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Blog Tip Challenge of the Month ~ So, is it Spam?

2:53 PM, Feb. 24, 2009

After reading the articles in this newsletter, (to be linked to later) you are now armed with the tools to help you decide if a comment is spam or not. Here's your chance to practice your new found skill. Maybe it will even get you a low paying job, because in this economy, any skill could be a benefit. At least it would be better than driving prospective property buyers around in a dog-sled through the Yukon.

Blog Tip Challenge of the Month

This month, take a look at this comment and decide if you would consider it to be spam or not. Leave us a comment with your thoughts on why it is or isn't on the HSB Company Porch Blog Tip Challenge.

Along with your comment tell me what you think the favorite breakfast cereal of Yukon realtors is. The first person with the correct answer will receive a free one year U.S. subscription to The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine! Very cool prize for a very lame answer, but I made it up and I want to use it.

Hey! If the comment is spam, isn't this just helping to advertise the product? For the sake of this excercise I'm willing to take that chance.

Tia Linschied
Senior Editor of HSB

Posted in Blog Tip Challenge, 20 comments, Link
Leave a Comment

Comments
Spam or not??? NOT

3:27 PM, Feb. 24, 2009, posted by kansaskat

Ok, so I looked and I think NOT - I checked out the users website given...it is a blog also.....It seems that she was posting her blog/web as a source of credibility - many websites make you link a name & URL if you do not have a ID (such as google or AIM) A great example is Blogspot blog comments.

Oh, well - just my guess!

I am thinking not

11:46 PM, Feb. 24, 2009, posted by ChristiSinTexas

HSB has a choice of being anonymous or having a registered user account. The only way of contact would be through a website or email address posted.

As for the favorite cereal, it is either Quaker Oats is their favorite or the one they hate the most.

Yes, it's absolutely spam!

9:49 AM, Feb. 25, 2009, posted by jesusismyjoy

The comment was made in the last few days and it was made to a post from 10/07.

Generally new readers to your site will comment on the newest post or at least a newer post and not one from that long ago. If they do happen to post to an very old post any links will generally have some sort of relevancy to the post being commented on and this one does not.

Also the biggest clue for me was in doing a search of the URL she left in the comment brought me to several websites in which the EXACT wording of the HSB comment was used repeatedly several blogs, some forum posts, and even newspaper articles that allow comments. She used to the terms "came across your blog" and as I said it wasn't just blogs she was posting to.

So yes, this is 100% spam!

Editing to add the cereal:
Hmmm the Yukon...they probably like any warm cereal! ROFL

Spam or not?

3:18 PM, Feb. 25, 2009, posted by amyc.jernigan@yahoo.com

Couldn't really say if it is Spam or not. Was the comment solicited? There is a link to leave comments on each article. If it is considered Spam because they listed a business web site, then others who have posted a comment using their blog address while hosting an at home business on their blog spot should be considered Spam also. Seems harmless enough to me.

The Yukon realitors favorite cereal is Frosted Flakes.

thanks,
Amy

spam?

4:31 PM, Feb. 25, 2009, posted by stampedwithgrace

It didn't look like spam to me, so if it is, they did a great job at disguising it!

Yukon realtors favorite cereal: Red River cereal otherwise known as porridge :)

Spam...most likely

4:32 PM, Feb. 25, 2009, posted by JCHuffman

I'd say its definitely spam, because its so "generic" sounding, and posted at such an old entry. There were enough real things on there to comment about that the basic "saying nothing" looks spamy to me.

As for the cereal....I'd say Grits...ham and cheese flavored.

Untitled Comment

4:54 PM, Feb. 25, 2009, posted by Tammy

I would say spam -- Nothing noteworthy is said about the actualy post they are commenting on. Also leaving a website address in the comments if it is another blog is one thing - but a craigslist post smells of selling to me, when the initial comment was very vague.

Favorite Cereal = Quaker Puffed Rice

nov231973 at gmail dot com

I'm such a ninny

4:58 PM, Feb. 25, 2009, posted by Tammy

Please ignore my "Breakfast entry" I'm such a ninny -- I am part of the TOS Crew so am ineligible. Sorry :(

nov231973 at gmail dot com

Yep, it's spam

5:08 PM, Feb. 25, 2009, posted by domesticangel

I think it's spam mainly b/c it's from an older post and it just doesn't make sense for someone who's hawking craigslist info would be reading one of these blogs for that long b4 making a comment.....
Denise aka The Domestic Angel

I would say spam

6:18 PM, Feb. 25, 2009, posted by volliejean

Just like some of the other comments, I would consider it spam because it was such a generic comment made to an older post. It was a neat arts and crafts project, you would think they would have at least said something about that if was for personal reasons.

And the favorite Yukon breakfast of choice is probably Oatmeal.

...Yes

7:02 PM, Feb. 25, 2009, posted by momma24blessings

Yay, I was able to access the link! Guess my computer is just slow tonight... I'm thinking yes, this is SPAM. Tough call, though.

I would think the Yukon people's favorite cereal could be Yukon Gold, Save Alot's knock off of Corn pops. Hey, it fits! :) Thanks!

Spam

8:05 PM, Feb. 25, 2009, posted by sonshine4u

Because of it's incredibly vague nature and it's strange web address at the bottom (who puts craigslist as their info?) it is most definitely SPAM!

As for the Yukon Real Estate Agent's favorite cereal, I have come up with three possibilities!

I have centered the choices around the Yukon Gold Prospectors theme and have included some web addresses to give you a photo of the cereals. Trust me, it's not SPAM! LOL!!!

1. Frosted Flakes Gold
(http://www2.kelloggs.com/Product/ProductDetail.aspx?brand=154&product=11230&cat=)

2. Golden Grahams
(http://www.generalmills.com/corporate/brands/product_image.aspx?catID=50&itemID=742)

3. Post Golden Crisp
(http://www.postcereals.com/cereals/post_golden_crisp/)

For extra credit, I found someone searching for a cereal called Nestle's Gold Cereal, that apparently is only sold in Latin America and Europe. (http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/543971) So this is one is more of an...that's interesting.

There you go! Hope one of those is right! :)

Yes, it's spam!

8:15 PM, Feb. 25, 2009, posted by DragonflyPrincess

Besides being on an old post, if you google the text of the comment (not the name or website address, just the comment text) it returns over 200,000 identical or near-identical comments hawking just about anything under the sun.

Yukon Realtors endorse Gold Nugget Chunkies.

Edited by DragonflyPrincess on Feb. 25, 2009 at 7:16 PM

Untitled Comment

9:52 PM, Feb. 25, 2009, posted by Anonymous

I'd have to say it's Spam. Most folks who comment mention something about the entry they just read then maybe a generic closing like "I've enjoyed reading your blog." But in my experience most people willl first at least mention the entry to which they are commenting on. THE CEREAL? Well Yukon Gold of course! It is sold by me at Save-A-Lot Food Stores!
~Lori
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/henhouse

Not spam

11:45 PM, Feb. 25, 2009, posted by SisterTipster

This is tough, but she did leave her name, and if she didn't have an account she could have been randomly reading which I have done, by the last 100 entries to tell me what looks interesting. As far as the url, it's her site so you can go and visit her if you choose to do so. This is how I see it, and I have read others older posts and commented not to spam or sell them anything. I am a registered user so that may be the difference.

Ineligible for the PRIZE...but the cereal is...
GOLDEN Grahms!
enjoyed by Yukon Realtors.
blessings!

company porch tip challenge

12:28 AM, Feb. 26, 2009, posted by ericliddell

I'd say it's spam. The wording seems generic and insincere. It doesn't seem to have human thought behind it tailored to comment on this one blog.

I think the Yukon realtors love Quaker Oatmeal.

Untitled Comment

12:40 AM, Feb. 26, 2009, posted by Jimmie

Yes, it's spam. The comment is totally generic and could fit equally as well on any blog entry in the entire Internet. (That is, it doesn't really say anything at all.)
The link is unrelated. Spam. Absolutely.

Spam Definately

3:28 AM, Feb. 26, 2009, posted by tinbeez

The message is too vague. The url doesn't need to be there. If it were a true visit, "she" wouldn't need to be advertising to you before you even know "her".

Yukon realtors must prefer Pemican. It is long lasting and helps them when they have days of driving to get from one property showing to another. There aren't a lot of McDonald's drive thrus up there. And hot and cold cereals don't work for someone who has to be on the road so much.
(At least that is what I imagine to be so :0) )

Spam, spam, spam, spam, spammity spaaaaaaaaaam

1:29 PM, Feb. 26, 2009, posted by motherby

I think it's been well-explained already why it's spam. The genericness of it, and it popping up on a very old post would have been my first clues. Not that old posts don't get new comments... just that it's unusual for someone to make THAT KIND of comment ("just found your blog") on an old post. Not impossible, but suspicious.

From the suspicion I would have googled it, like previous commenters here have already done, and there's the proof.

I've recently got a spate of spam comments that basically said "great domain name, it's perfect for a blog like this." Um, okay. The first one, I thought, "cool, I guess, but an odd kind of comment." Then I got 3 more identical ones over the next few days on different posts.

For the favourite cereal... a REALTOR's favourite cereal? Hmm. I'm guessing the "realtor" angle is important, but I'm stumped. I'll go with "Froot Loops" but not for any logical reason lol...

Untitled Comment

4:44 PM, Feb. 26, 2009, posted by aiminghigh

Dang, I wish the puzzle would have asked what favorite breakfast not favorite cereal. I had a great answer: Homestyle Potatoes!

Anyway, SPAM it is. Very generic. Says nothing related to the post. Links to a large company-type thing with multiple contributors. It's like those phone callers that act like they know you just to get you not to hang up before they give their written speech trying to get you to commit to buying something from them.

Many Blessings,
Holly@aiminghigh

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