Lately I have started getting lot of spam comments on this blog. And yes, I use Akismet WordPress plugin. Surprisingly enough, these latest spams easily get through the Akismit plugin. And some times, these comments look valid too: so they are smart enough and even can fool a real human being!
I Love Automation!
Yesterday while surfing the web I stumbled upon a review about a software product. I usually look for such things, because I love the idea of automation. Not about auto-generation of content. I’m talking about using machines and programming in a smarter way to reduce human involvement and to acquire more reliability and faster accomplishment of tasks with less expense.
Idea’s and Logic
With that quest I looked at the review, and to my shock it was a software which once triggered comments on around 500 to 1000 blogs! It has a RSS like system, wherein it collects all the frequent updates and based on the keywords it posts the pre-templated comments with link back signature in it. Hence driving traffic.
Well, idea wise, it’s a good idea to generate loads of traffic to the blog. Because, the comments will be to the topic and most of the times seems like related and genuine. But the problem is, this software scraps the same comment across all the blogs which has published articles with similar keyword. You will be shocked to see, how many blogs with same niche get all word-to-word same comments.
Killing The Business
This approach dilutes the healthy conversation/discussion going on in the comment section. I’m not sure why these people develop such a software which isn’t healthy for their own long term success. If making as much money as possible in short period of time was the motto of every business, then we wouldn’t have heard of Apple, Google, Microsoft, Oracle etc. Business people should have ethics in making money and long term plans to nourish their business.
The Consequence
Increased activity of such software scripts has led to the shutdown of many blog’s comment system. Owners of big blogs can’t handle these floods of comments. And some other bloggers have turned off the linking system in their comment system. So, if someone wants to comment, then the only purpose should be to add more value and to involve in the discussion.
The problem with the above mentioned idea for scrapping comment is: many blogs will have same comments. The comment will be generic and not exactly to the point. So it will surly reduce the value of the overall conversation.
Disclaimer
I’m not writing this to harm any business. I want to keep webmasters informed about such a thing in market. And my 2 cents about Software Business.
[Well I’m in my final year MCA: Master of Computer Applications. So being a Software guy myself, I have my own work ethics and opinions. So please bear with me, if it doesn’t resonate with you!]
Comments should be to the topic and should add value..
Whoa!. Should be a very intelligently written code.
Didn’t know that these kind of automated-comments thing exist. Thanks for pointing out.
By the way, I and all my comments are REAL!.
I totally agree, i myself face this problem. Checking updates on recent comments has become a troublesome task for me. I see word to word same comments on most of my blogs and this has become so frustrating and led me to eye authentic comments with suspicion, checking and rechecking again for any kind of repetition of the comment. Its a great issue you have raised here.
@Rohit, Yes these programmers are intelligent and hence their software.
My commentators are real too; your comment is a proof!
@FacebookAppDeveloper, Yes as you said, these type of comments make it tough even for authentic comments to get through. People should stop using such things and involve themselves in coming up with valuable products.