Spam, or Not Spam? That Is the Question ...

Mike's post last Monday about disappearing comments on his blog, and their mysterious migration to spam, led me to go back and check my own comment history. Behold! There were 638 comments in my  "awaiting moderation" file on Blogger, many of which were, indeed, spam, but many of which I also remembered reading before they were somehow algorithmed away into the potentially-naughty dungeon.

WTH, over?

I spent some quality time working my way down the list (still not done as of this writing), approving most of the comments and deleting those which were actual spam. I'll not repeat the comments that Mike made in his post, but it occurred to me that spam comments seem to come in topical waves.  

There was a period in mid-2020 of multiple ads for "Ugg" boots, several spasms (no pun intended) of Viagra ads between 2018 and 2021, a series of ads for office furniture (?) in 2016, and repeated rounds of phishing for personal info (such as "I really like your blog, click here to read mine" and "Please send your contact information so I can share ideas with you") over many years. There are also periodic bursts of ads for whatever  wonder drug of the moment I should ask my doctor about.

Occasionally, the spam matches the topic of the post, leading me to suspect bots trolling for potential places to insert ads: just this morning, up popped a comment on a post from May of 2014 that dealt with the most widely spoken languages (other than English and Spanish) in each state ... the comment advertised private English tutors in Saudi Arabia. I doubt that many Saudis read my blog, but in case they ever do, they'll know where to find help with their English.

I've received relatively few crude comments of the "Pauline Hickey" sort that Mike has gotten ... I was getting them for a while, but they eventually ... uh ... petered out. 

And I have, of course, gotten the occasional broadside from people who consider me an America-hating, ratbastard commie socialist libtard who needs to go back where I came from (that would be Pittsburgh, I guess) when I express some objectionable bit of rational commentary. I just consider the source and move on.

Has anyone else noticed trends or cycles in spam comments? How about targeting of advertising comments that tie to your posts? Leave a comment ... I'm curious to know if it's just me conjuring up another conspiracy theory, or if it's a real thing.

Have a good day. More thoughts coming. 

Bilbo

Hurricane Update, etc ...

Just a quick note to let you know that we're still here, and have not yet been blown out to sea.

The time is now about 5:00 PM, and the news tells us that the bulk of the storm will roll through the area between now and tomorrow morning, with the worst coming between 8:00 PM and 2:00 AM.

It's been raining steadily and occasionally heavily all day, and the wind has been increasing in strength through the afternoon ... outside my study window, the trees are waving wildly in the cold, howling wind.

So ...

All is well so far. The gin supply is holding, we have plenty of food and other necessities (except for those pesky D-cell batteries that are nowhere to be found), and as of now (and as you can see) we still have power. Wish us luck!

Break, break ... new topic ...

For some reason, for about the last week I have been completely unable to leave comments on some of your blogs ... Blogger seems to not want to accept the fact that I have an account and am logged in, and petulantly refuses to let me leave comments. I can comment on Mike's blog, but not on Angelique's or Heidi's ... and I've had some wonderful comments to make over the last few days. Anybody have an idea what's going on?

And that's all for now. Stay happy, healthy, and dry. More thoughts later.

Bilbo

Placeholder...

Well, as you may have noticed, Blogger had a major hiccup today. I was unable to post at my usual time this morning, and so I thought I'd just put up a quick placeholder of a post to let you know that I'm still here, and that Cartoon Saturday will appear tomorrow (Blogger.com willing) as usual.

After today's fiasco, I am considering moving my blog over to WordPress...do any of you who have blogs hosted there have any advice on the pros and cons of WordPress (or any other blogging platform) as compared to Blogger?

Anyhow, I hope you all had a good day and are looking forward to a relaxing Friday evening. Come back tomorrow for Cartoon Saturday. More thoughts then.

Bilbo

Cartoon Saturday - New Year's Edition

Happy New Year!!

Oh, sorry ...

Happy New Year!!

Sorry about the headache. Big party last night, eh? Okay, let's tiptoe quietly through the first Cartoon Saturday of 2011 while your Excedrin starts to work, shall we?

At least 21 people were killed when a suicide bomber attacked services at a church in Egypt; inmates rioted at a prison in southern England, setting fire to buildings and smashing windows; a line of tornadoes ripped through the American Midwest, killing at least six people and devastating homes and businesses; the ongoing cholera epidemic in Haiti has killed more than 3,000 people and sickened another 140,000; and in Washington the Republican Party intends to start the legislative new year by reading the Constitution aloud on the floor of the House of Representatives. This is not a bad thing ... it will prove that at least some of them can read, and they may learn something about what the Constitution actually says.

Welcome to 2011. As always, Cartoon Saturday is back to help you cope.

Millions of Americans were forced out of their homes in 2010 by bank foreclosures, many of them of questionable legality, if not morality. It's hard to put a good face on such economic treachery, but these two cartoons make an attempt ...

And,

Speaking of banks, isn't it amazing how many new fees they can come up with to compensate for losses in other areas ...?

If Facebook had existed way back when, how might things have been different...?

What would Cartoon Saturday be without a real groaner ...?

I remember the good old days, when people fired up with their religious beliefs just annoyed you instead of believing they had a god-given right to murder you if your beliefs didn't match theirs ...

The Republicans tell us they're going to fix all our problems by cutting spending and reducing taxes. Of course, they've put all the places spending ought to be reduced off limits, so we'll see how that works out. Here are a pair of economic cartoons that apply ...

And this one, which speaks right to me ...

This one was too cute ... and too obvious ... to pass up ...

And finally, as we say adios, sayonara, do svidanya, adieu, and good riddance to 2010 in the forlorn hope that 2011 will be better, here's a final take on New Year's ...

So, Dear Readers, welcome to the New Year 2011 BCE ... or whatever you call it with the calendar you use. There were good and bad aspects to 2010, as there are with every year, but we all made it through and are ready to march steadfastly into the new year. Or be dragged kicking and screaming into it, whichever applies.

No matter. Good ol' Bilbo (and, occasionally, Nessa) will be here with more cantankerous observations on life to help you through it all. Have a safe, healthy, and happy new year!

More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

P.S. - Is it just me, or does anyone else have a problem with Blogger sticking all sorts of extraneous html coding into your posts? It takes me about twice as long as it should to compose each post (especially when I have embedded images like today) because I have to keep going back and editing the html to remove all sorts of off-the-wall format coding that screws everything up. What a waste of time. Any ideas?

B.

It's Really Monday...

One of the things that makes Blogger such a delight to use is the fact that, if you save a post in draft and publish it later, it publishes with the date you saved the original draft.

That's why the post below thinks it was published on Sunday, when today is actually Monday.

And it is also Memorial Day, which is why - in addition to enjoying the antics of the Greater Bilbo Family - you should take a moment to think about and be grateful for the sacrifice of those who gave their lives for the freedoms you enjoy.

More thoughts later.

Bilbo