are the right solution. I’ve always appreciated that.

The sock puppets (and Moldy Cheez evidently) are the people I, and many other people, have a problem with.

As far as the other comments about my lack of friends (since I look for advice online), stupidity (for seeking advice from people online) and perhaps my lack of value (not sure if it was directed at me or ol’ Moldy). I can take it two ways – 1) you are looking a gift horse in the mouth because people like me have built your business by giving you and your employees the opportunity to educate us online in front of thousands of others about ATS systems all the time (not a potshot – your team is great at that) or 2) I suppose I’ve struck a chord with you – nothing quite like a first article that attracts personal attacks. I suppose I may not be worthy of your respect (much like the University of Utah football team compared to Ohio State)

In any event, I appreciate the commenting and hope all is well.

Mark

By: Martin Snyder

Martin Snyder — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:00:52 +0000

Moldy Cheez you are a coward. Writing without revealing your name has a long and important history when something is at stake, like your family or your freedom. Doing it on a blog like this is just weak and lame.

Mark, I make it a point to never try to sell thru comments- but there are all kinds of sock-puppets out there who feel otherwise.

It’s foolhardy to seek real advice from people you dont know and have no relationship with other than sharing a page-view. You want good advice, make some friends……

Lastly, you are of less value (odds are) to this world than Perez and maybe even Joel, since at least those two provide a decent amount of entertainment to people; and entertainment is not to be underestimated as a human value…

By: David Manaster

David Manaster — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 16:22:07 +0000

Really good post Mark. Most readers of our blogs and articles don’t know the players well enough to decipher their various agendas. As a result they attach equal weight to all of the voices that pipe in, no matter how biased. Those that do attach weight often do so based on who is doing the talking – friends, etc., rather than what is being said.

It’s human nature, but frustrating nevertheless.

By: Moldy Cheez

Moldy Cheez — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 16:09:58 +0000

Thanks Derelict…you behaved exactly as I hoped. Between you and I, we’ve added two more crap comments to Mark’s post. See, there’s no changing human nature. Let the crap flow. We’re jamming up the blog with more nonsense. Mark’s going insane, right now.

You’re clearly a turd. (now, you call me a jerk, ok?)

One clarification: Really, my vitriol is targeted to the full-time bloggers…not the guys/gals with real jobs who also happen to post. I should have been more clear about that.

So, you’re right Derelict, my writing could have been cleaner. I was in between cold calls to my CareerBuilder clients and not focused….you jerk! ;)

By: Derelict

Derelict — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 15:54:35 +0000

Ironically, Mr. Moldy Cheez, you are the one who is reading and commenting on these ‘wild wild west’ versions of the mainstream media. And all you had to say was an uninteresting, albeit poorly written comment. Why don’t you take the time to actually read the post?

Let me take a guess at what you do . . . spending your day driving listlessly from business to business, hocking those crappy Monster bundles to anyone who will take a few minutes to listen to your pathetic schpeel. Bless your heart. I feel so sorry for you.