This Is Me--2024 A to Z Theme

My A to Z Themes in the past have covered a range of topics and for 2024 the theme is a personal retrospective that I call "I Coulda Been" which is in reference to my job and career arc over my lifetime. I'll be looking at all sorts of occupations that I have done or could have done. Maybe you've done some of these too!

Monday, November 8, 2010

Blog Boggled: What's the Blogging Idea Anyway?

         When I first started blogging last year and rarely received any comments, I was absolutely thrilled when I received something similar to the following:


Anonymous has left a new comment :
Sorry for my bad english. Thank you so much for your good post. Your post helped me in my college assignment, If you can provide me more details please email me.



         I was so pleased that my blog had actually touched someone. Not only had what I had written been read by somebody, I had also helped them with their college research. Then it dawned on me: What kind of college research would this particular blog post had helped? And how was I going to email this student when I didn't have any email address to which to respond.

        Eventually I received other comments that thanked me for my impressively scholastic blog posts that helped other students with their college papers. And it was not only me. I began to see that many of your blog posts were of invaluable aid in college research. I wonder if they are giving our blog posts proper citations in the references for resources used.

        Then there was the very official sounding "anonymous" comment:

Anonymous said...
Thanks for sharing the link, but unfortunately it seems to be offline... Does anybody have a mirror or another source? Please reply to my post if you do!
I would appreciate if a staff member here at (your blog address here) could post it.


Thanks,
Peter

        Alas, once again there was no link or address that I could use to help these people out. And to think this could have gotten my blog out there to a wider audience. I was a bit in the dark about the technical jargon used in this message. What did they mean by "mirror"? But they clearly thought that my blog was something big since they asked for a "staff member" to assist them. Why, sure, let me see if I can get someone on my blog staff to help.

         Soon I realized that this message was coming from a larger internet corporation as well. I began seeing this same message on many of your blogs, but the thank you always came from a different person. They must have a lot of people on their staff. What did you think when you received this message?

            When I began to receive comments in other languages--especially the ubiquitous Asian characters--I knew I was reaching the world. There were messages like this one:

モバゲー has left a new comment on the post "your post name":


モバゲーが遂に出会いをプロデュースする事になりました。今まで禁止していた事も全て解放で皆様の出会いをお手伝いさせて頂きます。

          Which when translated by Google means:

Now I finally met Mobage to produce. We will help you to meet everyone in the past is to be freed up to now ban

         Actually this is not the best example since it actually translates into something. Not something I needed to know, but somebody must have thought I should know it anyway. Then of course there are the ones that give information that I never needed to know. The ones I like the most are the ones that Google cannot identify as a legitimate language. I've concluded that those messages are from intergalactic sources. At last! Contact from space aliens and right here on our blogs.

         Then there are the comments we've been seeing all over the place lately that provide us with a list of what somebody must think are helpful links:

cheap Adobe Premium
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order Adobe Creative Suite
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or:

microsoft downloads (link):
lipitor for sale
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lipitor commercial
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lipitor drug assistance
lipitor commercial script ( links)
buying lipitor online
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Or =

          Some other listing of links that someone, somewhere thinks somebody will click on for more information. I have not included the links here, so if you're interested in more information you'll have to wait until one of these messages appears on your own blog or a blog near you. No way I'm going to click on these--they might be a gateway to some intergalactic invasion. Do any of you shop through these spammy blog links?

        Sometimes the comments are cryptic shorties that just leave me saying, "What?" Things like:


fioricet imprintsfioricet 100
Becoming the gardening in 1991, the self-administer reputation went the hasty people for public of sprawling areas from broad into english.

         What?


          Then my real favorites are the long literary comments that are haughty in style and ridiculous in meaning. I'm sure you've all seen many variations on this one:



Having already mastered the artistry of menswear due to the fact that decline, it's time to judge the most modish way to bundle recompense when temps go apropos south. Fortunately, you won't have to look much farther than your closet to wrap yourself in in goodness.It's like they were saying, we be aware you procure to exhibit your [url=http://www.uchristianlouboutin.com]Christian Louboutin shoes[/url] a variety of dissimilar ways, we recognize these be struck by to useful to a practicality in your survival for the weekend, when you're with your kids, when you're at work, when you're prospering senseless at night,So here's a way you can get the most abroad of something that you have in your closet. And if you look at it like that, it's like, 'wow, this is gonna astonish hip memoirs into how I attrition everything.


There are no rules suitable now in fashion. You can be glamorous morning, high noon and night. You can mix prints. You can show sequins in the sun. The alone declare is to try to look your excellent and to comprise game of and pet honourableness there what [url=http://www.uchristianlouboutin.com/Cheap%20Christian%20Louboutin-platforms_c18]Christian Louboutin Platforms[/url] you're wearing.



Or this Variation:

Having already mastered the adroitness of menswear due to the fact that tackle, it's time to consider the most elegant parenthetically a via to bundle in requital for when temps leave rightful south. Fortunately, you won't take to look much farther than your closet to wrap yourself in with it goodness.It's like they were saying, we be aware you make to exhibit your [url=http://www.uchristianlouboutin.com]Christian Louboutin shoes[/url] a breed of different ways, we recall these be struck by to deal out a practicality in your living exchange for the weekend, when you're with your kids, when you're at dispose, when you're present senseless at gloaming,So here's a personality you can leave a mark on the most abroad of something that you accept in your closet. And if you look at it like that, it's like, 'wow, this is gonna astonish contemporary memoirs into how I clothes everything.


There are no rules well in the present climate in fashion. You can be bewitching morning, noon and night. You can mix prints. You can show sequins in the sun. The exclusively rule is to try to look your excellent and to be subjected to fun and judge honourableness back what [url=http://www.uchristianlouboutin.com/Cheap%20Christian%20Louboutin-platforms_c18]Christian Louboutin Platforms[/url] you're wearing.

        Thank you, Christian Louboutin for that extraordinarily high brow message. You have added class and an air of incomprehensibility to my comment section. Oh, and sorry--delete.


        Or how about this for a surrealistic experience in literature:

Jerky motion can lead to serious muscle when they find ?That pin signifies that she has a special relationship with President Reagan. Pitch, I dreamed a dream that millions of other kids had religious people, and then they come after you with them about it two or three times a week for several weeks. After we got off the stage trying to get them interested in a song impression created by the cover was: Sure Miami can save itself. Make the house look racing around, gathering up the broken pieces of his life and shrieking garbage everywhere, and if you really concentrate, you can actually see them giving off smell rays, such as you see in comic strips. Trained sheep will that has the system we have now. Innovative idea she has ever thought of, which is which is easily the most dangerous all realize they quit smoking, so they?ll spontaneously sit back down. Healthy economy in the form of people squatting on the sidewalk tax system is going to be mighty like a water bed salesman, but hey, I?m just a talent. Probably why you see so few of them around any dog can presidency had been a remarkable parade of hanky-panky, comical incompetence, and outright weirdness, and the country.
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         I'm sure those of us who are writers can learn much from this passage. Who wrote this anyway--Hunter S. Thompson? Seems like something gonzo to me. If taking this weight loss medication makes your mind think like this, then coherent thinking writers beware.


         Recently Stephen Tremp mentioned on his Breakthrough blog that someone had offered him to leave 20 quality comments on his blog for $5. I wonder if they would be the types of comments that I have illustrated in my post for today? For that matter I wonder if anyone does pay to have comments put on their blog?


           As for the types of comments I've mentioned above, does anyone know anything about them? Are they something that we bloggers should be concerned about? I occasionally mark them as spam, but usually I just delete them and that's it--unless there is something particularly amusing about them which there rarely is. I don't trust these anonymous visitors who are not really commenting on my blog posts, but are trying to leave messages for somebody. Can anybody shed some light for me about this mysterious world of blog spammers and what it all means? I'm just curious--are you?

          Talk about lead-ins: Since I've mentioned Stephen Tremp and mysterious worlds and beings, be sure to join me here tomorrow (Tuesday November 9, 2010) as I host Stephen Tremp on his Breakthrough Blog Tour. Stephen will be presenting some very fascinating stuff about other dimensions, worlds, and beings that are not quite of this world. I don't know if he'll shed any light on my blog mysteries, but I think you will find his topic of interest. See you then!








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35 comments:

  1. I've wondered about this too. I don't get a ton of SPAM, but I do get it. It fascinates me people take the time do do that crap.

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  2. Those are some . . . interesting comments. I wonder, too, where people get the time to bother publishing wacky comments that have no particular purpose.

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  3. I get those as well. Seems like a lot of effort for something that's just going to be deleted!

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  4. Fascinating. I've not had any like that so far, but I do get the occasional email offering me cheap drugs!

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  5. I don't get much of those crazy comments and spam, fortunately, but I do see them occasionally on other blogs. I think that this new Blogger's spam protection works quite nicely.

    And I always knew you had some secret blog staff, Lee, but I doubt they are as efficient as my Madagascar penguins ;)

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  6. Sometime ago I had some not so nice comments...nothing to do with my blog and yes I have had some in another language but I deleted it as I couldn't understand what the heck they were writing about,

    Most interesting issue Lee .

    Yvonne.

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  7. Yes, I have gotten these random comments--I delete them. ;) Wordpress notifies me of how many spam comments it deletes--there are many more that get filtered than what I see.

    My blog recently got chosen for some college award or whatever...there were several other participants listed on a webpage, but with no actual links to get more info. SPAM!

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  8. You are too funny! I never thought about translating that junk. I just mark them spam and move on. I have only received a few of those, but don't know how to stop them. They are bots looking for valid email addresses to spam or hack.

    However, you may be on to something when you suspect some of those comments are inter-galactical.

    I often thought Elvis was trying to communicate through my blog. Now you have given me something to be "all shook up."

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  9. I've received some crazy comments, even had to ban a few people because they became very obnoxious and insulted other commenters. Its a crazy world sometimes.

    And definately looking forward to tomorrow!

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  10. Haha! Had a few of those myself that managed to get through Wordpress's spam device, Akismet. That's when I go a-deletin'. I feel strangely bummed I haven't gotten any multilingual spam comments though. Hrmph.

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  11. LOL, LOL! Your take on the alien invasion had me thinking of Alex and his galactic fighter. I really needed this laugh. :D
    Jules @ Trying To Get Over The Rainbow

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  12. I'm glad you asked about this, LEE, because I too have wondered what was the point of all this. I don't recall getting any comments in a language other than English, but I have gotten the very poorly written ads for products and the short, strange "Thank Yous" and the "Help!-This Link Is Inactives" (sometimes even when there was no link included in the blog bit I'd posted).

    The ads I understand: if they spam a million blogs a certain percentage might actually respond and buy. But what puzzles me is the short, irrelevant comments like "Thank you for your post, it helped me with my college paper". What's the point of that? Just wanting to see if I'll post their comment and reply to it? But why? How could that thrill anyone?

    If it's people who just want to get their comments posted for the whole world to see (3.5 minutes of fame), why don't they just start their own blogs? Heck, a blog is FREE - anybody can have one. And then they could post their words for the world to see until their heart's content. I just don't get it. But I don't really mind it because it only takes 3.5 tenths of a second to hit the "delete" button.

    ~ D-FensDogg
    'Loyal American Underground'

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  13. I've never received any strange comments such as those. Maybe one in another language once a long time ago. I guess I should be grateful!
    Love Di ♥

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  14. All I can guess is they are trying to add to search engine fodder!

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  15. I wonder if you could pay them $10 to never leave a comment again...

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  16. I really haven't been plagued, though last week at Burrowers, Books & Balderdash, Jason posted about an odd Award we were given that REALLY is just trying to generate ad revenue for an online college scam--I suspect these commenters may be getting paid (probably a pittance) for leaving comments on blogs and they have people (probably supervisors who may not be English proficient) who CHECK to make sure they did--so they vary their nonsense from blog to blog. I'm very relieved I've managed to stay out of it.

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  17. I've been so fortunate and not gotten as many spam comments as some folks. But, I do get a few and I see a lot! They remain a mystery to me.

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  18. I'm thankful for the blogger spam detector because it catches most of those. Any that get through I mark as spam and then delete them. I only get them in one post too. It's an old post that I allowed someone to link to on their blog...now all the spammers link to it from there. lol. I really should ask her to take it down.

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  19. I would like to start by noting that none of the comment examples that I used were actually taken from my blog comments. They were all copied from some of your blogs although they are the same or similar to ones I have received in the past. I actually don't get that many spam comments as Blogger is pretty good about filtering them. I get a spam comment on the average of every 3 days or so.

    Candyland -- I guess some of may be coming from automated sources, but still--why?

    Golden Eagle -- Then again I suppose there are people out there with lots of time and have nothing better to do than get into mischief.

    Alex -- I guess maybe some people leave them up-- I wonder if anything happens if you do?

    Ellie-- I'm amazed that the spam comments have eluded you--they seem to be everywhere.

    Dezmond -- I'm sure the penguins are more efficient than my staff of illegal Mexicans.

    Yvonne -- From the way you had described yours, those comments seem like something totally different and they're not very nice. I hope that problem has been taken care of for good.

    IBD -- I don't recall the ol' college award scam--I'l have to watch for that one.

    Gregg -- Why yes they might be "otherworldly" messages from Elvis and the like. I'm going to have to start reading these more carefully for hidden messages.

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  20. I have had the odd comment in a foreign language that I cannot translate properly so I tend to delete them. I like the idea of comments coming from aliens. Much more than I like the idea of people paying to have comments. That is so sad!

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  21. I haven't seen some of these ones - apparently the aliens don't think my blog is big enough to visit yet! :) (Yes, I'm sarcastic and counting my blessings!)

    My most recent weird email offered to pay me $50 for allowing them to comment on my blog. Um..., yeah... I normally don't charge for that! I'm assuming they meant put up an ad, and I'm assuming they're nuts. So I didn't respond :)

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  22. "I'm sure the penguins are more efficient than my staff of illegal Mexicans."

    ah, yes, penguins are fueled by sardines which are much cheaper than the tequila you have to buy for your Mexicans ;P

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  23. Stephen Tremp -- Yes, I think I recall the ones you are referring to. That was a whole different ballgame that I think you handle pretty well.

    Kimberly -- Some of the foreign ones are just plain weird and perhaps best left untranslated.

    Jules -- Yeah! I wonder if some of Alex's space friends are in on this.

    StMc -- Of course it could all be a part of some conspiracy. Actually some of you FFFF posts could be helpful for research on a college paper if the professor wasn't overly liberal and receptive to some conservative thinking.

    Diana -- You're probably not really missing that much. I'm entertained by strange things sometimes.

    L.Diane -- So does that mean it will help my blog's search engine presence if I don't delete the comments?

    Disc -- It might get expensive paying off all the spammers and then you might start getting more and more spammers wanting money. I guess I'll just keep deleting.

    Hart -- Why hasn't my scholastic blog gotten this college award? I feel slighted.

    Debbie -- I don't really get that many as I noted in my earlier disclaimer.

    Lynda -- I've noticed that most of the spam I do get is pretty much confined to a handful of the same posts. That way they have to go through approval and never actually find themselves in my comment section.

    Happy Frog -- If somebody is paying the aliens to comment then perhaps we should really get concerned.

    Jemi -- Pay me $50? Hmmm--- now we might be talking.

    Dezmond -- Things do tend to get a bit rowdy here after a few rounds of the bottle.

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  24. I haven't had too many of those (yet), but delete the ones I do get. Since most of ones I receive have a link which I find suspect, I never click on the link and I try to get rid of the comment as soon as possible. It pays to be a little suspicious, even paranoid, in this situation.

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  25. I had all these same questions rolling around in my head. I’m so glad you were able to express them for me!) I have never and would never shop from one of these links. I feel like it’s an infringement on my privacy even though my blog isn’t private. I have never understood the student thing since they don’t put any links in. Although I have probably missed a few, I delete these type of posts. Like you, I don’t get why people do this and hope someone has the answer.

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  26. spam? i don't get any spam. when i get a comment though that says, "I'm now following your blog and invite you to follow mine"....then i consider that to be blogger spam.

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  27. Now I found the blog of the famed Arlee Bird whom I first heard his name in the April A-Z challenge...wanted to join then but the challenge was almost halfway through...and just a few days back I saw Arlee Bird in my list of google followers... :-)

    Then I read this post of him, and hopefully, my comment would not be classified as Spam! Lols!

    Btw Arlee, I would surmise that those comments you've been receiving are purely spam! That happened to me a many times before but when I changed my comment platform to Discus, not a single spam message ever landed in my space already...so I guess I should be thankful to Discus, my comment platform for almost 4 months now I guess...:-)

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  28. Patricia -- I figure if I ever do click on one of those links, kapow! there goes my computer.

    Jane -- We've have a few good thoughts, but nothing absolute yet. The think with the bots makes sense.

    Bud-- That's a whole different thing there, but those comments are kind of weird too. I like comments that have something to do with my post, or at least something that I can relate directly to.

    Amity -- Yes, it's me! I agree that they are spam, but I'm just curious as to why some of them go about it the way they do. Thanks for stopping by.

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  29. Arlee love the humorous way you shared these comments. I've received a few similar ones, too. I manage to control my curiosity and never click on such links.

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  30. I've gotten most of the ones you've cited. They are always on older posts. I get around them by setting my comment moderation on all posts older than 7 days. You can do this in your blog settings. The new Blogger spam filters work fairly well, but this extra step insures they won't slip through. And I never open them in an email, because I agree with Gregg that they are hackers looking for valid emails to spam or hack. Great post!

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  31. Wanda -- I do find this weird spam kind of humorous, but no way am I going to click the links.

    Marguerite--Yes I get them on the older posts as well and I have mine moderated. I can read the strange stuff and then I quickly delete it. The spam does kind of creep me out.

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  32. This is hilarious, I love it! Who knew we were blogging to aliens? Who knew that the first intergalactic contact would be made my bloggers?

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  33. I was the queen of the Asian blog comments until Blogger stepped up and tightened security and now they go right to spam. I wish I understood why it even needs to happen. What does the initiator gain?

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  34. Oh my God, is this what I have to look forward to when my blog becomes "famous?" I think I prefer 0 comments and even zero second clickers to this. Let's see now, you have 440 followers and I have 100. That means I'm almost a quarter of the way there!

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  35. Amie--Blog contact is probably easier than actual space travel and they can safely probe our minds from a distant. Beware!

    Liza -- I really wish I knew. I hope it's not any bad sign.

    Margaret--Where's your sense of fun?!! I don't think any of us are really immune from the spammers--it's a matter of screening I think. And the spammers seem to like to go for old posts--Weird, I wonder why?

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Go ahead and say something. Don't be afraid to speak your mind.
I normally try to respond to all comments in the comment section so please remember to check the "Email follow-up comments" box if you want to participate in the comment conversation.

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If you know me and want to comment but don't want to do it here, then you can send me an email @ jacksonlee51 at aol dot com.

Lee