I’ve been seeing a rash of IntelliSpam lately.
Frankly, I think this type of Spam is in some ways worse than your garden-variety “Hi, nice site xanax big penis big boobs” stuff.
IntelliSpam is a human being typing a comment and then appending, for no contextual reason, a link to their site. It’s long been considered poor Nettiquette…which means that it’s long been part of the Net.
Here’s my thinking: Your URL on this (and other WordPress blogs) is part of your name. If you enter it into the comment field when you sign in, anyone who wants to see “where you’re coming from” can click your name to go back to your blog. Putting your out-of-context URL in the text of a comment turns whatever insightful thoughts you may have left into blog spam.
It’s like walking into a cocktail party and saying “Hey! I like the cocktail weenies! If you guys want a real party, come to my house!!” It’s an insult to the host and the previous conversation.
At least that’s how I see it.
The one difference–and I probably say this is a “difference” because I’ve done it–is when the comment conversation touches on something you already wrote on your blog, so you link back to that post and say “as I said yesterday” or “last year when I wrote about my experiences with the same company”. That’s a form of shorthand, so you don’t have to repeat the whole conversation in its new context.
This little blog of mine gets a fair number of hits per day. When it first started, I remember being thrilled with 20 hits in a day. But as I became part of conversations around the blogosphere, I started getting more readers. When NiT linked me, I got even more. That’s how blogs build traffic–by becoming part of the community. Or showing pictures of cats. Your choice, I guess.
But this other thing–this spamming–it’s just rude.
Just Another Pretty Farce 
Yep. I just added something to my comments policy this morning that out-of-context spam links would be deleted. People are welcome to email me with sites they think I’d like, or leave a link in a comment on a post related to their link indicating why I should visit the site. Posting comment links with no explanation and no relationship to the topic of the post at hand will lead to deletion, even if it’s a good link. I find it really irritating.
I’ve never had anyone leave such a comment, and at this point i think i’d be fine with it, if it just meant more comments on my blog. But i do often link to on-topic posts that i have made. Like this. The fact is that making comments on lots of other blogs is the best way to drive traffic. Even if not very many people comment on your stories.
But i do often link to on-topic posts that i have made. Like this.
And that’s cool. What would not be cool is if you came and commented on a blog entry I wrote about, oh, say, Harry Potter and then left a link to “Save the Predators” at the bottom.
Blog comments don’t require siglines. ;-p
is that making comments on lots of other blogs is the best way to drive traffic.
Well, I prefer to think of it as “building community”, but yes, one of the net effects of building community is an increase in readership.
When I saw “weenies” I thought you’d been to I Dream Of Weenie on, um Woodland near the PO. [irony]
Not being a blogger myself, this kind of thing intrigues me. Any chance you’ll do a “this is why I do it & how I got into it & how it bumps up against my life” kind of thing?
Excellent post, Katherine.
I get some hits on Chez Coma but I’ve noticed that the Spam I have coming in is getting, dare I say, smarter.
And more annoying. I’m up around 15,000 spam comments since I started on Wordpess and I just left one page over at my old blogspot site.
I remember when I was getting about 25 hits a day and was literally thrilled as well. It was unbelievable.
But it’s the community that I didn’t know about that has pleased me the most. I’m going to Memphis next week and meeting up with, you guessed it, bloggers.
And one last thing, I remember when I used to be scared shitless to leave a comment here.
And now that we’ve met, I consider you one of my best cyber (and non-virtual) buddies developed through the NiT community.
Different yet very much the same.
I just love that.
Enjoy your vacation š
So maybe I’d better start showing pictures of cats. I’ve had 40-50 hits per day for the last four years with barely a flicker of movement. What’s your secret? I mean, other than getting to start a new internet meme *cough kirked cough*
Jason
On the other hand, maybe I’ll decide to be happy with my little corner of the web. I sometimes wish I could un-tell a few people about my blog. Any advice on doing that? š
At least you don’t have people posting their “pomes” in your comment boxes.
Lately I’ve been getting the Disney Porn ones.
Awesome.