For years comment spam was submitted by robots, which quickly became a huge problem. Fortunately for us the spam-fighting tools have grown smart and know how to kick those robots squarely in the arse. However, because of the new super-powerful spam tools the spammers are showing some signs of intelligence (or desperation) and are starting to submit spam another way…
What is it?
A lot of spammers are starting to send comment spams by using their own hands. Instead of using robots, which can’t perform CAPTCHAs and other tests on their own, they have resorted to human-submitted spam.
My proof? Well to be honest I don’t have rock-solid evidence, only a hunch. However, all of this explains why a couple of months ago Spam Karma started letting spam through like crazy, and it also explains why Akismet is letting through more spam.
By submitting their spam manually they can avoid any problems with CAPTCHAs, “what year is it is?” questions, and other tests. In addition, they can also customize their comments a bit more to fit in with your blog’s theme.
How can I detect it?
If something doesn’t sound right in their comment, you should be very suspicious.
In general I try to clean things up by deleting any overly advertorial comments. For example, if someone says something like “Yeah? But you know what else is great about that super mineral water? It helps you regenerate your strength and your health”… well yeah… sounds too much like an advertisement for my liking.
Nothing is free in the advertising world, if someone wants ad space on your blog you should charge them for it.
If you are unsure of them then take note of the IP, name, e-mail, and URL just in case they do another comment like that. If they submit several comments which are similar in content they are probably a spammer.
How can I avoid it?
I use to love Spam Karma but I switched to Akismet a few months back because SK was letting through far too many spams. I think Akismet has the best chance of beating this spam since it can “learn” by submitting spams to a server, but even it has its problems.
I think it is still really important to be on top of every comment that comes in. Since more spam is being submitted by humans it makes sense to fight it with humans, doesn’t it? Then again, if your getting more than 100 or so comments (spam or otherwise) per day it can be quite hectic to check every one… and that is when you should let your user’s inform you if a spam makes it through or if one of their comments disappears.
The good news about all this is I suspect this new (or old and reemerging) form of spam isn’t very widespread yet. However, the bad news is that I tend to think the spammers like testing the patience of bloggers and I also think a lot of bloggers ignore this new type of spam and dismiss it as being stupid but harmless comments.
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