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I already mentioned in a previous post that like many others out there, Marketing Hipster has been inundated with spam comments recently. Even though Akismet is doing a fabulous job catching them, I have been amazed at the sheer numbers I have been getting over the last week or two. I was thinking what could be done to stop comment spam.
My first idea was to equip my computer with a powerful laser that could pinpoint these spammers IP address and my laser would travel through phone and cable wires right up to their computer and fry their computers, toast them! Yea, laser… Oh but before that would happen, I would take over their computers and have a picture come up on their screens with a picture of me with a big smile on my face and giving them the finger. I then woke up from fantasy land and thought that maybe a more realistic idea was in order.
Now I believe there are only two main reasons why spammers use comments on blogs to promote their wares. First off, at the off chance that someone would see their link and click on it, very unlikely, but still a chance. The much larger reason is for the search engines to see the link and give the spammers web sites better visibility in the search engines. If this is the case, why not take this opportunity away from the spammers? Why couldn’t Google create a spam site that bloggers could submit a copy of the spam to them and then Google could ban their sites from it’s search engine? They already do this for SEO.
Without any visibility, their web sites are out of business. I know this seems rather simple, but sometimes the simplest ideas are the best ones. Why wouldn’t this work? Let me know your thoughts.
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Technorati Tags: spam comments, search engines, spammers, Google
It would be abused. Spam wouldn’t decrease, but instead of spamming with links to their own sites, the spammers would start putting in links to their competitors (in order to get the competition banned).
This isn’t a problem with the spam report form that you linked to, because those things (cloaking, hidden text, doorway pages, etc) are all under the direct control of the site owner. Anyone can leave a spam comment with a link to any site; there’s no way to prove that the owner of the linked site was actually the one who left the spam.
Right now, most spam probably comes from the sites advertised (or people working on their behalf), but as soon as you change the rules by penalizing sites, spammers will change their tactics.
Kevin,
I disagree with you. I am not saying that Google would ban a site for one spam comment, but if they get complaints from 15 different sites with tens of hundreds of emails, they should be banned.
Yes, I agree with you once spammers could get penalized, they will change their tactics, that is the nature of the beast. Though just because people will change tactics does not mean we should not do it.
My main point was that at this time, the spammers believe that it is easier to cheat than do it the right way when it comes to getting attention and visibility in the search engines. We need to focus on changing that till we can get to a point that spamming will deliver no better results than doing it the right way.
Thanks for the comment.
Cord, this laser of yours would be a great weapon, but I was thinking that if such a thing were possible, significant portions of the economies of Russia and certain East European countries would collapse.;-)
Vince, I know, I know… But a boy can dream can’t I?
The reason Google can’t do this isn’t just that the spammers will change their tactics. The problem is that the system your proposing would actually give the spammers more power to influence search results.
Say, for example, that I was a spammer selling widgets. I’d have automated software that allowed me to find comment forms and submit my spam comments to thousands of blogs per day (and they do). Each comment would have links to my widget site(s), because I’m trying to get backlinks and some click-through traffic. The reality is that my efforts would be pretty fruitless, as most of those comments would be caught by Askimet or manually deleted, and most of those that got through are nofollowed.
Now Google implements this new policy, and begins banning sites that have numerous spam complaints. Set the bar as high as you want, say 500 complaints before a site is banned. If I were a spammer, what do I do?
I spam more. Now, instead of setting my software to post one or two comments for my site, I post hundreds of spam comments to each blog, with links to every legitimate site that sells widgets, in an effort to get my competition banned from Google. Spamming thousands of sites with my competitors URLs would not be a problem, because I’d have automated software to do it for me.
Now google starts banning legitimate sites that have never spammed anyone, and they’re flooded with reinclusion requests from webmasters who were wrongly banned. All of these sites have to be manually reviewed, making more work for Google. With the use of automated comment posters, the number of innocent sites banned could easily reach into the millions, totally overwhelming any efforts at manual review.
Banning sites based on their appearance in spam comments is just too open to abuse.
The laser is a good idea, but I prefer the Lex Talionis approach.
Find their IP, and then send THEM so much spam that it not only shuts down their server, but all electricity in a 3-block area.
Kevin,
You make some good points that is why my laser idea is such a better idea!!
Jeremy, the problem with that is their IP changes depending on when they are on and where they are, so you could take out some innocents in your spam attack. Though I am still open to that.
Thanks guys for the comments.
The laser idea is awesome. As soon as the Laser-over-IP technology is perfected, those spammers will be toast
Love your blog, by the way. I just found you the other day via Antman at Cre8buzz.
Kevin, thank you so much for the compliment. Why don’t you and I get together and come up with the laser IP. We could call it LIP?
Good post. I’m surprised that Google hasn’t thought of a way to counteract this - since obviously having these spamming sites rank high organically leads to a crappier search experience. Also, when you search blogs through Google you get a lot of spam again - so it makes that search frustrating.
Stefanie,
Thanks for the comment and I agree with you. That is why I am proceeding with my laser idea.
Thanks for stopping by!