Thinking Out Loud: Greedy, greedy, greedy

Aug 20, 2007

Thinking Out Loud: Greedy, greedy, greedy

Filed in Blog, Geekiness, Thinking Out Loud

I’ve had something on my mind, these last few days. It started when I introduced the no-nofollow plugin and immediately got at least two comment spammers. The plugin allows links in comments to be counted by such sites as Technorati and to count towards Google’s page ranking, but it also allows people to cynically show up just to increase their ratings. Others put a keyword in place of their name, which means they get traffic generated from that keyword.

Mostly, people here seem to be playing this blogosphere game fairly: they do their own thing but don’t hesitate to help each another out. But taking advantage of generosity like this bothers me. It bothers me because it’s just plain greedy, and it’s rude.

I’m one of the old-fashioned ones. I believe that the internet is for sharing knowledge and resources with one another, not just using people. I started my foray into the internet way back in 1989, before Netscape 1.0 had ever been released. A progressive French tutor gave any interested student a username to use on the university mainframe which had terminals around the campus. Ostensibly it was so that we could use the French-language bulletin board, which we did, but we quickly discovered that there were other outlets: the fascinating email, for example, and other bulletin boards, and our own personal Multi-User-Dungeon (MUD) game.

There were CompSci students who would help out a newbie with the basics (see–sharing!), and before long a regular posse of us were having 20+ pizzas delivered to the computer rooms late at night. Life was good because in those days, we were young enough for pizza to be calorie-free. But mostly I learned that there is a camaraderie associated with the online community, and that it can be very powerful.

Fast forward a few years: I was graduated, married, and setting up internet at home. In the UK you had to pay your local calls by the minute, which made the internet an expensive proposition. Still, it was a thrill to see the emails come in, read the news groups. My first browser was Netscape 2.0 and when I eventually met Don and went to visit, he sent me home with an armful of Dummies books. With these, I created my first ever web page and on the 31st of October 1996 FTPed the first files of my first website to their hosting account. Don was my very first visitor.

Throughout the years, it’s been about sharing. People cottoned on to the fact that the web was a great way to sell, though in the early days everyone seemed to be a bit clueless about what did and didn’t work. I was one of Amazon’s earliest customers, and an early affiliate as well. The dot coms boomed and busted, and things settled down to something more like reality. But still, this “web 2.0″ stuff is a whole new kettle of fish, allowing individuals an opportunity to make money from their blogs. Having more traffic and connections helps.

And that’s the trouble, I guess. Some people take it to an extreme. The vast majority of people are helpful, sharing, and caring. I wouldn’t still be around if that weren’t the case. But some just forget that, and turn our goodwill to their advantage, such as the comment spammers. I can understand the urge…but I still find it disgraceful.

I guess I just don’t like to be used.

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Comments

14 Comments, Comment or Ping

Michael (5 comments.)

Boy do I agree with you, I don’t know what spammers are thinking (or are they thinking at all?!)… I use a plug-in called Akismet on my Wordpress blog and it manages to catch 99% of all spam without any action on my part, but one or two a week still manage to trickle through.

Aug 20th, 2007
Jonathan Franzone (1 comments.)

I agree as well that so many people out there are just in it for the money. They will step on whomever they can just to get ahead in the serps and get that one more free link. I also use Akismet on my blog and it catches tons of spam messages that would otherwise offend my readers. I guess it will always just be a reality that some are in it for the money and some are in it for the knowledge, sharing and community.

Thank you for addressing this issue in such an honest way.

Aug 20th, 2007
Linda R. Moore

I use Akismet, but what I’m grumbling about here are the private individuals who come making comments just so that they can get their extra point. Or who insert s search keyword where their name should be to direct keyword searches towards their site. Akismet doesn’t typically catch those people, unless someone reports them there. It’s impolite Net behavior.

Aug 20th, 2007
Linda R. Moore

Jonathan–thank you! And welcome to my blog–not sure where you found me, but it’s all fun. I use Akismet also, but it doesn’t catch the individuals who are using the blogs for this purpose. I would be a gibbering wreck without Akismet. ;)

Aug 20th, 2007
beautyredefined

Spammers suck. I’ve pretty much had to keep comments on my photo gallery to be viewable only by me because of stupid spammers. Once I finish this project at work though, your blogging has gotten me tempted to redo my blog/website and things… Too much to do!

Aug 20th, 2007
Rebecca (6 comments.)

I have to approve all comments over on my blog before they post. It is a hassle, and I think it cuts down on comments, but it keeps the spammers away . . .

Aug 20th, 2007
Linda R. Moore

Rebecca: I have it set so that the first time someone posts, they are moderated. If I approve their comment, then they can post without moderation. It’s a good compromise. I suppose it could be abused, but if it is, I would then ban that person completely.

Aug 20th, 2007
Linda R. Moore

BR: Yes they do, but it’s the individuals who do it –sometimes just simply cluelessly rather than maliciously–that I’m grumbling about here. ;)

Aug 20th, 2007
thebluestbutterfly (8 comments.)

I am glad that you sounded off on how you feel about this.

Aug 20th, 2007
J. Lynne (36 comments.)

I’ve never understood all the game playing or how all of that ranking stuff worked and I’ve been online as long as you. I guess I just don’t pay attention. However, I usually do delete those kinds of messages because they look wrong to me — like spam, which is something else I don’t understand — does it even work?

I’m just out here on the net to meet people, connect, communicate, and get free therapy. ;)

Aug 21st, 2007
lucia (1 comments.)

Yep. I love comments, but some commenters are greedy! Luckily, Wordpress lets us write plugins, and we can deal with discourteous behavior as we discover it.

Aug 21st, 2007
Linda R. Moore

You’re welcome, BB! Not sure it’ll do any good, but…

Aug 21st, 2007
Linda R. Moore

JL: I am in it for all of the above, but also to write and sell some of my books, which I figure I’ll do more of it I demonstrate that I’m a good writer! If I can make a living from it that’d be fine, but I refuse to do it by annoying other people!

I guess spam must work…they send out millions, and there’s one born every minute…

Aug 21st, 2007
Linda R. Moore

Hello Lucia! Thanks for writing the plugin. :)

I have every intention of doing a “highlight” post in the next few weeks–I assume you found me via a trackback–I will post the link and you’ll hear from me then. :)

Aug 21st, 2007