Anybody who writes a blog is familiar with comment spam.  This is when spammers comment on your posts but are only doing so to get a back-link to their url.  These people (sometimes they’re robots but let’s assume for now that it’s a real person doing it) are usually hired by so-called “SEO Firms” to get as many links for their clients’ sites as possible.

It’s totally unethical, but it happens all the time.  If you’re a blogger this is not news.

I just had a brand new comment spam experience.  The commenter said this on one of my blog posts:

The next time I read a blog, I hope that it doesnt disappoint me as much as this one. I mean, I know it was my choice to read, but I actually thought youd have something interesting to say. All I hear is a bunch of whining about something that you could fix if you werent too busy looking for attention.

My first thought was WTF?

My second thought was “Seriously?”  This person really thinks I’m going to approve this?  Maybe you’re wondering, “So how do you know it’s spam? Maybe it really is a legitimate criticism of your post.”  Hardly.

First of all, the post that this comment responded to was anything BUT whiny (trust me, I know when I’m being whiny).  Second of all, the post was not about anything I have any control over (Facebook’s privacy policy).  For real.

So my next thought was… Why?  All the comment Spam I’ve ever gotten has been either innocuous (“thanks for the info”) or complimentary (“you’ve really inspired me”).  This, in my opinion, is the best way to get your comment approved.

I know, some blogs don’t have an approval process and just let any comment get posted.  But still… my question remains… why would a spammer bash my post instead of complimenting it?  Why is that better?  It seems to defy logic.  Right, spammers aren’t too bright after all, perhaps there is some twisted thought process that went into it.

Anyhoo… Just sayin’.