Outwitting Nitwits
I don't get many spammers, but a few occasionally weasel in and I have to guard myself from committing murder.
Nobody likes spammers, not even their mothers. I'm pretty sure all of them were abandoned at birth and were then raised by nematodes--the parasitic kind found in dung heaps.
I have this blog set with word verification. I know a few people find it annoying, but it's the least intrusive form of stopping the robotic spammers. Unfortunately, it won't stop the human spammers.
To slow them down, this blog also prevents comments from being published without my permission after 24 hours of the post being published. The first 24 hours, anyone can see their post, after that, it needs my permission to continue.
This is helpful because some scum
On Blogger, you can moderate comments for any amount of time. Find the control under Settings.
I haven't figured out how some of them can get in without being seen by Stat Counter. Those are the most insidious spammers, the kind that can slip in under the radar.
And then when they use a foreign language (that I can't read) I get very suspicious. Just why do they think I'm going to leave up a comment that I can't read?
But here's a tip in case you get such a comment and want to know what it is. If the link is encrypted, that is, it looks like a bunch of nonsense, or is truncated, copy it and put it on your browser. Once it's pasted on the browser, it should show up as the actual link.
Don't click it. Most of the time it will have a word or two telling you it's a sex link or what not. If you click the link, you run the risk of infecting your computer with malware or a tracking cookie from that site.
My recent spammer left a message entirely in Chinese, but no clickable link. I copied the first line of the message and put it into Google. It brought up plenty of entries, including a translation. The translation, it was no surprise, was another sex ad.
Poor nematodes. Maybe we should get together and send them all the junk from our spam email folders so they can find a good sale on viagra or a nice sex toy.
May their hell include partners with no working parts and sex toys with corroded batteries. And spam. Lots and lots of spam.
Comments
I recommend comment moderation; posts don't show up until I approve them.
Good tip, Sandra. Thanks!
So far I've only had one spam and it was advertising first aid supplies. I realized the excerpt that I had posted that day was a scene with a few of my characters in a lifeguarding class. I guess they do some kind of search?
I've had those too. Stat counter shows they usually find me through a search and they use that to piggyback their advertising on my post.
Very bad manners. I don't advertise for a reason. I sure as heck am not going to invite others to advertise on my blog. --especially without asking.
What a PITA.
Blech on the wormies, btw.
I'd happily keep it on immediate moderation if I knew it wouldn't tick off so many people.
I'm glad you mentioned this.