On Comment Spam

{ED:  It seems I owe Mr. Sparks an apology.  What I took for content was advertising, a blog support that almost any blogger can take advantage of, offsetting the cost of the blog itself. 

Readers, your comments below reflect my observations.  It is difficult to face the spammage some days, and spam fatigue may lead to errors. 

I stand a bit red-faced and hope that next time, I will pay better attention.

Jenn}

Original Post:

If you offer a product or service that you think might be of interest to my readers, contact me - the email is in the sidebar.  If I agree with you, I'll be happy to add you in my linkbar.

Any trick links to commercial sites that appear in the comments will be summarily deleted.  I don't want to feed the spam-beast here. 

Andrew Sparks, I hope that you exist, and that you did enjoy your visit to my site.  I was really happy when I read your comments, and then my mood plummeted to bleak and grey when I realized that they were just a 'come-on' to get me to a commercial site that I am not interested in.  I grow my own flowers, thanks.  I have no need of a florist link. 

Has anybody else out there read Steinbeck's "The Chysanthemums"?

Comments

[Rurality]

Well at least your spam comments are somewhat related to your blog... almost all mine have all been about golfing!

[Takoma Gardener]

I read a marketing-on-line book that explained the practice of spamming comments and trackbacks. It seems that even if nobody ever sees it, the link's existence on zillions of websites enhances its search rating. I hate 'em, too, the way they flatter us like we're idiots. Susan

[Kathryn Johnson]

Thanks for the comments on blog spam. They are a new phenomenon for me. I am a reader of blogs not a writer. I love sidebar links. That's how I found you - through Dreams and Bones. And, I know about unattended gardens. Mine has had that treatment for the last few years. This year I am staying home and planting LOTS of zucchini. Seeds of Change just delivered a particularly beautiful packet of a globe variety. Please keep us posted on your carrots.

[Don]

The other day I pulled up an old page from someone's blog, and saw what comment spam can turn into... there must have been a hundred creepy entries congratulating the blogger for his wonderful blog, then linking to mostly sites offering prescription drugs, mainly narcotics. I do wonder when the whole internet is just going to go splat, collapsing under the weight of all the crap inundating it. By the way, I have a Nigerian friend who wants to share three million dollars, if you'll just send me your bank account number to deposit the money.
Don

[Nelumbo]

About the spam- yes it's really annoying. I added the verification step for comments and that has taken care of it for me.

And yes, I've read Steinbeck's "The Chysanthemums". I taught Intro to Liturature at a technical college one summer and that was one of the assigned readings. Didn't it make your heart break when she saw the remants of the plants on the road?

[Jenn]

Hey Nelumbo -

I first read The Chrysanthemums when I was in high school. Didn't 'touch' me at all then. But Steinbeck's power of words and images is such that years later*, when groping for something to illustrate my feelings, that story returned to me.

*(over twenty!)

And yes, that gut wrench at the end is very effective, especially for a gardener.

He uses that device again in The Red Colt - A book that was perhaps offered to an unready audience in a young readers horse book club.

I was ready to read San Domingo: The Medicine Hat Stallion and Black Gold - both by Marguerite Henry, and cry with catharsis at their endings, but The Red Colt left me wretched and miserable.

Probably should read it again as an adult and find out what Steinbeck was talking about.

[Judith]

I haven't read Steinbeck for many moons & years. I am curious about The Chrysanthemums & have put it on my list. As for spam, I hope it stays away from me.

[Junior]

Hi ! Your site is very interesting. Thank you.

[Nelumbo]

I haven't read the Red Colt, although I've heard it's a good one. I've had "Grapes of Wrath" on my reading list for a long time, too, but I'm always putting it off because I'm afraid it will leave me utterly depressed.