spam attacks have moved to the blogs

[unclejed613]

so, last night i was posting to my blog, and i see a bunch of my blog posts have new comments. the "comments" were from a chinese spammer, who will remain nameless. all i can say is, if i ever need several thousand PC boards done in a hurry, the spammer's company won't even be within a mile of my list of companies i will contact for quotes. besides, i would rather give my business to local companies, where i already know their reputation, i can go look at their operation, and i can call them on the phone and not get a "phone booth" somewhere thousands of miles away. with local companies, i can meet their engineers in person, and get my questions answered without a translator.


SPAMMERS HAVE TO REALIZE THAT THEY SHOOT THEMSELVES IN THE FOOT WHEN THEY SPAM HERE!!!!!

sorry, just had to vent.....

 

[Ian Rogers]

I missed that one aswell... I have completely removed the trash...

If it happens again.. Just PM me and I'll remove all traces..

 

[jpanhalt]

First, I agree on the spam attack. I suffered one myself here. Edit: Just saw Ian's comment. In my case, I just used the report button, and the spam got removed.

But, I don't necessarily agree such attacks are ineffective. They must have a degree of effectiveness, or they wouldn't continue and multiply. I have been wondering about why something so obnoxious can be so effective in the end. When I was very young, I read The Hucksters (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hucksters). It would be an exaggeration to say that book warped my life, but there are some lessons in it that I never forgot. For example, why do all cake mixes require the "little woman" to add an egg, when in fact, no one can tell the difference between a cake made with mix with a fresh egg and one with a dried egg included in the mix.

In brief, I think that an annoying spammer knows you will be more prone to recollect its name and not the circumstances surrounding that recollection should you decide to order its product category in the intermediate future. Thus, the spammer gets an edge over otherwise anonymous competitors. Obviously, if you were to buy a bunch of boards tomorrow, that memory might work to the spammer's disadvantage. But will you remember the circumstances and hold the same grudge in a year or two?

Automobile ads with expanding banners and popups are another grievance of mine. But I will say, that the VW ads in particular made me actually consider a VW this year when I bought a new car. I did not in the end buy a VW, but that was not because of the ads.

John

 

[unclejed613]

well even if i forgot about it, the fact remains that i will always look at local vendors first, and outsourcing my work to another country, especially to china is a non-starter for me. let me see, i have the choice of helping my local economy, or sending my money (and the jobs it would create) to another country..... i just wish more companies thought that way... our economy in the US might not be in such dire straits...

even if i were to outsource any work, i can think of lots of countries that i would rather send my money to.... Israel, UK, Canada.... at least those countries are strategic and economic allies.

 

[jpanhalt]

bác nói hay nhung nhi?u ch? còn ao

Case on point?

Can't this site block any post with Vietnamese? Maybe use as a filter any post with more than 1 diacritical mark? Or maybe just ban capital A tilda?

John

 

[picbits]

bác nói hay nhung nhi?u ch? còn ao

How ironic considering the title of this thread .......

 

[ericgibbs]

Case on point?

Can't this site block any post with Vietnamese? Maybe use as a filter any post with more than 1 diacritical mark? Or maybe just ban capital A tilda?

John

hi John,
I have already raised this problem with Electromaster, hopefully to find a way to block non English text posts.

Eric

 

[jpanhalt]

I wish Electromaster success.

My suggestions were written more out of frustration than as a realistic approach to the problem. I did find this link in which it appears someone is trying to use a current translator (Bing) simply to detect whether something is English or not: https://stackoverflow.com/questions...anguage-via-bings-translation-api-to-be-equal

I wonder whether Google or MS would allow their products to be used for that purpose and the cost? Perhaps only posts from people with less than a threshold of posts would need to be screened. There are of course instances when a few words in non-English is not spam.

John