If your answer to both questions is "No!!", then you're a fairly normal person, and not a spambot.
But hey, it's my blog. So I'm going to gather up a mass of spammer comments below, and maybe someday I'll analyse them, perhaps even find a tool to track down and aggregate the information they give me - for example, the sources from which they indiscriminately yank their random word strings.
Normally I moderate comments and trash the trash, so you have no insight into what goes on. But this time, I'll let it all through.
If you have a genuine comment to make, you'll need to use the word sphenodont to flag that you've actually read these words - and I'll publish these comments manually. Good luck!, and heaven help us all.
24-Aug-2018 Update: It took five and a half days for the spambots to arrive at this post, and there's currently a steady stream, at a range of times. They mostly hit only the latest post, but there's odd exceptions that target random earlier posts.
Why do they do it? Spamdexing is given as one explanation - this is aimed at steering search engines to particular web sites, and affecting search engine optimisation. However, in recent times there's been no attempt to include links or phrases to steer search engines, so I'm still at a bit of a loss. I welcome an explanation of how these random comments below can be turned to someone's advantage...
Why do they do it? Spamdexing is given as one explanation - this is aimed at steering search engines to particular web sites, and affecting search engine optimisation. However, in recent times there's been no attempt to include links or phrases to steer search engines, so I'm still at a bit of a loss. I welcome an explanation of how these random comments below can be turned to someone's advantage...
Of course Bazza is certainly not a spambot - he graced us with his presence in person a few years ago. He was quicker off the mark than the bots. I'll publish his and other real comments here, within the body of post.
bazza said...
I sphenodont really know what this post is about! I don't know what's squamata...
CLICK HERE for Bazza’s powerfully pervasive Blog ‘To Discover Ice’
CLICK HERE for Bazza’s powerfully pervasive Blog ‘To Discover Ice’
Tuesday, 20 August 2019 at 06:36:00 GMT+10
03-Sep-2019 Why is it so? A conjecture: The lingering question is: why post comments without any useful content.
A fresh comment came in - which I have caught in the slips - that may or may not give some insight:
I had had a thought that the spammers were using spambots to test the waters: are there any websites that allow the comments to get through? - if so, add next-step comments with payloads. The above is actually the first spam I've seen in a long time that had any payload at all. It's also the first time I've seen spam from India, which may signal that over time, people in different countries are adjusting methods, moving on.
03-Sep-2019 Why is it so? A conjecture: The lingering question is: why post comments without any useful content.
A fresh comment came in - which I have caught in the slips - that may or may not give some insight:
"Useful Information :
Looking for the Best Digital Marketing Company in V***a [link therein] and H***d affiliate agency in *** INDIA, Digital Marketing in V***a @ p***s.com [decomposed email address therein]"
I had had a thought that the spammers were using spambots to test the waters: are there any websites that allow the comments to get through? - if so, add next-step comments with payloads. The above is actually the first spam I've seen in a long time that had any payload at all. It's also the first time I've seen spam from India, which may signal that over time, people in different countries are adjusting methods, moving on.
