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Spam Or Not Spam ?

Ok, so the jury is out on this one – that’s you guys … Just received this email from perhaps a genuine questioner, or could be a spammer … I’m erring to spammer at the moment …

I’ve partially reddacted the ip-address and email address, just in case it’s a genuine person – because I have a duty of care to protect genuine commenter’s privacy.

DonCharisma.org-Spam-Or-Not-Spam

When searching for the ip-address on Google it is listed as having had spam sent from it. Now this isn’t definitive, I’ve seen websites on blacklists, purely because their host lumped them onto the same ip-address as a spammer. Usually the host will change your ip-address or get it removed from the spam database if you’re genuinely not a spammer. So ip-address being listed in a spam database isn’t definitive.

This is the text of the comment :

Hi this is kind of of off topic but I was wanting to know if blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if
you have to manually code with HTML. I’m starting a blog
soon but have no coding knowledge so I wanted to get guidance from someone with experience.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

The website given does have a commercial element, I can see adverts on it (gamezebo.com). This again isn’t definitive. It could be a person just making their living, and a genuine question.

My post (that they’ve commented on) could have been selected based on one of my tags, or other automated system to determine relevancy of the comment. My post was written a few months ago now, which makes me suspicious as I’m not getting many comments on it now.

Lastly the domain gaweb.com has a “for sale” page, doesn’t appear to be an email provider or any kind of authentic web presence other than someone has registered it and put a for sale page on it.

As a final note, what I could do is edit the comment and remove the website they’ve given, answer the comment. That way they don’t get the backlink (which is what a spammer wants on comments), and I’ve avoided spam queuing a genuine person.

The “jury”, the “kangaroo court” is you guys, I will do what the poll says :

Cheers

Don Charisma

[UPDATE – 15-Apr-2014 – THIS MESSAGE IS VERY VERY LIKELY SPAM, SO IT’S GONE IN MY SPAM QUEUE]

62 thoughts on “Spam Or Not Spam ?”

  3. Im getting heaps of these types of emails on my blog, but usually they post the comment on one of the images attached to one of my blogs rather then on the actual blog.

    1. Yes I get that too, almost straight away if it’s an old image I can smell it’s spam … I should do some research on how they find posts to comment on … when I get a little time maybe I will …

  5. It has the feel to me of some of these spam-bot generated comments that try to fake a conversational feel (Hi, this is kind of off-topic…) plus the question itself is something that’s pretty self explanatory when you sign up for any of these blogs sites (WP for example allows you to do either.) so it doesn’t really feel like a substantial question for you personally…

    1. For sure Jenny, it’s been spam queued … hopefully when I post these it broadens awareness, and may help people who can’t decide whether it’s spam or not … like me for instance !

  6. I voted for “Spam it,” getting lots of spam rather than legit comments most of the time. I have to ask, though, did WordPress list this in your spam inbox? So far, WP has not been wrong in blocking spammy comments for me.

    1. No, this one was in my normal comments … I think I have around 14000 comments on my blog, and wordpress does get it wrong from time to time so worth checking …

      PS I’ve put this one in the spam queue …

  7. Spam it.
    I get these from time to time…goodness only knows how or why as it’s clear that my blog is hardly high tech…not even knee high tech…

  13. I did, by the way, at the height of Monty Python while I was living with 2 girlfriends in London, host a Spam Party organised by Hell’s Grannies. The spam sandwiches went like hotcakes and there was nearly a riot when they ran out!

  14. Remember that old Monty Python sketch: “Spam,spam,spam, spam, spam, glorious spam!” ???
    This is spam, pure and simple. It flatters you by implying that you are a fount of all wisdom, it sounds very serious and information-seeking, but that is what it is – SPAM! I have had heaps of these and they’re very clever because they sound as if they’re genuinely seeking information but all they want is a foot in your door. I do so wish that spammers would not waste their life peddling rubbish but do something really creative.

  20. Oddly, I remember getting a comment from that same entity. It was not the exact same comment, but they did say that they were going to start a blog, and wanted my input on their comment. Knowing that I don’t get a lot of comments, I believe I posted it, so that I would have a comment on my blog.

  21. uuuh – you know what hey, I could not tell you 😦
    I do not get these kind of things (due to the nature of my website.) Though I am sure it may happen in the future. Can you not email them? (just a random thought – but then they have YOUR email address – or is that up on the site already?) I mean – they COULD be asking for genuine help – in which case…
    Rock and a hard place story dude.
    I answered delete website and answer them – or ELSE you will neeeever know and it will bug YOU 😉

      1. I do believe you know a whole lot better about it dear Sir! It was a tricky one hey – they are getting so darn sneaky!
        If others have had the exact same thing ….yeah….makes one so annoyed – WHAT a waste of time and resources right.

      2. For sure I’ve spammed it … and seen another one of the exact same comment since … I think it’s a good idea to publicise it so that others are in the know of what’s spam …

  22. This is kind of a riddle, but if the sender is a real person and not a spam-robot, after reading your post, I trust they’ll get in touch with you again and say relevant things. Bye, dear Don

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