A Commentary on the Passing Scene by
Robert Paul Wolff
rwolff@afroam.umass.edu
Monday, May 14, 2012
THE STRANGE WORLD OF BLOGGING
I have begun to pick up large numbers of gushy, favorable, generalized praising comments on this blog that appear to be covert advertisements for this or that. Is this customary? It is sort of the polar opposite of trolls. Your wisdom requested.
It's spam, just as in e-mail. The spammers are hoping that you'll be less likely to delete the links if they say nice things. You should be like Socrates in the Gorgias, though, and have no mercy for flattery.
If you're referring to my comment the other day - it was gushy, I'll admit, but I am not advertising anything! For some reason your blog that day just provoked this gushy and somewhat vague response in me. I am a long-time reader and admirer of your blog. And I am a real person!
Tim, I am suitably chastened! I was in fact not referring to you, but to a whole lot of such comments that end with a link to something or other. This modern world is really weird. I am accustomed to seeing and hearing the people I am talking with. I guess that just shows how old fashioned I am. Now, if you will excuse me, I have to go out back to the outhouse, and then get a block of ice for my icebox. :)
The first time I got one of those, I fell for it and replied politely. Then a fellow blogger set me straight. Ways to deal with the freeloaders are: (1) delete, delete, delete (which gets boring); (2) make people jump through hoops to leave comments (which discourages many of them; (3) tighten your spam filter. Look under Posts and Comments in the section called Settings. Spammers are an aggravation, and who needs more aggravation?
(I gushed over your blog to the friend who originally sent me a link, but you'll never know what we said in our e-mail!)
Be careful of clicking on the links too. You could be sent to a virus or rootkit trap that could do damage to your computer. The best way to check an internet address put up by one of these spammers is to put it in google. That will tell you what they're peddling if that's what they're doing and allow you to make an informed decision about whether to delete it. But I'd be wary of clicking on any old link. I've gotten viruses and rootkits that way.
Even little ole me gets these gushy things on my blog. According to my computer guru, these gushy (and they are, generally, quite general) as in "That was great!" - are efforts to get their web site linked to another web site of substance. Not sure how you handle comments, but I just refuse to accept them as legitimate commentary. In my case, they seem to come in bunches!!
It's spam, just as in e-mail. The spammers are hoping that you'll be less likely to delete the links if they say nice things. You should be like Socrates in the Gorgias, though, and have no mercy for flattery.
ReplyDeleteIf you're referring to my comment the other day - it was gushy, I'll admit, but I am not advertising anything! For some reason your blog that day just provoked this gushy and somewhat vague response in me. I am a long-time reader and admirer of your blog. And I am a real person!
ReplyDeleteTim, I am suitably chastened! I was in fact not referring to you, but to a whole lot of such comments that end with a link to something or other. This modern world is really weird. I am accustomed to seeing and hearing the people I am talking with. I guess that just shows how old fashioned I am. Now, if you will excuse me, I have to go out back to the outhouse, and then get a block of ice for my icebox. :)
ReplyDeleteAh, OK. At any rate, scepticism about what people are saying to you online is warranted and sensible..
ReplyDeleteYou shouldn't keep your icebox in the outhouse. That's unsanitary, that is.
ReplyDeleteThe first time I got one of those, I fell for it and replied politely. Then a fellow blogger set me straight. Ways to deal with the freeloaders are: (1) delete, delete, delete (which gets boring); (2) make people jump through hoops to leave comments (which discourages many of them; (3) tighten your spam filter. Look under Posts and Comments in the section called Settings. Spammers are an aggravation, and who needs more aggravation?
ReplyDelete(I gushed over your blog to the friend who originally sent me a link, but you'll never know what we said in our e-mail!)
I confirm that these types of spam comments is one of the usual pitfalls of blogging.
ReplyDeleteBe careful of clicking on the links too. You could be sent to a virus or rootkit trap that could do damage to your computer. The best way to check an internet address put up by one of these spammers is to put it in google. That will tell you what they're peddling if that's what they're doing and allow you to make an informed decision about whether to delete it. But I'd be wary of clicking on any old link. I've gotten viruses and rootkits that way.
ReplyDeleteEven little ole me gets these gushy things on my blog. According to my computer guru, these gushy (and they are, generally, quite general) as in "That was great!" - are efforts to get their web site linked to another web site of substance. Not sure how you handle comments, but I just refuse to accept them as legitimate commentary. In my case, they seem to come in bunches!!
ReplyDelete