Buzz Marketing with Blogs: Flattering Comment Spam

Flattering Comment Spam

I don’t get a lot of comment spam (I attribute that mostly to the fact that I’m using a less common blogging tool, Expression Engine) but I found some this morning. Now I’ve seen a lot of comment spam on my personal blog and our company blog. Most of it doesn’t even make an attempt to disguise itself as anything other but a link to texas holdem or canadian pharmaceutical sites, but you sometimes see more creative things. Quotes seem to be popular, and there is always the ubiquitous “good site” accompanied by a link to something distasteful.

But today’s comment spam was pretty funny:

Thanks so very much for taking your time to create this very useful and informative site. I have learned a lot from your site. Thanks!! I think you have done an excellent job with your site. I will return in the near future.

Wouldn’t it be great if this was a real comment? How flattering, how complimentary. Gee, maybe I’ll leave this online.

But of course it’s too good to be true. The giveaway? Well, there was the name, for starters. This comment was left by someone calling themselves “free busines grants.” Then there was the link attached to that phrase, which I won’t be mentioning or duplicating here. And finally, the comment was left on a post I put up nearly 20 days ago. People do comment on old posts, but generally they are a little meatier than this one was.

I think comment and trackback spam are the worst problems in blogging today, but I have to give at least a few points to this guy, whoever he is. Finding a comment like this on your blog makes you stop and think for a second, “Well… couldn’t this be real? Maybe he really does like my site!”

UPDATE: The final giveaway? Multiple comments have appeared from Mr. “free government grants.”

Posted by Susannah Gardner on 03/10 at 02:33 PM • Blogs