- Image by Getty Images via Daylife
I decided I would call it “Creative Spam” for the simple fact that it’s not your typical dumb spam comment or some kind of spam comment that comes through as if a drunken hobbit with 3 total fingers or toes wrote the comment.
It might not actually be considered spam in a lot of people’s eyes and I know that many of the blogs I visit on a daily basis (and leave comments on) have also commented in regards to this “Creative Spam”. Creative spam actually annoys me more than regular spam comments do for the simple fact that 98% of my spam comments are grabbed by the WordPress plugin Akismet.
Creative spam comments are comments left by trusted bloggers that you interact with from time to time and the comments are usually left in a way that ties in with the article that they are commenting on, however for whatever reason they feel compelled to throw in a link to their own blog or site at every chance they get. Sorry kiddies, but that shit is annoying.
I happen to feel that if your an active member of the blogging community there is really no need to link dump on someone’s blog, now some of you won’t agree because chances are you do it from time to time and have seen link love benefits or traffic benefits from it. Regardless of what you believe dropping links into someone else’s article that really has nothing to do with the specific article or is out dated and one of your own posts is a rookie move.
Now don’t get me wrong here, not everyone that drops a link of their own into a post on someone else’s blog is a creative comment spammer, networking as a blog owner is extremely important and sharing link love with the people in your network is important. Please keep in mind that one of the keywords in that statement is the word “sharing”, which means it’s not a one way street that only one of the parties in the blog network does.
I have a few excellent blog networks that I am involved in with some really good people like The Constant Complainer, Pot Politics, and Tycoon Blogger to name a few. When it comes to those blogs I feel tight enough with them to drop a link or two and would imagine they do as well, funny part is I don’t believe I have ever dropped a link on any of those blogs and am pretty sure they haven’t dropped any on Extreme John either.
Something else bloggers are doing when commenting on other bloggers blogs is constantly name dropping their own blogs or services, sorry kiddies that shit is annoying too.
A few of you are probably thinking, “Whats the big deal?” The big deal is that I don’t run around to other blogs in my network or even blogs I am not networked with and drop links to my posts or run in real quick and post a comment like, “I write about shoes on my blog EXTREME JOHN“. Ok great, who gives a shit? Seriously like someone can’t find your damn blog from the Comment Luv link located conveniently under every single DO FOLLOW comment you leave.
Consider this another hot newbie blogger tip to consider as you grow your blog network and increase your backlinks, be natural and leave a normal comment that doesn’t name drop or link your product, especially on blogs using Comment Luv and Keyword Luv plugins.
Leave a comment and let me know how you feel about creative spam comments on your own blog or better yet if you are a creative comment spammer take a moment to tell us why you take this approach when growing your blog network and backlinks. If you dig this kind of stuff and feel up to the challenge subscribe to my rss feed.
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{ 29 comments… read them below or add one }
Twitter: computelive
Till now I have never came across “creative spam comments”.. But I think its only a matter of time. As you might have noticed my blog is only 2 months old now..and I have 35 spam grabbed by Akismet.
.-= Compute Live´s last blog ..Fix iTunes Store Error 3259 =-.
Twitter: extremejohn
@Compute Live, it doesn’t take long once your blog gets growing for it to generate a tremendous amount of spam and of course creative spam.
To date I had around 24,500 spam comments caught.
Twitter: computelive
@Extreme John,
Your 2 comments on my blog where flaged as spam by Akismet.. lucky I saw them and approved it.
.-= Compute Live´s last blog ..Fix iTunes Store Error 3259 =-.
Twitter: TheRealGooroo
John, the same thing happened over at my blog. Two of your comments were marked as spam, but were completely legit.
I had this happen with some of my comments in the past. I contacted Akismet and they fixed the problem.
.-= The Gooroo @ iBlogPlanet.com´s last blog ..Keyword Optimizer SEO Plugin =-.
Twitter: techfreaks
Sometimes it becomes very difficult to catch the creative spam comments! Sometimes, Even akismet classifies true comments as spam. I receive about 10-15 spam comments everyday!
.-= Tech-Freak Stuff´s last blog ..Useful Tips for Writing Good Blog Comments =-.
Twitter: extremejohn
@Tech-Freak Stuff, yeah some of the spammers are pretty good at what they do, all though I don’t consider your “creative spammers” to be exactly the same as generic spammers.
Twitter: ducedo
I’ve actually done this once or twice without thinking about it. You read a great post and comment your point of view on it and then end by linking to a post or tutorial describing your comment in detail. Mostly I have linked to other sites, not related to mine.
But I do agree with you that there are to many people trying to get some traffic and link love by using this method. Personally I will try to think twice before leaving a link, but sometimes it adds a lot of value to your comment.
.-= Stefan´s last blog ..Make Money Online With Sponsored Tweets =-.
Twitter: extremejohn
@Stefan, Stefan there is no question that from time to time throwing a link into a comment field that is relevant is good stuff, it can be helpful to the blogger or that blogs readers.
Twitter: frugalzeitgeist
Hi, what a great blog. My first tim here. Very fun, I would likr to direct you to an interesting post about vegetables, the url….. Ok I am joking! Hope you didn’t delete this one!
I agree with you totally. The fact that you provide dofollow link love should be enough for the no good spamasses.
Actually it is my first time here!
Thanks,
Forest.
.-= Forest@FrugalLiving´s last blog ..Pampered Chef Recipes =-.
Twitter: extremejohn
@Forest@FrugalLiving, I was waiting for you to hit me with it haha.
Welcome to my little filthy corner I appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment, it’s much nicer when comments are natural and real ya know.
Twitter: BlazingMinds
I’ve had a few “Creative Spam Comments” and they get trashed, there is no need to link to their blogs in posts, that’s what CommenLuv is for
.-= Karen@Blazing Minds´s last blog ..Shameless plug for a wicked compilation album! =-.
Twitter: extremejohn
@Karen@Blazing Minds, you hear that kids Karen isn’t playing games any more! Great stuff Karen, it’s something I have noticed more of lately also.
Twitter: TheRealGooroo
Hahahaha, you’re a funny guy John. I agree with you. I don’t think I’ve ever done this. If I have, the link I provided would have been DIRECTLY related to the post.
.-= The Gooroo @ iBlogPlanet.com´s last blog ..Keyword Optimizer SEO Plugin =-.
Twitter: extremejohn
@The Gooroo @ iBlogPlanet.com, I have never seen you drop any “Creative Comments” with links or name dropping, your a valued commentor here
Twitter: musicjudge
Quite right, it is pretty damn annoying, and kinda rude actually.. Especially on a blog like yours where – as you rightly say – you’re already providing DoFollow links to people just for their comment. I think what annoys me most is that they link you off to some horrible and irrelevant article, which generally means that when someone is actually linking you to something worthwhile, you’re less inclined to go check it out
.-= Hard Rocking South African@Music Judge´s last blog ..Featured Video =-.
Twitter: extremejohn
@Hard Rocking South African@Music Judge, that’s actually a great way to put it because people in general get gun shy about clicking on things once they have been stung.
Just recently someone placed a link into a very well written comment here, the link looked great upon first click which is where the trick was, because when clicked a second time or when leaving the window open the page had two consoles. I don’t link to sites with consoles, ever.
Twitter: GreatestReviews
Ya! thats right creative spams suck. It makes me thinking if this comment is worth or not. If the commentator leaves nice comment and then gives a useful link it is OK.
I once saw a commentator who just put a link in comment saying he was testing if Do Follow links work. He commented on a article about No Follow or Do Follow. I cannot approve that.
.-= Agent 001´s last blog ..Virus Total – Online Tool for Total Virus Scan =-.
Twitter: ditesco
Anything that leaves a signature on the body of a comment is very annoying (to me at least). I receive some pretty good comments once in a while (and damn good ones) and the one thing I do not understand is how can they screw up a perfectly good comment buy linking to products, landing pages and the sorts. I do not have a problem if the link is to add value for my readers but if you have commentluv enabled, that should suffice. You are right though about craetive spamming because it requires also creative moderation, lol – and that is probably why it annoys me more than great post!
.-= DiTesco´s last blog ..More Income Opportunity For AdSense Publishers =-.
Twitter: extremejohn
@DiTesco, exactly, why the dumb extra sig anyway like the other hundred ways to get to your spot aren’t enough.
My policy on “Creative Spam Comments” is: If the comment AND the link And the post it links to adds to my blog and the discussion on my post and its comments, it publishes. If it’s just self-serving pablum with a link inserted (oddly appropriate adverb, eh?), it disappears into digital oblivion. If a commenter is adding value, I want to give some link love.
1st comment here and I just love that pic in the straight jacket. Classic and probably somewhat accurate, I imagine.
.-= Keith@Norman Rockwell Art´s last blog ..Aug 25, Norman Rockwell Christmas: Knight Looking In Stained Glass Window, 1930 Christmas Painting =-.
Twitter: extremejohn
@Keith@Norman Rockwell Art, thank you for dropping by and leaving a comment I appreciate it
Yes the straight jacket is needed from time to time thats for sure.
I love the digital oblivion line, I am just getting to comments now for the first time in about 12 hours which means I will have some decent spam and name droppers to contend with.
Twitter: zxxxt
I agree especially if the link has nothing to do with the article they’re commenting. So do you remove the link or remove the comment altogether John?
.-= ZXT´s last blog ..Keller Hawthorne Best WP 2009 design contest =-.
Twitter: extremejohn
@ZXT, it just depends how I feel and it also depends how annoying I find the comment to be.
Twitter: zxxxt
Fair enough. Removing the link though effectively killing the spam
.-= ZXT´s last blog ..8 Ways to Improve your Alexa Ranking =-.
Twitter: shaunjudy
I hate comment spam just as much as the next guy. I have been using a plugin called AntiSpamBee as of late instead of Akismet. It has worked wonders for me. I really hate the 2 word comments with a link in them,plus my commentLuv plugin as well.
Peace
.-= ShaunJudy´s last blog ..Link Love Tuesday 09-01-09 =-.
Spam aggravates me; I’ve encountered the “creative spam” you speak of and find it mannerless.
I gotta say that there’s something even worse that I encountered when I first started blogging, and see less of now that I have a regular readership. There were a whole bunch of trolls that thought they could be smarter than me in the comments, and the thing was, they were saying things that were half-right. But it was done so rudely and with a tone of “you know nothing” attached to it that it would get under my skin. It wasn’t them, just the feeling “is everyone on the internet like this? If so, do I want to be here?”
I guess I’m going a long way to say – it’s possible to be rude and mannerless occasionally, and still show respect for the fact content creation is hard. But a lot of people are just trying to talk over each other (i.e. “creative spam,” “trolls”) and that’s not cool.
.-= ashok´s last blog ..Note on Alice Shapiro’s “I” =-.
I am brazillian and actually have 2 internet business, and answering e-mails take me at least 2 hour per day! I can?t continue with this anymore. But, I don?t know someone that is able to answer the same way I do, so I wonder the day I will can get a trip without headaches.
but there are sites out there that give you credit. I found one at http://www.car-loans-for-bad-credit.com
I’ve thrown a link in a couple times, but it was very relevant. I’ve had plenty of it on my blog though which I just delete
Every once in awhile its something good and I’ll let it slide.
.-= Jordasche Bledsoe´s last blog ..Taylor Momsen Graces Seventeen Magazine =-.
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