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I don't know if anyone has noticed, but this blog is being hit a lot lately by comment spammers. I've been keeping up to it, so I don't think it's that bad right now.
The problem is they are not linking directly to their spam pages, but linking to a google group, or a yahoo group, or to a msn spaces.
Now, I don't want to block those domains, so right now I don't have an automated way to fight the spam. *sigh* I've reported a couple of those groups to msn or google, but I don't think that's the best way to keep up with it.
Spammers are evil. I want to reach through the ether and smack them upside the head. It's just another battle in the Spam Wars.
Posted by jim at January 31, 2006 07:12 AMThe key to avoiding blog spam is in biodiversity. I write my own blogging software, and therefore I get no spam. The spamming scripts only post on sites they know about, running blogging software they know about. I guess eventually they could write a script that could post on just about any blog, but I think they got enough generic blogs to post on for a while that they'll never have to worry about posting on non-generic blogs.
Posted by: Kibbee at January 31, 2006 12:03 PMI agree that the way to avoid the spam problem or lets say any other problem that deals with security is to write your own software. I am tired of OS exploits so I figure that tonight is a good night to write my own operating system. Biodiversity steps that I have taken to avoid annoyances:
- All software that I use is a home brew so that it can't be easily exploited
- I grow vegetables and have cattle in my basement hydrophonics rigging (the cows eat my indoor grass).
- After work I ride a stationary bike to power fuels cells for my house because you never know when a power outage will happen
- I run red lights because they just slow you down
- I use bio-gas in my car so that I am only slightly affected by those pesky oil companies
Yep, the best way to avoid a problem is to use a completely different infrastructure.
Posted by: James at January 31, 2006 04:45 PMhahahaha!!!
Posted by: Jim at January 31, 2006 07:36 PMbtw Kibbee, every time that you say something like that I feel SO much like writing a script that spams your blog. That way you can you also experience the joy of writing biodiverse antispam / blacklist software.
Posted by: Jim at January 31, 2006 07:43 PMyou are busted, you anti-spammer. spam! spam! spam! spam! spam! spam! spam! spam!
Posted by: random_spammer at January 31, 2006 09:38 PMI'm not saying that everyone should write their own software, I'm just pointing out the advantages of biodiversity in a software environment. No matter how good we think our software is, there will always be security exploits. The problem is, is when there is a security exploit with a piece of software that everyone uses, it becomes quite dangerous. If I get spammed on my blog, there isn't much damage done. However, if all the bloggers get spammed, it becomes a huge nuisance to everyone. If there's a secuity exploit in windows, then it's a big problem. If there's a security exploit in MS Dos, it's less of a problem because fewer people are using it.
Posted by: Kibbee at February 1, 2006 11:51 AMI've gotten *personal* replies from MySpaces saying the sites I reported have been disabled and a generic email from google groups as well.
The flood of those comment spam seems to have stopped (for now).
I'm glad that reporting abuse actually works. ;-)
Posted by: Jim at February 5, 2006 05:22 PM