Posted on by Cathy

On my mind….

On my mind this week is how cunning they are becoming – are they real or imaginary?

(I’ll just mention that occasionally when I’m looking online / asking Mr G for information about products I’ll sometimes use the words ’near me’ meaning locally)

~ ~ ~

Over the years I’ve had various ’problems’ on the blog with the ghastly stuff they call spam, spammers and strange followers, that thankfully sorted itself out after a while

Anyway recently some comments appearing in the spam folder have been looking almost real… ….actually, real ones have been ending up in there, because over the past few weeks WordPress (like Blogger) has decided true comments aren’t what they are and they’ve been sent to the sin bin…..first comments have a special ’need approval’ folder and they’ve been treated as spam as well.

So because (like oodles of other bloggers) I’ve been keeping an eye on this folder the ‘are they real or not’ ones have become noticeable.
Clear?….yes, as mud I hear you say😊

Well look at these two – both ’arrived’ the same day, both posted to my About page – not a really old post as is often the way……and written in fairly good english not gobbledygook like some are……Both in the spam folder.

  • “I’m impressed, I must say. Rarely do I come across a blog that is both educative and amusing, and let me tell you, you have hit the nail on the head. The problem is something too few men and women are speaking intelligently about. Now i’m very happy that I stumbled across this in my search for something regarding this”

  • “Next time I read a blog, I hope that it doesn’t disappoint me as much as this one. I mean, I know it was my choice to read, nonetheless I really believed you would probably have something useful to say. All I hear is a bunch of complaining about something that you could fix if you weren’t too busy seeking attention”

They do look real. The first one might make you smile – the second definitely not.

WordPress decided (rightly) these were spam…as an aside if you copy/paste those words in search engines you’ll find them cropping up as comments by various ’people/companies all over the place …..on my site the supposed authors, the names of the people/companies you might click on to see who made you feel good or who ’had the cheek to write that’ – the ones who want your clicks to make them look good in ratings – don’t laugh but they were called ‘Shutter Shop Near Me ’
Coincidence or Big Brother watching??

It’s early Monday morning, and as is usual I’m sitting here enjoying my first cuppa….. just pondering about life in general.  

How’s yours going?  

Corinne is the host of  Monday Musings – come see what she is talking about this week

12 Replies to “On my mind….”

  2. Oh yes, and I’ve also received downright ‘hits’ from men asking to ‘know me better’! Google isn’t bad at catching these ‘phishing’ messages. They are often just trying to harvest e-mail addresses to sell. There’s a term for it but can’t bring it to mind — something about skimming a swamp, LOL.

    Liked by 1 person

  3. There are schools in other countries whose teachers use blogs to help their students learn conversational English. I can always tell when a teacher has used my blog address for her students to read and comment on. They are to use precise English and give a good critique. I don’t know how your blog is set up, by I can see where my viewers are coming from (and how many) and when I get a spate of those comments, I know someone is trying to teach English to a group of students and I just leave the comments. Now, if I get “compromising” comments, I delete those. Where I am having difficulty with men sniffing around is Instagram. I’m always getting new followers who have pictures you know they stole from some website to make you believe they are handsome and smart and wealthy and usually a doctor or in the military. I remove them, lickety-split.

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Hari OM
    Definitely spam – though I don’t believe I have ever seen one like that second option! They clearly don’t actually address specifics in the post – big giveaway. Google is actually really good at sorting out spammers now, and I rarely have one slip through onto the blog… however, as you say, recent changes to the comments boxes have resulted in a lot of regular and trusted readers having their comments spammed. What’s worse is that it is not consistent, and sometimes they are let through. It’s all a bit of nuisance, but then again, i just think of it as being out and about in town; sometimes you just have to deal with folk you’d rather not, and sometimes you miss the one you wanted to meet! YAM xx

    Liked by 1 person

  7. As YAM-aunty pointed out, they don’t actually address the blog subject, or other comments, or sound genuinely personal like regular commenters. In fact they are almost too well written and clearly designed to be pasted anywhere. So when are you ‘flitting’ off up north?

    Liked by 1 person

  8. i saw on tv that Russia has bots creating comments on blogs and all social media trying to stir thepot. it is a crazy world. I just watch my blog and delete them if they post. and I never click on a link that is added to my comments. it may contain a virus. these two you showed us today have so far not been on my blog.

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  9. I had 2 comments fall into spam and since I knew the authors, I authorized them. WordPress is better than Blogspot in that only those 2 went to spam.

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