I'll be the first to admit that when I click on a new comment for one of my posts and see a guy trying to sell Air Jordan's, it doesn't irritate me a little. Sometimes AR beats me to the punch and the comment is magically removed from my post and other times I manually remove it. Either way, we have seen a significant increase in these comment here in the past few weeks. I had about 20 posts hit just last week, and another this morning.
The fact of the matter is that I have noticed one similarity in all of these. The comments are not coming from someone who is logged into AR. This means that the post has been found somewhere, by something or someone. If they can find it, so can consumers.
I had a local businessman tell me years ago that he used fair weather friends to gage how good he was doing. Once those guys started to disappear and he was left only with his true friends, then he knew times were getting tough. However, when he had would be friends rolling out of the woodwork and dying to hangout, then the good times were on a roll.
Frankly, if you use this same thought process when it comes to spam and the amount of it infecting our network here, then with all do respect spam's not such a bad thing. The spammers have become our fairweather friends and as long as the Google Juice flows freely here, then they will be right by our side. The second they disappear, the we may have a problem.
The thing is I figure the more people that can find our posts the better, and if every once and a while it happens to be one of our little friends, then so be it. Who knows how many potential clients find our posts for every one of those spammers that attack them. So, as I type this there is a spammer out there diligently typing away on one or more of our consumer posts, and I say let the good times roll. As soon as they disappear, then we might be in for some tough times ahead in the battle for search engine placement.
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JL Boney, III - Columbia, SC Realtor - Russell and Jeffcoat Real Estate
I specialize in Columbia, SC real estate and the surrounding areas, including Blythewood, SC, Kershaw County, Fairfield County, and Lexington, SC. If you are in the market to buy or sell a home in Columbia, SC or any of the surrounding areas, I would love the opportunity to speak with to see how I can help. Thanks for reading and feel free to contact me if I can be of service to you.
Office- 803-788-1450 Cell- 803-730-9601 Email- jlboney@russellandjeffcoat.com
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I never thought of it that way. I don't know if you are wrong or right. I, too, don't get real excited at being spammed, that delete button does not take too much energy for me. Thanks for the positive feelings.
That's certainly one way to look at it! It's just slightly annoying to have to click in each one to clean the spam off.
Definitely a different take. But way to go on finding the silver lining.
David- I've always had a way of looking at things differently. I don't know if I am right or wrong either.
Penny- It is a little annoying.
Gynell- Sometimes that lining is hard to find, but you have to look close.
That's a good point... but do you really think spammes are searching for posts or just latching onto AR and spamming random posts? Regardless, I like the train of thought as this platform does have major google juice flowing.
Jesse- I don't know which way they are doing it, frankly I think they are latching onto random posts, but they have to be doing it for a reason.
That spam surge last week was very interesting. I'm a little uncertain what the benefit might be of commenting on a post if you are a spammer. But . . . I guess everyone has to make a living.
Melissa- They place links back to their websites and that gives them another link pointing their way.
Only you could put a positive spin on spam!
Featured in the Group "Whacked"
And hopefully on the AR front page too!
Richard- You know me, always from the other side of things I guess. Thank you for the feature my friend.
The comments are not coming from someone who is logged into AR.
Hi JL,
You can change your settings to block anonymous comments.
Hello there, my friend. I love the spin that you put on spammers -- this should definitely be a feature. I'm going to recommend it. Thanks and hope you are having a great week,.
Bruce- I am aware of that my friend, I just don't see the need. What if a consumer wants to ask a question anonymously?
Liz- Having a great week so far, thanks for the recommendation.
Good point. However, how many consumers have ever commented on your blog? From what I've seen, consumer comments/questions seem quite rare. Even if anonymous comments are disabled, can't they still email you?
The spammers had a field day or shall I say 'field week' with all the old posts they have been responding too. I disabled non-member comments, so I no longer get hit with spam. At least not right now.
Bruce- I have had a few comment on my posts, no not as many comments as I have had from members, but there is always the chance. So for that reason I personally choose not to disable anonymous comments.
John- I'm sure that's a good way to avoid dealing with the spam my friend.
Just disbable the outside comments on your settings. Problem solved. They say they will have a fix soon. I'll just wait.
I'm late to this party, but the spammers are losers. I love getting it, like you do. It means someone out there is watching me! Hah, watch this!
Don- I'll just wait myself, it really doesn't bother me that much.
Suzanne- As long as someone is paying attention, then I know others can find it too.
Hi JL-Now that my friend is what I call creative and positive thinking. I like the way you think. Love the pics especially the spam can. Very appropriate. <SMILE>
Sharon- You know me, I look at things a little different.