Mark Drew (Redux)- cf_etc...

As some of you might have noticed, if you have ever posted a comment on this blog, I have been having a number of spam comments being submitted. Since I am using captcha for each blog post, I think this is basically sweatshop workers in China being told to do it. (enyone watched JPod? same thing). There is no real way round this, since its humans doing it (or maybe install CFKismet or something?). The main point is, if I dont have any real readers in China, should I simply block all the IP's that come from there and put a proper message? What do you think? unfair? I think as a whole it would be, but then again, I dont get many *real* readers from there, speak up if you are though!

Today I got a letter, which in itself isn't odd, but the addressing was. It was addressed to me but using an initial that I don't use in day to day transactions. It was also posted from Madrid, Spain. Which is odd since I haven't lived there since I was three, and the last time I lived in Spain, I lived in Valencia so even then. It was odd. When I opened it I was shocked to find it was a badly written, full length letter stating that someone with the same surname as myself, and his whole family had passed away in the 11th of March train bombing in Madrid. And that since I had the same surname, I could ask for their $77 million from the bank in a con essentially. This is a standard Nigerian 419 Scam. But what shocks me is the fact that it was posted, it uses a horrific terrorist attack as its basis and the spelling is atrocious! These scams seem to be flooding the internet (if I go and browse my spam folder it seems filled with it). Emails are nearly 100% always from a yahoo address and always say of a deal where you would have to go and pick up the money, praise god, say that you are a good person and trustworthy (oh, nice! they know your character over email) and seemed to be spelled by a dyslexic baboon . What has really worried me about this is how they have obtained my address. So keep an eye out for such scams. And in the meantime, have a read of 419 Eater

I have noticed recently that a number of blogs seem to be getting spammed. Now, why is this different from normal? Well, it seems to me that this spam is *human* spam, rather than bots or anything. They seem to be getting past the captcha on blog comments. The volume is fairly low for a bot, but its constant. I just wondered if it was just because most of the blogs that I read are running blogCFC, there are human spammers, or there is some way round the captcha? Just so you know, I have started moderating comments for this reason, don't worry, I shall be checking my email to make sure that the right comments are displayed. Oh, and most of the IP's seem to be from China. Whatever gets you through the day guys, your spam posts wont appear here.

So far today I have deleted 4 instances of comment spam. These people are actually getting past the captcha code and entering things in, so I presume they are human. I delete them as soon as I can of course but what is retarded (for these people ARE retarded, evil and they smell pretty bad, not to mention ugly) they are putting in a URL that doesnt exist. So right, Miss/Mr Spammer, you are putting in the URL of your site, but it doesnt exist. Bogg off please, its just a waste of your time. Surely???

In case you are either stupid or cant read, the pod on the left says ASK MD and it isnt a way for you to send me spam. You WONT get an email back and it basically just gets placed in the bin. I am not American so not interested in your stupid stocks or want a new mortgage (since I will never use ANY product that has been advertised via spam, think about it you idiots) If you are a robot, and you just post stuff automatically, just disregard this message as you are the poor creation of a twisted useless mind. Sorry for the disruption to the readers of this blog with this posting.