Posted on March 7, 2006 at 12:34 PM in thoughts
Note: The below is an archived entry from Earthling, formerly EarthLink's official blog. The blog itself has been decommissioned and is no longer updated, and comments are trackbacks are no longer accepted.
First, the mini-update: Look for Rocketboom's own TRM ads to appear there starting Monday, March 13th. Watch the end of today's installment to catch a fleeting glimpse of what appears to be Amanda dressed up like a superhero. Then watch for Rocketboom's own EarthLink ads the week of April 3. If you don't know what I'm talking about, read up on it here and here.
Today Rocketboom explained the difference between comments that are the work of humans and those that are the work of robots. Any web site that has a system for accepting readers' comments is susceptible to both kinds. Human comments, even when negative, are far more preferable than robot comments. Like the folks at Rocketboom, I delete comments from robots on sight. That can be a laborious task.
Robot comments, as they appear at Earthling HQ, without the offending URLs
Human comments are usually in english or some closely related dialect. Robotic comments are in some bizarre robot language. Many robots speak SEO, or Search Engine Optimization. Robots also tend to repeat their message again and again, as if it's the most important thing in the world. Robot comments often read like E-mail spam.
In the picture above, some robot from the past or future clearly wanted to deliver a very important message about "Texas Hold Em Poker." Or maybe that's the robot's name. Or maybe there are three robots here, who just happen to have very similar names. Whatever the case, the motivation is to latch on to blog entries like a suckerfish and piggyback on their success. That way, when joe reader comes across this blog entry through a search engine, they'll also see the offending robot comment spam. I guess it functions like a free but extremely hard to understand advertisement. Or it helps boost the search engine relevancy of some other site, so that searchers land there more often.
Blog software typically has some robot comment filtering software (comment spam tools) built-in, to make the blogger's job a little easier. But crafty robots manage to slip some through from time to time. There are also extra Plug-ins you can get if you end up with too many robots trying to comment on your blog. So far it's been manageable for me. If you've had an infestation in the past and either beaten it down or are still struggling with it, I'd be interested in hearing about it.
Sorry robots. This blog is for people.
Comments
great site! you should check out my site for single lazy sad bakers. also texas hold them.
Posted by crvs | March 7, 2006 11:24 PM
heyy, is that a wind-up key sticking out of your back? who let you in here?
Posted by earthling | March 8, 2006 10:14 AM