I had the website set to moderate all comments, but after reading a few other blogs that highly objected to the practice– I turned it off.

And then immediately turned it on again for anything with one or more links in the comment.

Even after filtering out all the posts with links, the posts mentioning liveinternet.ru, article, or adultadsusa.com… I’m still getting a LOT of spam. There are apparently a lot of people (or bots) out there with nothing better to do than try and get their comments on random blogs so they get backlinks.

The amusing thing is that it’s not just random links or gibberish, a lot of them sound like actual comments– at least until you see what post they are linked to. Sorry, but I just don’t see my posts about silly colored plastic horse as being “very intelligent” or that they “really answered my problem.”

I’m not sure if the comment spammers really think I’ll fall for their out of context flattery about my website being awesomely informative, or if they figure I’ll just get lost in the flood and stop filtering. (I have been a little tempted to keep some of the less specific and more generally flattering comments, but I’d feel guilty. *le sighs*)

Some of them are completely out of context and obviously fake:

I’ve been to extraordinary buffets in Taipei at hotels like the Shangri La and the Splendid Hyatt with counters unconditional of fresh shellfish and sushi and curry and ice cream and take a liking to desserts and all sorts of different cuisine. Does anyone advised of if such a arrive exists in Madrid? It’s a extensive cannon-ball, but I’d be grateful for recommendations inasmuch as a special dinner. Thanks!

Some of them are almost real:

Once I originally commented I clicked the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox and now every time a comment is added I get 4 emails with the same comment. Is there any method you possibly can take away me from that service? Thanks!

And some of them are just blatant obvious pandering to folks who want to have ego-boosting things for their walls:

Aw, this was a very nice post. In idea I wish to put in writing like this moreover – taking time and precise effort to make an excellent article… but what can I say… I procrastinate alot and certainly not appear to get something done.

It’s sort of fascinating, but it makes me very aware that I need to sound 100% human if I’m going to be commenting on other people’s blogs. I mean, I’d love to have backlinks, but only in-context backlinks and only if they have something useful to add to the discussion on the posts they are attacehd to!

Plus I need to find a better way of filtering out the spam. Arg.