Every year, 26,000 babies are stillborn in America. In 2003, one of them was my son.

Monday, February 22, 2010

Does This Mean I've Made It?

I've been getting a lot of spam comments on my blog recently....anybody else? I've been blogging here for a few years now, and nothing, then, suddenly...they're everywhere. I've deleted some, given up and left some. Some are complete rubbish - nonsense - some appear to be in Japanese, Chinese, or Russian, I don't know.

How do people do this, leave spam comments on blogs? I really have no idea. What I find interesting/weird are comments like this one:

"Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now. Keep it up!
And according to this article, I totally agree with your opinion, but only this time! :)"

And this one:

"It was rather interesting for me to read that blog. Thank you for it. I like such themes and everything connected to them. I definitely want to read more on that blog soon."

Yep, I love reading blogs about dead babies. It's so much fun! And like you, dear spammer, I can't wait to read more! I love the themes of dead babies and everything connected to them myself; why don't you call me and we can discuss it all day long? And to my dear other spammer, I'm glad you think I'm getting better and better at this blog thing. I am a professional writer, though, so I'm a little disappointed to hear that my older articles aren't as good as my new ones. Though I have been at this deadbabymama thing for 6 years now.

And how, exactly, do you agree with certain articles about dead babies and not others? What opinion of mine do you agree with? Perhaps the one where I state that having a dead baby sucks?

Please, keep reading, and keep making inane comments. Can't wait to hear more from you.

8 comments:

still life angie said...

Okay,I just have to say that I received the same exact comment in December, anonymously, and had no idea it was spam. I really found myself offended, because I was indignantly thinking, "Because my baby didn't just die?" Huh. It hadn't occurred to me that it was spam. I stopped allowing anonymous comments. I don't know if it stopped legitimate commenters at all, but I couldn't stand the real estate deals anymore. xo

Anonymous said...

The comments are not real ones. They are created by a programs some of which analyse your site and say something that might sound real. The hope is normally that people click on a link and go to whatever site. They tend to be vaugue "I like your site", "your site is getting better", "I am interested in... [phrase from your site]" etc.

So don't take them personally they are all stupid.

You need to
1) turn on anti-spam controls in your dashboard - I am hosted by different provider so don't know how you do that but look on support pages
2) turn on approval for comments, so they go to a pending area and require approval. This will stop spam appearing on site

Sorry but I don't know more specifics as I am wordpress.

Does this mean you have made it? No, it means Spammers suck and you don't have anti-spam controls in place.

By the way though, yes you have made it!!!!

I hope this helps

Virginia said...

Angie - glad to hear I'm not the only one. Weird, isn't it?

Rainbow - yeah, they are all stupid, but only recently have I attracted the attention of spammers - so exciting. (I'm being sarcastic, BTW.) I will check out the anti-spam controls; considered not allowing anonymous comments, but I'm not sure about that.

Jim and Amy Rennie said...

I have gotten those exact two comments several times before. The first time, I thought it was real, and I was seriously upset. Now I just delete them and sigh. I set my blog for me to have to approve all comments first.

Monica H said...

Been there. done that. It's annoying as hell. I try to delete them as soon as they're left but really there's no way around it.

You could install word verification. That lessens the spam a bit. Also you could approve the comments before they're published so when they come across you can just reject them.

Catherine W said...

Is it wrong that I've just fallen off my chair laughing at your responses to your spam comments? If only you COULD actually send a reply to these people! My sense of humour is obviously getting a little dark these days. x

Virginia said...

Catherine, no, not wrong at all that you laughed - it IS funny. If they only knew what they were commenting on! It's also really annoying and stupid, but you have to laugh.

Kerrie McLoughlin said...

on WM Freelance Connection i wondered if you wrote through your pain. looks like you certainly do! good for you. this is such a terrific outlet for you to honor your baby. i have a post coming up in a few days (on the 13th) about when children die ... new ones and older ones. i'd love for you to come on over and check it out. it's http://thekerrieshow.com. i really like your blog!