Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Assault?

I just had an "interesting" thing happen to me.

Occasionally (I think it has been three times) I will get a comment that says "Click here." Usually someone's name, and those two words. I decided that I wasn't being rude if I just deleted this comment without clicking and without checking out who had commented. If the person won't make more of a personal comment and is asking me to do something on my computer and I don't know them (for example I probably would click if one of my blog friends identified themselves and just left those two words) then maybe I'm the one who should feel offended. So I've deleted three comments.

But today's comment on a back post wasn't a comment. It was an epistle! And quite off the wall, nothing to do with anything. Space invaders and discrimination against females and God's lack of power etc. I didn't read it all because it really was an epistle. Obviously someone has just copied from a book or article and pasted it into the comment form. They couldn't have written all of that in one sitting. It was anonymous too but the first line was extremely offensive.

I don't mind deleting things but I do feel that someone could easily disrupt my blogging relationships, make me fearful of the comment box, and be offensive to anyone else who might read the strange comment before I get around to deleting it. Has anyone else been having this problem? I'm stuck between two feelings; hoping I've not been singled out and hoping that no one else has had this unpleasant situation on their blog.

And what to do about it if anything? I like the public side of the blog, letting others read and comment, but gee, if I'm going to assaulted, I don't know...

It's gone for now and I'm praying it won't happen again. If you have advice my blogger friends, let me know!

19 comments:

Leah S said...

I doubt it's an assault, just good ol' spammers. I get them from time to time, cheerfully trash their comments without ever clicking the links.

If it becomes really bad, you can turn on your comment verification (that shuts down most bots and computer-controlled comments) and another stop would be to turn on the comment modification, which allows you to check each comment before publishing them.

Fran said...

Change your comment settings so people who want to leave you a message have to put in the password - the jumbled letters that are copied in. I'm sure that would help.

Clare said...

I've started getting spammers on the Quilts 4 Leukaemia blog and have had to moderate comments.

The best thing you can do is to disallow anonymous comments and add word verification if you must (I personally hate it!). Don't think word verification really does stop the spammers but worth a go. In th emeantime uncheck the anonymous comments box.

Just Don't Click on the Links!

BTW I don't have this problem with Wordpress!!!!!!!!!!!

The Calico Cat said...

I took off the "Anonymous" capability. I still get the occasional "click here" but I delete those without thinking twice about it.

tami said...

I have word verification on mine and I have never gotten a spam comment. (watch, i'll get one today) I have seen other bloggers remove the verification and immediately start getting spam messages so I think it does help.

Quilt Pixie said...

I once in a while get spam comments, but because every comment comes to my email, I quickly know and delete it....

Christine Thresh said...

Tanya,

I got the same thing today. It went on and on and did not make any sense at all. I deleted it.
I have put the word verification thing in action, but it didn't stop this odd commenter.
I hope I do not get any more of these.

Shelina said...

I've seen lots of junk messages on people's comments lately - most of it is spam. Don't take it personally - just put word verification on. I think people just play games to see what they can do. I think enough bloggers have word verification on, that it won't reduce the number of legitimate comments.

paula, the quilter said...

Like the others, I've had to turn on word verification. I haven't resorted to the point of either moderation or removing the capability of anonymous commenters. I have some family members who will occasionally comment and they do not have a blog. So if I turn that off then they can not comment.

Elaine Adair said...

I had the same thing and deleted it. Googled on that item and we are only a few of the MANY recipients of all that stuff! And once I also had the "click here" thing that I deleted right away. In 2 years of blogging, I only had TWO spam items so that isn't too bad considering all the GREAT comments. 8-)

That last one was really weird, wasn't it? I tried to figure what the gripe was, and just got bored with all the craziness.

janet said...

I have been enjoying your blog for the past month. I teach world geography to 12 and 13 year olds in Tennessee in the United States and your blog is very insightful to life in Japan.

I also quilt and sew from time to time. Thank you for the time you spend sharing your life on your blog!

jovaliquilts said...

I've been getting "click here" occasionally but I just delete them. Those are the only problems I've had since I removed the crazy letter verification. I think it was worth it. The odd spammer isn't so bad, as long as there aren't too many.

andsewitis Holly said...

So far I have been spared. I have word verification and I think that helps to some extent.

Katie said...

What's so bad about word verification? Takes very little time to do and I think it help prevent the crazies.

Mary said...

I get these occasionally too and delete them. I don't have word verification on and I hate to go back to it but it's something to consider.

I do have quite a few who use the anonymous option that don't have blogger accounts so I personally wouldn't remove that option.

Comment moderation is also a possibility - then nothing would show up until you'd approved it.

For now, I'm waiting to see if it gets any worse before I change any settings.

meggie said...

There seems to be a particularly crazy long spam thing doing the rounds at present. Just delete would be my choice. I never click on anon click here comments.
Luckily I have not had trouble, but always a first time I guess.

4 Boys and a Lady said...

We agree about the spambots. They aren't live people but programs that troll the internet, sending and leaving random messages all over.

Activating the comment verification may do the trick. (^_^)

-Leigh

CONNIE W said...

Same thing happened to me. Must be making the quilt blog rounds. I deleted it without a second thought. It was basically nonsense anyway.

Rose Marie said...

When I had word verification on, I didn't get any spam comments; then once I took it off, the spam started appearing. Now that the WC is back on, I have not had any more spam comments.