I love comments, I hate spam
Ordinarily, I get really excited when there’s mail sitting in my inbox saying that I’ve gotten a comment! While a lot of times it’s just an approval request for some spammer than actually bypassed Akismet, there are the periodic genuine comments which are always a joy. (And I thank you, commenters, for taking the time to talk back.)
Today however I got a rather nasty surprise. It was spam of the worst sort, it was a comment that had gone through because it actually followed the rules, but was clearly self-promotional dreck.
I don’t mind people being self promotional in the comments, to a point. The line in the sand, however, is obvious marketese and insincerity. The comment, copied below for your perusal, demonstrates everything I hate about people trying to promote themselves “naturally” on the internet. I took the liberty of removing the name of the site and all links from the comment, because quite frankly I don’t want to give these people or this person any extra exposure that they clearly don’t deserve for pushing my buttons.
—begin comment text—
[redacted] is a platform that uses the Internet to deliver high quality radio and video programming. Our demographic reaches an unlimited resource in a worldwide venue. The benefit to artists and advertisers is far reaching, but the most important product is our quality radio broadcast. What we deliver to the audience is what matters the most at [redacted] If you have not had a chance to hear a show, we encourage you to check us out. And always remember… YOU ROCK!
—end comment text—
This offending comment was left on Every Time You Blare Nickelback, God Smites an 80s Rocker.
You want to plug your website? Yourself? Something you like? Go for it. You can even do it in the comments. But for the love of all that’s good and right in this world, do yourself a favor and spare me and my readers the Patented Marketroid Output.
If the original commenter is indeed a human being and not a robot, I would love to have an open dialogue with you about how you can improve your self-promotion tactics so you don’t end up being banned, deleted, or belittled wherever you go. Truthfully though? You only have to remember one word: genuine. If your comments and your promotion doesn’t sound or feel genuine no one’s going to take you seriously, least of all someone who deals with marketing speak every day. Next time you want to comment here, please, just be yourself and not your company line.
Thank you!
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dr.hypercube said,
March 26, 2008 @ 8:19 am
I’m sure this is a notion I heard about somewhere, filed away, forgot about and am now dragging out as an original thought, but I’m not going to let that stop me… Seems to me that spammers (esp. comment spammers) are going to be the 1st to put together turing test capable software - generate unique comment content based on the post you’re trying to spamcomment on that is indistinguishable from a real comment. The fly in the ointment? You still need to link back to your shitty web site - thus, I’m unlikely to bless any comment that links back to a aggregator (what do they call those sites, anywho?) or to an Enlarge Your Russian Mail-Order Mortgage (herbally, of course) come-on.
Also - I’m commenting on commenting! Self-referential! If I stop suddenly, will I disappear up my own…