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Would You Like A Side of Spam with That? Of Course Not!!

I don't know exactly what else to say other than, I'm sorry.

(Hi. Whatever you fear most has no power - it is your fear that has the power. Help me! Could you help me find sites on the: Wash hookless shower curtain. I found only this - spotted shower curtain. Nice! Love the shower curtain good choice, and this one will probably last longer than the one from target. Hookless shower curtain ezinearticles. With best wishes :rolleyes:, Neta from Tajikistan.)

If you are reading this, you probably have been swamped today from a ton of spam comments. We are doing everything we can on our end currently to stem the tide of this garbage.

In order to put an absolute stop to spam comments right now, go to the 'settings' link on the left hand side of your my home page and uncheck the box that says 'allow non-member comments'

Mine is set to allow non-member comments. You want to uncheck it, then hit update. Of course, that will stop consumers from commenting on your blog. However until we can get this knocked out, that is your best option.

(Hello. I'm all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. Let's start with typewriters. Help me! Could you help me find sites on the: English bachelor degree online. I found only this - second bachelor Degree nursing programs. Online bachelor degree programs go mainstream. Online bachelor degree programs go mainstream. Thank you very much :o. Abira from Israel.)

Jorgen, Mike and Diego are monitoring and blocking IP addresses and blocks of IP addresses in an effort to thwart these rascals. If it's a battle of wills, Jorgen will win, I promise.

If you can believe this, it appears as if these are real people leaving these comments. Most likely sitting in a room somewhere overseas being paid pennies every time they leave a couple hundred of these links. Whatever you do, DO NOT CLICK THEM. Even if you are like me and love Nike Air Jordan's, I promise you that the page you land on is not going to be a place you want to be.

(Hello. Everyone wants to be Cary Grant. Even I want to be Cary Grant. Help me! Could you help me find sites on the: Texas transmission. I found only this -electric companies in north texas. Helps texans evaluate and choose from among many texas electric companies. Online pharmacy cheap meridia texas electric companies low cost car insurance phentermine mexico buy phentermine us pharmacy phentermine wordwide shipping. Best regards :rolleyes:, Runa from Bhutan.)

I'll let you know on this post when it is safe to allow non-member comments.

Again, we are terribly sorry for the inconvenience and hopefully you can hang in there with us as we work to get this taken care of. If you can't, feel free to call me and rip into me, I'm a big boy, I can take it :-)

Do you care what I'm doing and thinking? (I can not for the life of me imagine why) If you do, you can find me on some of these places........but remember, if you are offended by anything you see or hear, I didn't force you to follow me!!:

Posted by Bob Stewart - ActiveRain on 07/19/2009 08:20 AM

Comments (219)

219 Comments on Would You Like A Side of Spam with That? Of Course Not!!

JUL

Just BANISH them BOB! ( noticed how clean my words were )

I'm glad you guys are on to this. But it's the relentless phone calls about Google placement that chap my hide.

"Hey Greg, I LOVE your blogs..I noticed on the Google search engines....."

Now I embarass them by saying...... "which blog did you like?" This forces them to stutter and fumble. Donkeys.

I have been getting them all day....So you mean to tell me these people haven't been reading my blog and are just spammers? SHOCKED! lol

I just blogged about it too! Don't worry, I think we can all figure out that this is not your fault. We blame the spammers. They are much more fun to blame!!

Thanks..I've been flagging sorry about ..and Jeannette just called wondering about them! :)

Bob: I have noticed many of these today as well. Looks like they are making the rounds... Unfortunately these are going to slip in from time to time... :(

No worries Bob... We know you didn't do this..

They are actively lately aren't they? The good news is we're notified of new comments... and that little 'ol delete key works like a charm! ;)

Bob - well I tried and it has not stopped the spam. Made the change a while ago and still getting spam comments.

Jeff

Thanks Bob for the info. I just got one of these spammers comment.

I have deleted three of these on old blog posts so far. Glad you all are on top of it! I will be turning off my non-member comments until you get this fixed. Thanks for the tip!

Bob... I loved the weapons one... I don't think I got that one... but I did get the others.. you missed this one...

___________________________________________________________________________

Comment:

Hello. I love this site. great site and great webmaster. Thank you bye. Help me! Can not find sites on the: Mudd shoes fred. I found only this - 7 mudd shoes. Deals on mudd shoes black mudd dress shoes sandals ladies accessories. Wide variety of products other than jeans including mudd purses, and mudd shoes. Thank :-) Dalton from Jamaica.

___________________________________________________________________________

LOL.... because of this inconvenience, I would like my free monthly fee back. thanks, Jeff Belonger - CEO of BS Spam

jeff belonger

Thanks for addressing this publically.

Bob - Thanks for that tip will try it pronto... And thanks for the Localism job as well... :-)

Hey I noticed our Radar Rangers over on the right on the A/R FB fans... How cool is that?

Good luck with the fake ham messages..... No problemo....

lol- I have received probably 6 spam comments over the past two days. BUT thank you for calling attention to it and making a useful temporary suggestion Bob. Also thanks for your humor. I am sure you guys are swamped dealing with this.

Bob... PS... I got this in the mail from Sally Cheeseman and had some for breakfast... and then visited the little boys room and I thought I was .... well, you know the rest... I thought I was leaking spam into my comments.

Hawaiian Style.... ;o)

jeff belonger

Thanks for the reassurance. Meanwhile, I'll use the delete. It's so easy.

Bob...

This is a great tip. I can sense the system speeding up already! Thanks for all of your help, I really appreciate it!

Bob, thanks for the info about the uncheck the non member comments. If they are going to comment let them pay.. then ya'll can have a big ole Texas BBQ for everyone. OK, a virtual one!

Thanks Bob. I was a bit annoyed when these span comments showed up on my market reports. Aggravating, to say the least. Until you guys actually have this under wraps, stopping comments from non-members altogether will be a blessing, as most consumers don't comment anyway...

thanks...........i was going to email in but you guys are on top of this - of course!

Dangit! I thought I had new readers who were really, truly interested in my original content! :S

I am off to disable those blasted spammers! Thanks Bob.

Bob

I disabled the non-member comments as well but the spam I have received is crazy. Hope it stops, and i know you guys are the best at working at things.

Do I win for attracting the farthest traveled spammer; LOL;

Comment:

Could you help me. We think in generalities, but we live in detail. Help me! Need information about: Bachelor of science degrees. I found only this - bachelor degree in safety. All bachelor degrees require core course requirements. In searching for an online bachelor degree program you are interested in, get the details information about it admission requirements from the schools. With respect :cool:, Becky from Pakistan.

<><><><><>>><><><><>

nonmembers comments unchecked...

Bless you for the tip - I don't have time for all these crazy spam comments!

I have been reporting and deleteing a lot today. Thanks for all you are doing.

I'm with Greg. Last caller to me quoted that he knows I'm #5 in the state of PA and my blog is good, but he can get me better rankings.

Hey Bob,

Got plenty of-em myself today and just speaking with a fellow Rainer about the topic. Thanks for the heads up, just changed my setting.

I just want to know if I am getting points for all of these spam comment? HA HA

Bob - FYI I did the change unchecking outside comments. Still getting slammed with spammers... I need a new shower curtain though..... I think one of them reblogged me too.... Can that be? Somebody reblogged one of my old posts and I can't figure out who? Just sayin.... good luck :-)

We have been swamped also with from shoes to shower curtains. I'll go uncheck my comments right after I leave here. Sure wish they could find a real job.

Howdy there Bob

Looks like you beat me on writing this kind of post. lol

I have already set my little ole Blogging Homestead. So Non-Members, like them there low life's can no longer leave their garbage there.

Thank you, once again Bob.

P.S. Just to let you know, my friend. They have started moven up to newer posts now.

God Bless America

I'm crushed...here I thought I was totally special. That shower curtain special is MINE folks....hands off!

I also want the gift certificate for the shoes...I'll share with Maureen :)

How about this one... how dare they bring Betty Boop into the mix...

__________________________________________________

Comment:

Give please. yes i think it is a very good site. Help me! Could you help me find sites on the: University of oregon shower curtain. I found only this - betty boop shower Curtain. Shower curtain cleaning tips ezinearticles. Installing a shower curtain rod ezinearticles. With love :-), Torie from Zimbabwe.

_____________________________________________________

Jeff Belonger

Thank goodness...I'm glad AR is on this. These people are relentless. They are posting about every minute on my different blogs, it's been going on since last night. Good-luck getting rid of them!

I was harassed through a non member's comments and checked that box. What I believe is that if someone wants to contact me they will try and contact me anyway.......not write a comment in my post. I know they read as past clients have found me through AR...but few actually comment.

There seems to be quite the onslaught of SPAM going on today, Bob. I flagged mine. My only question, though, is: can we delete the flagged SPAM after we have flagged it or does it need to stay on the post indefinitely? Also, thanks for the tip about unclicking the Non-Member comments box. I did that. I hope it helps.

K GREAT! Cause I've already reported and deleted about 6 of these stupid spammers from my blogs....

hahaha saw Jeff's comment...pretty funny :)

LOL WidowMaker...

Please disregard my last email :)

TLW...ROAR!

Thanks Bob, I appreciate all your efforts. I got bombarded last night and this morning. For some reason I lost over 1,000 points after I deleted them and updated some old posts.

PS> I hate to disable non members comments because I get many legitimate comments from consumers.

I fear -- the spotted shower curtain!

Thanks for acknowledging this phobia we, now, all have!

;-)

Good Lord...

Are they really porn bum-bum sites? :)

TLW...ROAR!

Shall we keep reporting these and then deleting them, or do you want us to stop flooding you with these reports??

Thanks.

I have no idea why anyone would steal an image from Google images :)

Good option for the short term. Go get'm Jorgen.

Bob what is on the funny side of the snafu of the month is how many bloggers blog about it. It ALWAYS amazes me. You guys are on top of this, and while annoying, part of life in the Internet age. Hard to imagine all these real people being paid cents per hour to do this whacky stuff. AMAZING! Hang in there, and thanks for being willing to take the flak!! I wonder if they will get back with me with a wide variety of colors with the shower curtains. The Stagers should love this spam.

This is when I go to the Monty Python youtube channel to see the spam skit. I hate spam!

Bob, although annoying, these comments are tame compared to some of the Spam that's appearing on Twitter & Facebook. Appreciate all you guys are doing to deal with it.

Will you remind us to go back to other than members postings? I tend to forget, but I am sooooootired of deleting since 6 AM

I have gotten a lot of these today! Maybe they know someone who is looking for "the deal of the century!" Thanks for trying to stop the spammers!

Comment:
How are you. At my lemonade stand I used to give the first glass away free and charge five dollars for the second glass. The refill contained the antidote. Help me! Could you help me find sites on the: Bachelor degree at home. I found only this - online physical education bachelor degree. Twitter tweets about bachelor degree as of july rva marriage an institution in which a man loses. One person who I interviewed for the genie in the machine said that he considers an engineer with a bachelor degree, but equipped with artificial invention technology, to be as effective at solving problems as an unaided engineer with a ph. Thanks ;-). Huey from Uganda.
Please follow this link to respond: http://activerain.com/blogsview/40980/25-signals-of-poor-quality-web-sites
---
Unsubscribe from notifications for this post

I'm curious why so many are getting through and if some of the paying members are receiving more than us non-paying members. Thanks.

Bob, In our case the blogs affected were all 3 or more months old - nothing recent, Can we at least keep the blog comment points :) If so, I'll turn the damned things back on :) Art

Bob - I must have spammed YOU with "Report a Concern" :)

This reminds me of soylent green. I really hate this stuff

If you report a concern for a comment. We will remove the comment once we log the IP address. If you delete the comment, we are unable to get the IP.

We are working on locking the points on old posts so that these additional comments do not affect scoring negatively.

Jeff Dowler and others who tried to change your comment policy,

Hmmm........I'm not sure what is going on. A few of the comments have come from logged in spam accounts, Jeff if you are on this thread can you forward me something you have gotten since you changed your comment policy to exclude non members.

thanks for this update! I just went live with my outside blog last week and was horrified if this was going to be a "side benefit"! Glad to know it is abnormal!

I'm glad you wrote this because I was thinking that I was crazy. I got them on blogs from last year, very strange.

I'm with Greg, on being tired of the Google placement calls. I like to ask if the results they promise are organic or through sponsored links.

That usually stops them right there.

Just noticed this one and a few more. I didn't delete I reported a concern. They have good taste they're spamming some of my best blogs lol.

Good afternoon. Hey Garrett, the new record sounds great I'm gonna try and make it to the next show around here, You cats are outta sight. Help me! There is an urgent need for sites: Shower curtains liners. I found only this - shower Curtain clips. Installing a shower curtain rodby anabel scott anabel scottlevel platinumi love traveling the world and sharing my experiences with others, hence the reason I got into travel writing. Remodel a bathroom for how to install a shower curtain valence. Waiting for a reply :mad:, Kina from Ecuador.

Kina	Delete \| Report Received

2:35pm • #26

Thanks Bob! I was wondering about this. I will go change my settings right now.

Bob, This morning I thought it was just me. Tonight I saw old posts that I had checked that weren't mine come back with the spam. I'm sure you are all doing everything you can to stop them. (And Good luck with this one!).

Being a developer we battle this what seems to be daily and invest thousands in the attempt to be one step ahead of these idiots. My AR posts got hit 3 times and I consider myself blessed. Turing off the outside comments is a great temporary fix. Funny I was writing a post about this very samething until I found yours, beat me to the punch.

When you realize that this wave of spam is probably coming from real people in third world countries, paid a few dollars a day to copy and paste spam comments (think scenes from Slumdog Millionaire) ... you can actually feel a little sympathy for them..... at least I do.

I still went ahead and turned off non-member comments...

But all that said, I think all the telemarketing calls I get daily from idiot vendors is about two thousand times worse.

How do I stop those telephone calls; please, please, please??!!! I'd do almost anything to stop them.......

My money is on Jorgen and the Active Rain team !!!

Ah, the bain of having an open forum!

I have been deleting these, one by one - about 3 dozen thus far, and did indeed noticed this action reduced my score by roughly 150 points.

Let us know when it is safe to go back in the water, Bob - and thanks, to all of you, for your dilligence!

DEAN & DEAN'S TEAM CHICAGO

These started last night and then more today. I was frustrated having to go to all of the posts and delete them but did do that and then I changed my setting to not allow non-members comments. Was pleasantly surprised to find this post on it. Thank You!!

I know that you guys are working at this... It is a PITA, though. I think I must have over a dozen. Of course they are all old posts I don't visit much.

They are persistent...25 so far and snuff them all out. Change of setting helps if we can remember to turn it back on when the plague is gone. Thanks Bob.

I wsn' sure at the time whether to leave the comment after reported or not, one I did, one I didn't... thank you for jumping on this and trying to bring it under control. Guess my question now is so if I delete the comment from Active Rain does it delete it from my outside blog too? or do I need to go and get it off there as well? I will go look..... maybe I missed the answer in the comments above.....

Bob said "We are working on locking the points on old posts so that these additional comments do not affect scoring negatively."

Question ?? What is the determining age of old post ?

No reason to rip into somebody that has voluntarily acknowledged a mistake and quickly solved the problem. :)

I know you will fix it - "you cats are outa sight!" :)

Check the members only comments box. Reporting but not deleting, right? I'll check back for updates.

The first one I saw was someone trying to sell Jason Sardi a shower curtain, which I thought was a joke because of a comment he made on a blog about phone solicitors and I thought it was pretty funny. Then I got them on my blog, and saw them everywhere else. Holy crapola!

I'm just dealing with them for now as I do get the occasional consumer comment. I appreciate that you guys are on this.

Like Greg and Brian, I believe the Google callers are far more annoying than the spam.

Crapola... I didn't think about reporting it so you could track the ISP. Doh!

Did what you suggested and they are still here...UGH!

Mine was already unchecked and I haven't received any. I do get solicitations from many SEO firms, which I find annoying. It would be nice if there were yet another level to have a preference setting to block business hawking their wares uninvited.

Haven't received one yet, but thanks for the heads up!

Today was not fabulous, right now I would consider myself a pissed off redneck and to boot my scanner screwed up in the middle of scanning an offer tonight. UGH. Anyway if Jorgen finds out more than an ISP let me know where it is, I'll go visit that room and find out where the pennies came from and kick some butt.

BTW it just made me laugh when I saw these "comments" in my email today. Seriously no one is actually giving AR grief over something you have no control over are they? Are they?

JUL

OOPS! Looks like you got slimed by some more spam. (see above comment). I got slimed by 3 spammers this morning. Thanks for the heads- up...

Helping you help others live their American Dream...

Should folks be putting live links in their blogs from these nuts? I was thinking couldn't this send this "trouble" outside of active rain. I have seen a lot of the links on blogs - of course I'm not clicking them to see if they are live.

Yeah and now they got my cell number and are leaving me text messages!

And here I was thinking I was special and the only one with a handful of my blogs being spammed every day. Aww shucks. Thanks for the tip I am going to do that now.

Dang, Bob, here I was thinking I had finally achieved enough Google juice to merit spam. Now I don't feel special...

But thanks to all at AR for being on top of this and for keeping us all posted!

Not to ruin anyone's day or anything like that; but the thought occurs to me, since these are probably real live humans (not computer-bots) some of the bolder ones will probably start creating member accounts, and then spamming .... and the trick of disabling non-member comments will no longer be effective. Sorry to say that.

Thanks for the acknowledgement that you guys are doing something about it. It's ironic that a post about Nike Air Jordan spam gets spammed by air jordan...

Thank you for the quick tip Bob, we have set our blog comments to protect ourselves this morning!

Hey Bob, How long does it take for AR to delte the comment from our blog?

I hit the 'Report a Concern' then deleted it after 15 minutes afraid a client or some here might hit the link.

I haven't been on AR in a couple of days so missed this post. (I had just emailed Brad about it- sorry Brad!). what will these people think of next.

The more technology changes (which is faster than the speed of light) the more we find to grumble about. Oh well.

So Bob you must have quite a collection of shower curtains by now. I know how generous you are and I know you must have bought a boat load of them from this fella:)

LoL- The spammers hit Bob's post on Spam. Like Bob Said, please hit the Report a concern:

Sorry Guys, we are working on this!

I just got 4 of these today. I was hesitant to click the don't allow nonmember comments as I usually get a couple of consumer comments a month wihcih often turns into an actual relationship, but I guess that I will have to bite the bullet until you get things worked out.

BTW- BOB WHY AM I THE ELECTRIC COMPANY? I WANTED TO BE AIR JORDAN!

Bob, thank you so much for the update....these comments have been driving me crazy lately...not a day has gone by over the past few days that I'm not spammed!

Jeremy..... It must be the turkey Brad let into the control room some time ago... Thought the turkey was gone ;)

I got that one too. Plus another different one. I would like other to comment but ????

Bob,

Appreciate you and the team working on this. It started on Tuesday for me. :)

Steve

THanks for the info - I won't delete anymore :)

Thanks for the info Bob. I've been noticing the shower curtain spam. I hate disengaging the non-member comments, but it's likely the best solution for now.

Bob, THANKS! I have been noticing...and trying to get those off...I will follow your suggestion....I seem to be having issues with being able to delete too...ARGGGG!

Bob, when we click on the "Report a concern" link, can we immediately delete the comment or do you guys need us to keep it around so you can take a look at it before we delete it?

Chanda panda

Thanks, Bob. I wasn't sure what to do about the comment once it was reported. It's nice to know that you guys just delete them after you take care of them.

I changed it earlier as this has happened before & it worked for me. I know your working hard to get these people to stop/blocked. How do people in Zimbabwe know about Bette Boop anyway?

Dangit...I thought that woman who was talking about patio furniture was such a legitmate buyer too!

Bob,

These things are a real pain! I've reported another 6 or 7 this morning! One of them is on "The Official Active Rain Blog"! Is that one not blocked?

Lucky :)

Bob - so far so good today... Nothing to report since I unchecked the non member button....

So it is not just me. I thought I had a way of drawing lunatics.

Bob - I haven't had this issue yet, but it's nice to know that AR is working on the problem.

I know you guys at ActiveRain will sort this out.

I can't help wondering about the thought process of people who spam or create computer viruses.

You mean they really don't like my blog posts??? Dang!

O good - I thought it was just me lol .....

To me, it's not the end of the world. I just report it and go on to the next post. Don't take it so hard, AR staff. We know you care!

Bob, some of us are seeing points vanishing by the thousands, and I wonder if these rascals have anything to do with it. And that's not even with a click on the links.

Darn...all this fuss I thought it was TLW playing with us, Thanks guys I deleted my spam comments to date

just deleting it as they go for now - good luck you guys!!! :)

Thanks Bob! I just posted about the spammers and a few members pointed me in your direction to read this post. Thanks!!!

http://activerain.com/blogsview/1156683/have-the-spammers-hit-activerain-

Bob - I cannot allow outside comments because some fool wrote a random comment not even related to my post about a year ago that was a very rude racial remark and I was fortunate to have catch it and delete it. Since then, I don't want to take any chances. I guess I'd rather take chances with spam.

Bob... I wish I saw this blog yesterday.. I guess in my anguish, I missed it and I wrote a blog on the same thing today. Sorry for being repetative.

I have faith in the staff of AR.. and I'm sure you will have this solved in no time.

valerie osterhoudt

OK - I won't delete, I'll report...I want to be part of the Solution and not Enhance the problem

Bob - I have spent a bit of time using the magnificent POWER of "DELETE THIS COMMENT". Thanks Bob!

Bob --- thanks so much -- I had just noticed spam comments on old posts of mine. I appreciate the fact that you guys are working on it.

Mama Liz's Signature

and Bingo was may name O! funny how they all say Help me! maybe they are being held hostage in a spam factory..here is my bingo spma I got today

How are you. Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict. Help me! Need information about: Online bingo prizes. I found only this - new free online bingo. Com is a directory that brings together the best shopping sites on the web, offering you rehab lotteries bingo online bingo and betting games. Check out our daily online bingo schedule here. Thank you very much ;-). Ina from Kosovo. Please follow this link to respond: http://activerain.com/blogsview/1145793/mile-148-7-sterling-hwy-happy-valley-alaska-dont-worry-be-happy-

Hey Bob, There is something good about these spam comments, hard to believe, correct?

It has allowed me to go back and read many many posts that I had forgotten. It also alerted me of a terrific blogger who has not posted for about 6 months...so I emailed her and told her she was missed.

Still reporting and deleting..

I think you should dispatch the ActiveRain Ambassadors to all of these countries so that they can educate them on proper use of the web.

Bob - I do like John Novak's comment and TLW with her whip :) - I've reported some month ago so when should we delete the comments?

Bob - Thanks for keeping us informed on this spam issue. I figured it wauld take a day or two for it to be stopped.

I've had three spam comments on some of my older posts...a nuisance. I did go change my settings as suggested.

I did change my settings after this post came out yesterday. I have not had any new spammers comment since. Oh please do not let this comment that jinx me.

I received spam on Old and new blogs ..everyone ...shoes ..electric from texas ..they didn t care..

THANK YOU FOR TAKING CARE OF THIS

hELPFULHANNAH

You guys are great! Thanks for keeping on top of these things!

Bob: Thanks. Keep us all posted. I choose to have consumer comments so am hopeful you can fix the problem and allow this. Thanks again!

Just heard from Jon- ActiveRain Spam: "After observing the behavior of the recent spam attack, we were able to automatically purge 7,066 comments."

Bob/Jeremy - thanks for the tip on how to eliminate the spam comments, and the update. Those comments were indeed getting rather annoying.

I wasn't too worried about it, just annoyed....lol. GOt a kick out of the creative comments. But you guys on this blog shouldn't be relinking them in your posts....just delete the links....you're helping the spammers.

That's for addressing this. The comments are getting very annoying......I'm sorry I mean the SPAM is getting very annoying!

Thanks for the post! have a great weekend!

Kristin

I have been a victim of this over the last couple of days, I found them pretty humorous actually. My favourite had to do with a guy in Sudan looking for information on Bingo. You know those whacky Sudanese, no amount of war, poverty or starvation will keep them from their Bingo!

A quick follow up, there is no way I am making my postings Members Only, many of my blogs are to do with Development Issues and Planning in my city. I encourage and support debate and I get it. This minor spam annoyance is the small price we pay in our society, however if you wish to rid yourself of all but state sanctioned SAFE internet traffic I understand China has a pretty good system for controlling what you can see :)

What small amount gets to my Blog I can delete if Active Bob's boys don't get to it first, have a great weekend and keep up the great work AR.

I posted a blog about this today, because I wondered if I had done something wrong to solicit this type of spam. Embarassed to say that I responded to the first one I received and told this woman I had no clue where she should buy patio furniture. :-)

Glad to learn about checking that little box.

Oh, would it be possible to post a reminder when it would be safe to turn this toggle back on? TIA.

It is good to know you are on the top of this proble...I just blogged about it asking members is they experienced same thing...

Thanks for taking care of this SPAMANNOYUS...

With smiles,

Bo in Yukon

I figured I wasn't alone in Spam Hell, but had no idea just how hot it had gotten at AR. Thanks, Jeremy, for responding to my email so quickly & pointing me to this post. Next stop: updating my comments box.

thanks Big Boy - really do appreciate y'all looking into it, and for giving us a temporary fix till you get them blocked!

Keep up the good work you guys.

And I thought I was special, getting all of these weird comments today, LOL.

Off to hit the reset button on commenting :)

Now, go get 'em guys!

Dito Greg Nino's comment above... Enough with the Google placement calls, please.

Thanks for keepin' 'em in line!

Hi Bob!
Quit apologizing! We know it will be fixed...and I am sure you are way more frustrated by it than we are. All we have to do is delete...you have to fix. Unstress and have a nice weekend!

THANK YOU THANK YOU FOR working on this! the comments are so strange!

Did what you said to do...they are still coming in with a vengance...with many posts dated from 2007..I guess those of us with lots of posts are getting more...ugh! I don't have the time to send these all to you guys...sorry, I have deleted a lot...I'm on over drive as it is...

And, I have to talk to my fans....LOl!

Have you determined a timeline as to when these are occurring? In my inbox, they are from 2007...then again, not all above have been there that long...at least it doesn't appear that way.

Do you know where this is coming from? Is there any way for us members to block this our selves?

I did what you said and unchecked...this is a real PITA for those of us with a long blog history...

That being said BOB! I know you are working 24/7 trying to fix this. :-)

Do you know where this is coming from? Is there any way for us members to block this our selves?

I did what you said and unchecked...this is a real PITA for those of us with a long blog history...

That being said BOB! I know you are working 24/7 trying to fix this. :-)

I guess I must be pretty popular because I had two of them - I had one for home depot patio furniture too!

Yes we have to watch these people with the typewriter keyboards:) I have been getting lots of spam also. will do what you said to do. thanks for post!

I have had a ton of these! Thanks for the tip

Huh, and I thought it was just ME! ;-) I shoulda known. I unchecked and now I'm all good......Thanks Bob!!!

Jeremy.. I noticed this today... When I went to report them... the bucket load from today had already been deleted..

Bob, I'd been wondering where all this wonderful stuff was coming from. I suspected it was you! Because my spam filter on gmail is excellent, and this is just about the only website I visit except for the local MLS. Oh, and all those get rich quick scheme sites, right!!!!!!!!

Bob: I have not been spammed lately, however, they are in magnitude today. I have deleted them. Thanks for addressing the situation.

I would guess they go to Viagra for 70% off? Doesn't matter but comeon spammers...

I was surprised to see tonight that this was still happening. Must be more challenging to stop than I had thought.

Bob - it looks like I am now only getting spam from others' post, not my own since I made the settings change. There was just one that came in after I changed my settings. Whew. What a nightmare for your guys.

I can understand not deleiting the comments so you can track, but then we have to keep track of where all these comments are sitting - quite frankly I don't have time to try to remember all that, and having spam comments sitting out there on our posts is unsettling...is there ANY alternative to not deleting them?

Jeff

Bob,

I'd love to grab these bastards and drag them through their computer.

Then let Sylvie deal with them;

she's really pissed off!

JUL

Bob,

Thanks for the heads up...Good luck and Godspeed...!!! :) Thanks, Fran

Here's my Spam... I've been waiting since before your engagement to talk to you about my OB. XXOO

Thanks for staying on top of this. It was starting to get a little frustrating having to delete those comments everytime a new spam came along. Adjusting the setting should help.

TERRY- You are hilarious!

BOB- THANK YOU- they are very annoying but it is comforting to know yo are on it.

THANKS!

I had a few, was unable to get on AR due to tech difficulties at the house, so all I could see what what came through email on my blackberry. It was very frustrating to see the spam and NOT be able to do anything, LOL.

Trying to look on the bright side. When these little people collect all their pennies from spamming all of us, perhaps they will be in the market to buy a house....

Thanks for working so hard on the issue. All things considered, it is not bad at all. I would honestly expect that it would be worse than it has been.

And I agree with those who are objecting to those calls about google rankings. That really pisses me off, I wish I had TLW's whip when I get those.

I want to second Jeff Dowlers:

"I can understand not deleting the comments so you can track, but then we have to keep track of where all these comments are sitting - quite frankly I don't have time to try to remember all that, and having spam comments sitting out there on our posts is unsettling...is there ANY alternative to not deleting them?"

I have always deleted the spam comments on my blog because I did not know better but also because I don't want the links sitting there for someone to click on and end up on a site with trojans or porn or who knows what else. And remembering where it was to go back and see if it was removed eventually is impossible.

I had turned off the feature to all non-members to comment as soon as I joined ActiveRain. As a result, I have only had one spam comment so far.

After you guys delete the spam (the ones we reported and left up there without deleting ourselves), it messes with the comment counter. On a market report (that had no comments), since you've deleted the spam, it now says:

Comments (-1)

Thanks for the heads up Bob. We have no doubt you guys will take care of the problem.

Thank you for the tip. I've changed my setting to disallow non-members from posting. I deleted the spam before I read this post as I didn't want anyone to click on the link.

Hello Bob,

I'm glad I sent along the comment I got for you to use today in your post.

Any extra points for this?

Please keep us posted as you go.

{Patricia Aulson/portsmouth nh real estate

Can't recycle this too many times, apparently. Amazing the people who are newly discovering spam in their comments each day and posting about it. Just goes to prove that featuring a post doesn't guarantee a read by members. Haha...

Thanks, Maureen. It just did not make sense to me to just let those spam comments sit out there, unless AR is in a position to delete them all.

Jeff

Bob: You are too funny to include these non-sensical spam ads in your blog. Makes them seem so harmless, but I am glad you are on the case. Thanks!

Active Rain - stop raining! Help Me! In the right light at the right time Active Rain is extraordinary. I find sites on the topic of "stopping the rain." But I only find this - "Active Rain is best when the sun is shining."

Just one more question: Do I get to keep the points for all this spam??? :-)

Sounds like they've been keeping you busy!

Thanks, Bob. I have a little disagreement with Ruth there... 'Active Rain is best Rain or Shine' :-)

Thanks for checking into this. I will disallow the strangers, and keep an eye on when it's fixed.

I love TLW's billboard! too funny. I too have gotten a bunch of these spammy messages over the last few days.

;)

Man...I'm always late to the party! I guess I didn't log on yesterday. No, I did. I know I did.

Anyway, when I logged on today, I found quite a few comments on old blogs. All from AR's. But, when I went to see what was posted, there was nothing there. So, those must have been some of the 7,000 + that was purged. But, one of them was from a very reputable AR blogger. Weird.

Also, I received what appeared to be spam a couple of weeks ago. I did report it, but haven't heard anything from you all...and I know you're very busy. But, perhaps if you could just take a peak at it...I haven't deleted it.

Thanks.

Thanks for the information Bob. I actually heard about your suggestion through Loreena Yeo. Quick and easy fix for now.

Dang it! How else will I know about degree programs, muddy shoes, grants, various medications and the such!!?? Oh well. Good band-aid in the meantime.

Godspeed.

I dont think its that hard to just hit delete, but do appreciate the effort to nuke this buggers.

I was wondering why I was getting so much spam...glad to hear you are working on the problem. In the meantime I have deleted every one as well.

And I actually thought that I was the only victim of The Invasion of the Active Rain Spammers. Have a great weekend Bob. Great post.

Bob, I'm glad you said:

If you report a concern for a comment. We will remove the comment once we log the IP address. If you delete the comment, we are unable to get the IP.

I was reporting it and deleting it immediately. I won't delete anymore. Thanks for the heads up!

I knew AR would be all over this. I've been hit on many of my posts by this stuff. Thanks for giving us a work around for now.

It seems to be slowing down...maybe I shouldn't say that and jinx it...but I only got ONE of these spams today. Yesterday I got a ton of them as well as the day before. And as you warned us - it is very important NOT to click on the links!

JUL

Oh good, Bob. I was wondering if it was just me. I have gotten hundreds of them in the last week. I think I have a spam comment on every post I've ever written. What makes me nervous is that I get an email every time a comment comes in and if I don't have time to go to AR right then (because I know I'll get drawn in to reading and posting), I will read the comment through my email. Now I'm afraid to open any comment notification for fear that it is attaching some sort of bug to my email and address book or something. I'll have to turn that feature off too.

Thanks for the update. Going to set non comments right now. Thanks for clarifying not to delete the comments after reporting, wasn't sure! JUST GET THEM!

Confused in Columbus. I wrote a post about this and how I was deleting the comments on my blog (duh!) and got a comment which says in part:

"and it will be interesting to see what solution the Rain Gods find...punishing folks for reporting it is nuts !"

You get points for Reporting Spam on anyone's blog.... how is that punishment?

I just don't understand what the motivation would be. I guess money is the eternal motivator for all, especially spammers. Thanks for the update.

Bob--Been getting them all week...In fact the only thing I had time to do all week on AR was go and delete the comments (after "reporting a concern" so AR was aware of the problem.) It has slowed down a bit on my blog hopefully it will go away soon!

Bob I am really interested in picking up one of those spotted shower curtains to go along with my Active Rain drapes.

Thanks Bob for your hard work on this pesky problem. I had only one spam comment so I guess I was luckier than many others here. I've always had the setting not to allow anonymous comments though so apparently that helped.

Howdy there Bob

Just checkn to see if there was any updates on that there spammer. Looking at the times and the amount of spam comments showing up with in those times. It sure does look like the spammer is using a automatic spam sending program. That has been pre-set with many comments, names, and countrys.

God Bless America

My spam has pretty much disappeared. Was a pain for awhile, but did get a few extra "report spam" points!

They seemed to have slowed down. I picked up a new client this week, so I do not want to block non-member comments. I will just keep deleting them as they come up.

They seem to be hitting old blogs, Randy thanks for the tips on on not blocking real people who comment.

Steve

Bob -

I say we take it easy on the spammers. Everybody needs a job, and since they are so difficult to come by in the USA these days.....well, people have to eat, right?

So.....until we pass a stimulus bill that puts people back to work on public works projects and the like, we need to encourage this sort of nefarious activity.

By clicking on the spam links, the spammers make money. When the spammers make money, the spammers can afford housing. When the spammers can afford housing, the spammers will need REALTORS. When the spammers need REALTORS, the spammers will buy houses. When the spammers buy houses, the REALTORS make money.

See where I'm going with this?

SPAMMERS are driving our economic recovery, and BOB is holding it back!!

Bad Bob.

Bad.

just like the shower head, looks likes you guys turned off the spam spigot. Nice job.

Thanks for all you are doing to fix this - and for the 10 bonus points for reporting a spammer :)

These spam posts are highly annoying- I love comments, just not the spam type.

So it's NOT just me. I was getting really annoyed. Thanks for kicking their spamming arses.

I never allowed non-member comments so I guess I am missing out on something really fun right now!

I finally got hit yesterday. I did hit the report as a concern button. Thanks for checking this out.

Bob, will do. I've been getting them for a couple of days now on follow up comments from other posts I've subscribed to. I thought it was robots, but you say they are people? At least glad to know there is a temporary solution.

Sharon

JUL

thank you so much for posting this in the newsletter! I have made the change and look forward to the permanent fix.

JUL

Looks like its still getting through and a tad more hardcore than shower curtains

JUL

I am glad you sent then away :) Thanks!

AUG

is it safe to open up the comments to our non-member readers yet???

OCT

Thanks for the excellent tip, Bob! Several of my posts have been plagued with non-member spam, so your solution is great.

OCT

Bob:

I have mostly been bombarded by the "Ugg Boots" people. If it gets to be too serious, I will uncheck that box. Thank you for the information.

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