Dear Japanese Spammers
Neither I, nor my few readers are your target audience. We're just not.
Your business plan is, therefore, flawed.
I hope this helps.
In other news, I've been a tad under the weather lately and it came to a head today as I left work, when I was afforded the rare oppertunity to examine everything I'd eaten (but not fully digested) over the last two days.
After spending the day in bed, this evening I staggered up and went to the gas station...where I had my card declined...subsequent investigation revealed that someone had purchased all manner of stuff including an Amazon Prime membership with my card number until they emptied my account.
What, pray-tell, is someone going to DO with an Amazon Prime membership bought from a stolen card number? Seriously...
Anyway... since you just sat through all that...Here is a catgirl.
The spammers don't care about your readers. They only care about the googlebot. This is one form of SEO.
Ironically, it doesn't work. Google got wise to it a long time ago, and now it actually reduces their page-rank. But the SEO-service companies don't tell their customers that, for obvious reasons.
2
Precisely, Spammers don't advertise their OWN product, the spam IS their product. They get people to pay them for "Internet Marketing" and this is what they get.
I once contacted a company that I was getting e-Mail spam from, and they were horrified and promptly apologized and said they were firing that marketing company.
Posted by: Mauser at Tue Jul 15 04:11:07 2014 (TJ7ih)
3
Seriously though, turn on the registered users only option, at least until the spambots drop you from their list as not working. And I notice that they concentrate on certain old posts (probably because they have a list of links as input), I wouldn't hurt to lock those particular posts.
Posted by: Mauser at Tue Jul 15 04:17:47 2014 (TJ7ih)
4
I did not even bother with enabling mandatory registration. Locking alone works great. I can't see why Ken is so obstinent about permitting comments on very old posts. Perhaps there were valuable comments.
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Thu Jul 17 00:11:50 2014 (RqRa5)
5
He's probably just busy and hasn't gotten around to it yet.
I have a couple of weeks off work starting Monday to catch up on stuff, and I'll be putting an autolock option in place first thing.
1
I presume that these are your classmates at university that are "quizzing" you, and I can guess the nature of the "social justice bugaboos" they're quizzing you on. In my opinion, if they're spurning you over disagreements like this, they weren't really your friends to being with, they're just recruitment officers for The Cause. You're better off without them.
Besides, we learn to despise those to whom we must lie.
OTOH, some people automatically despise those who disagree with them--and the only lying necessary is when they pat themselves on the back for their tolerance and openmindedness. (I think it was J Greely who wrote something like, "...and they'll never realize that they're the ugly bigots".)
Posted by: Peter the Not-so-Great at Sat Jul 12 17:29:59 2014 (2eP1J)
I presume that these are your classmates at university that are "quizzing" you, [/quote]
Sadly no. Of course I get a little bit of that on occasion, but it would not merit comment. I any event, being so close to graduation, I keep the mask firmly fitted while on campus.
No, this warrented comment because these are people I've known for years.
6 months ago my twitter feed began filling up with bile.
The culprit was a fellow I've known for 24 years, who is a bit of a hippy but has always been an interesting fellow and a very decent guy. He was someone that In a lot of ways I'd admired because he'd overcome some serious obstacles to raise a family and pursue an education. I hadn't heard from him except in short tweets and E-mail exchanges for about two years.
The bile in question was rage aimed at MSNBC for firing Martin Bashir as my friend was of the opinion that what Bashir said
, that Sarah Palin should be tied down and have someone crap in her mouth, was quite reasonable. Now I am not a fan of the school of thought that saying anything that offends someone is a hate crime...but there are points at which one is no longer engaged in reasoned discourse, and that seems to not qualify as such. My friend felt that
she should be raped as well and linked approvingly to a Dan Savage piece
that suggested that she have nails driven into her during the process so that her screaming in agony would prevent her from closing her mouth .
I pointed out that my friend had a daughter, and surely he did not want her to grow up in a world where talking about a woman that way was acceptable. He responded that his daughter was a progressive and so this was not about her and I was a fool and a misogynist for suggesting that it was. I asked if he'd still love his daughter if she came home from college a Tea Partier. He said no he wouldn't...he'd disown her. I made some clumsy analogy to the tragedy of homophobic parents cutting off their gay children and the conversation deteriorated from there cumulating in a multi question quiz, which I failed.
A few weeks ago I was asked to sign a petition by someone I've been on friendly terms with for over 15 years, though like the other one I hadn't seen him IRL in a couple of years. I did not sign the petition which I considered well intentioned but flawed. The fellow was floored and hurt. When I explained my concern he expressed his deep and profound disappointment at discovering I had a diverging opinion....all messages from the mailing list we were both members of stopped shortly thereafter.
I could go on, but won't, the point is that over the last 6 months 3, possibly 4 people I've known for over a decade have decided to do an assessment of my views, found me wanting and cut me off lest they be associated with me.
It used to be possible to have friends with wildly different worldviews, but we are becoming so polarized that society is breaking up in an almost tribal fashion. Said tribes don't associate and membership in the tribes is determined by questions that are graded digitally.
How I long for the days of analog.
Even more than the current fusillade of scandals and the stuff happening overseas, this dynamic worries and saddens me.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Sat Jul 12 21:13:39 2014 (DnAJl)
3
Hmmm...I have NO idea what happened with the formatting there...odd.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Sat Jul 12 21:15:06 2014 (DnAJl)
4
These individuals lack real compassion. The real thing has no political filters. Compassionate understanding does not require that you agree with a person's viewpoint, but it can be a starting point for honest dialog.
I suspect these 'friends' found the self-examination and openness that real compassion requires too strenuous, and have found comfort in conforming to The Narrative. Now that they are well mired in it, for you to say anything that questions that comfort is something only The Enemy would do.
Progressive Fundamentalism. The penultimate comfort of those who have abandoned hope.
Posted by: thornharp at Sun Jul 13 10:44:54 2014 (yDzeG)
5Sadly no...this warrented comment because these are people I've known for years.
I was mistaken about that; it must be upsetting to have long-time friends turn on you like that. (I must admit that sort of thing hasn't happened to me yet, at least not to that level of viciousness.) OTOH, my original opinion hasn't changed--at the end of the day, you're better off without these people in your life. (Especially that first fellow you mentioned--what a nasty piece of work! You showed him much more forbearance than I would have if I were in your shoes.)
It used to be possible to have friends with wildly different worldviews,
but we are becoming so polarized that society is breaking up in an
almost tribal fashion.
If I may express another opinion: that bodes very ill for the future. I'd wager that, in history, this sort of "us vs. them" mentality has helped start civil wars, or has weakened countries to the point that they become easy prey for invaders.
Posted by: Peter the Not-so-Great at Sun Jul 13 18:25:22 2014 (2eP1J)
Wait. What? Express an OPINION?...in the USA? What disgracious heresy is this?
I'd wager that, in history, this sort of "us vs. them" mentality has helped start civil wars, or has weakened countries to the point that they become easy prey for invaders. You would win that wager I'm afraid.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Sun Jul 13 20:31:09 2014 (DnAJl)
7
As a secondary wager, how much would you like to bet that that is the goal?
Posted by: Mauser at Mon Jul 14 03:23:20 2014 (TJ7ih)
8
On the bright side, you have some truly persistent spambots.
9
Indeed! If I can just harness their power then world domination will be in my grasp!
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Mon Jul 14 19:21:25 2014 (DnAJl)
10As a secondary wager, how much would you like to bet that that is the goal?
That wouldn't surprise me...however, if that is the goal of certain people out there, they may want to think twice. "Be careful what you wish for, you may get it."
Posted by: Peter the Not-so-Great at Mon Jul 14 19:47:44 2014 (2eP1J)
In the 50 + years I have been on this earth one word to the wise I recieved early on and stuck with me was that in this life one has in truth only a few "True" friends. Most can be counted on your fingers. All the others you cross paths with in live are really just acquaintances.
Posted by: JWR at Tue Jul 15 17:02:01 2014 (egLlQ)
This is the latest map. It is indeed looking to be a hurricane and while it will graze us, it will be well placed to push a lot of water into the bay. A lot will depend on what time it passers by. On top of that ,the weather weasels are saying this is going to be a very wet storm. While we most likely won't see hurricane force winds, Friday could still be quite interesting due to flooding
Hobby Space News of the commercial space industry A Babe In The Universe Rather Eclectic Cosmology Encyclopedia Astronautica Superb spacecraft resource The Unwanted Blog Scott Lowther blogs about forgotten aerospace projects and sells amazingly informative articles on the same. Also, there are cats. Transterrestrial Musings Commentary on Infinity...and beyond! Colony WorldsSpace colonization news! The Alternate Energy Blog It's a blog about alternate energy (DUH!) Next Big Future Brian Wang: Tracking our progress to the FUTURE. Nuclear Green Charles Barton, who seems to be either a cool curmudgeon, or a rational hippy, talks about energy policy and the terrible environmental consequences of not going nuclear Energy From Thorium Focuses on the merits of thorium cycle nuclear reactors WizBang Current events commentary...with a wiz and a bang The Gates of Vienna Tenaciously studying a very old war The Anchoress insightful blogging, presumably from the catacombs Murdoc Online"Howling Mad Murdoc" has a millblog...golly! EaglespeakMaritime security matters Commander Salamander Fullbore blackshoe blogging! Belmont Club Richard Fernandez blogs on current events BaldilocksUnderstated and interesting blog on current events The Dissident Frogman French bi-lingual current events blog The "Moderate" VoiceI don't think that word means what they think it does....but this lefty blog is a worthy read nonetheless. Meryl Yourish News, Jews and Meryls' Views Classical Values Eric Scheie blogs about the culture war and its incompatibility with our republic. Jerry Pournell: Chaos ManorOne of Science fictions greats blogs on futurism, current events, technology and wisdom A Distant Soil The website of Colleen Dorans' superb fantasy comic, includes a blog focused on the comic industry, creator issues and human rights. John C. Wright The Sci-Fi/ Fantasy writer muses on a wide range of topics. Now Read This! The founder of the UK Comics Creators Guild blogs on comics past and present. The Rambling Rebuilder Charity, relief work, roleplaying games Rats NestThe Art and rantings of Vince Riley Gorilla Daze Allan Harvey, UK based cartoonist and comics historian has a comicophillic blog! Pulpjunkie Tim Driscoll reviews old movies, silents and talkies, classics and clunkers. Suburban Banshee Just like a suburban Leprechaun....but taller, more dangerous and a certified genius. Satharn's Musings Through TimeThe Crazy Catlady of The Barony of Tir Ysgithr アニ・ノート(Ani-Nouto) Thoughtful, curmudgeonly, otakuism that pulls no punches and suffers no fools. Chizumatic Stephen Den Beste analyzes anime...with a microscope, a slide rule and a tricorder. Wonderduck Anime, Formula One Racing, Sad Girls in Snow...Duck Triumphalism Beta Waffle What will likely be the most thoroughly tested waffle evah! Zoopraxiscope Too In this thrilling sequel to Zoopraxiscope, Don, Middle American Man of Mystery, keeps tabs on anime, orchids, and absurdities. Mahou Meido MeganekkoUbu blogs on Anime, computer games and other non-vital interests Twentysided More geekery than you can shake a stick at Shoplifting in the Marketplace of Ideas Sounds like Plaigarism...but isn't Ambient IronyAll Meenuvians Praise the lathe of the maker! Hail Pixy!!