Comment Spam

The first Spam comment I received on my blog was something directing readers (and me) to a site where someone was selling something. I deleted the comment and moved on.

Put a Word Verification up on my blog after the next one, and while I know no one is crazy about verifying ecomif or spludlat in order to leave a comment, it was the right thing to do because these sales comments stopped coming.

Then, back in the spring, when I was working on the political campaign, I started getting comments of a different sort. They were racial in nature and made some suggestions about my sexual preference. It was strange to see them on my comments section. I had a lot of reactions: annoyance, intrusion, pity, amazement were some of them.

I have a mental image of the commenter -- he's a lonely guy with a low-paying job and few interests. I say "guy," but, heck, it could be Dot, for all I know, as strange as she's become over recent months. She really ought to get back to quilting. Anyway, he doesn't visit often, and it is always a surprise. I usually find one of his comments in my mailbox and delete it and then go over to the blog and delete it from there so any subsequent reader won't see it and be offended. I know I'm not alone; my friend "J" hears from a person who has to be the same guy, judging by the nature of the comments. Good old Anonymous.

Been thinking, though, about whether to continue spending my time deleting his comments. If I'm reading someone's blog and see an inappropriate comment posted, I don't feel offended. I just move on and leave my comment. I suspect my readers have the same reaction.

For a while I had the feature where all comments had to have owner approval. That was even more time-consuming. So I'm wondering today, what other people do, whether they delete offensive comments or just leave them alone. I don't expect to get much, if any, response, but that's what I'm thinking about today. That and how pitiful it is that somebody has nothing more worthwhile to do with his time.

Sheesh.