brunobaby

Many is the morning I've settled in front of my computer, checked my blog and exclaimed hopefully, "Oooh! I've got a new comment!" Only to open the "Comments" and see something like:

"Hi! Great blog. You're a really good writer. I have a blog too. It's about sex toys..." And my head will turn into a giant sucker like in a Warner Brothers cartoon as I realize I have been snookered yet again by a dreaded spambot.

I'm familiar with these creatures from years of having my e-mail plagued by them. And about a decade ago when I was starting to do Internet Relay Chat, I would reply to what I believed was a person only to have them begin repeating the same expression over and over again, like something out of a Twilight Zone episode.

And now that I've been blogging for over six months, I've noticed them in this medium, too. Hey, once something has a manual and a learning curve, will spam be far behind?

So I changed my settings to turn on "word verification." Now, when people comment, they have to retype a word that Blogger gives them in a little pop-up box. If the commenter is in the average mood that I'm in when they go to comment, this is the equivalent of running toward a room with your fists swinging growling, "Why, I oughta..." and then having to stop at the threshhold and do a carefully choreographed little dance.

And now I may not see any comments at all for a while, but at least I'll know the ones that are there love me (or not) for something other than my money.