Monday 22 August 2005

Blog spam

Those who read Twenty Major will be aware of the spam from Giles Photography in Northampton (those who don't read Twenty Major really should get over there and check it out!). In common with many others I'm not currently looking to engage the services of a photographer in the Northants area but were I in the market and I was using the web to find someone I'd steer well clear of Giles Photography based on the quality of their site. Frankly it's crap and demonstrates a disturbing lack of design or visual appeal of the sort one might think is inherent in the work of a photographer. The main heading is off-centre but not in a visually attractive way, the use of a variety of fonts and text styles is jarring and the layout is incoherent. The site is built using the online site creation tools provided by Tripod - a really professional setup for a business site. There are no photographs at all on the front page, bizzare as that is the product being sold and it's difficult to see the value of two hit counters.

But what really sticks in my throat is the shabby practice of spamming to promote this web site. I'd guess that Giles Photography have had a good few hits now but sometimes it's possible to attract the wrong kind of attention.

16 careful considerations:

kat said...

If the companies who use comment spam are given a bad press and there are links to this bad press in the search engines then maybe, just maybe, they will stop doing it.

I think that people should try to use some of the existing laws to stop UK blog spammers. It may even be possible to use the simple, harassment alarm and distress law against persistent offenders / companies. As anyone tried this sort of thing, I wonder? People cannot stick adverts on the side of my house so why should they be able to do it on my personal blog / website - and certainly not after they have been warned.

Ang said...

I think they should first concentrate on someone re-doing their site before they go advertising themselves!

Nogbad said...

I agree with you both - and I think that the site is probably the worst possible advert for any business, anyone using this company for their wedding after seeing this site needs their head read!

kat said...

It is an amateur's site and he has used every free resource he can find on the Internet. In some ways I feel sorry for the site owner but he really does need to keep away from comment spamming.

pal said...

Back with a vengance :-) I'm glad to say I've only attracted one bit of Spam on my Blog - err I think thats good!

I have noticed though when you flick through the Next Blog in the top right corner that huge amounts of Blogs are just nonsense sites which I presume must be something to do with Spam?

Rob said...

I agree about the spamming, but can't agree about Twenty Major, whose raison d'etre seems to be how many times he can get "fuck" and "cunt" in a sentence. Not big, not funny and not clever.

kat said...

Pal, I have inundated with the stuff in the last few days but I have deleted it completely.
This may have been for one of two reasons or a combination of both.
1. I registered with SideBlog for a side blog but I have since disassociated myself as much as possible, just in case.
2. I discovered that someone called Cricket was buying and selling pretend shares in my blog on Blogshare. I have since registered with them and claimed my site so that I can keep my eye on it but I haven't had time to work out what it is all about. All I know is that my shares have gone up from B$.45 to B$37.10. I think we are all listed in there but it is just a matter of whether someone picks on you.

kat said...

Having been to an Irish race course and coming across a few people like Twenty Major, I think it's just the way the guy is, Rob. Can't say that I appreciate the language style but sometimes I prefer to ingore it just so that I can hear what else people have to say -- and Twenty Major does seem to have some things to say.:-) Not everyone's cup of tea though is it?

Rob said...

I'm sure it's the way the guy is - I just don't get it I suppose. Rationally, they are only words, so why does it annoy me so much? The sheer laziness of it I think. The Irish have a reputation as masters and mistresses of language (Joyce, Wilde, Yeats, Sheridan and, er, some women I'm sure) but Twenty seems determined to use as small and as obscene a vocabulary as possible. I suppose you either love it or hate it - and I hate it.

pal said...

Blogshare? Now where would I be finding that Kat?

kat said...

pal's postings at Blogshare

kat

If anyone spots their own blog under the links on these pages you can follow them to find your own stats at Blogshare.

Nogbad said...

Hi Rob - I think the language is part of the authenticity but behind it I think there are some well thought out and/or witty pieces which invariably have a similar punchline. His statement from the IRA is particularly good and Confession is an old gag but, again, well constructed. But it's part of the joy of life that we all find different things amusing isn't it? :-)

pal said...

Thanks for that Kat. I've got to go into a quiet corner now and try and interpret all those figures an' graphs! I may be some time....

kat said...

This may sound crazy but I was shocked to discover that I was being bought, sold and traded as part of a fantasy game. I was going to ask for my blog to be removed but then I thought 'Oh don't be a jerk'. :-)

Nogbad said...

I thought of buying you but I couldn't afford you Kat :-)

You aren't being bought and sold, nor is your blog - it's simply a token so I wouldn't get too tense. I've used Blogshares as a displacement activity since you mentioned it but I'll lose interest soon.

kat said...

Hee hee I can't afford myself and that's for real!

I was having a bad time with the blog spam when I unearthed Blogshare and other things in the search engine. The spam was coming in the minute I posted and I found myself deleting whole posts. There is nothing more dangerous ( to herself) in a search engine, than Furious Kat. :-))