Pest Control "Do not advertise yourself or your services"

" Maybe there are some hard feeling from something in the past?"

I don't know him. 

Why would that matter?  There is nothing in the ActiveRain guidlelines that says, it's OK to advertise yourself or your services on another members blog if there are hard feelings from the past.  You don't get a free pass because of anything online or IRL.

Debbie I used "Search"  and the words "bed bugs" and found he'd left that exact same comment on a bunch of ActiveRain blog posts about bedbugs or bed bugs, so it was nothing personal. 

10 points for each one you hit "report a concern" on, once ActiveRain looks at them and removes them with the rest of the spam.

I probably noticed it because he is local. 

I had two or three of the term paper spam comments on my AR blog this morning, they are a lot more common than members spamming other members. 

Which WP spam protection do you use?  I have one or two to moderate a day but most of the hardcore stuff is automatically removed from mine.  Never sees the light of day.

yes Report a Concern but don't delete.  In this case they did not need the IP he is a member and signed in.

Dale... this member IS not a Rainmaker and I think that is part of the problem.  He can not use his blog at ActiveRain for "Google Juice" since anything he posts is Members Only so he (and others) attempt to use other members blogs. 

I got spammed by a home inspector recently.  Since I was subsribed in comments on a home inspection post too, I saw a real similar spammy comment on that post too. Part of his comment was asking for a link exchange.  The AR oft featured home inspector was thrilled with the comment and they exchanged links, so spamming does pay off.  It is easier to see it as spam when you see  the same comment on your blog and another members.

The no follow tags for links in comments make the links and  promotion not work so the comment spam  is more of a tacky annoyance than anything else. The bed bug spammer did a  cut and pasted of the exact same comment into a bunch of ActiveRain blogs, so more spamming behavior.  Efficient commenting.

This member was a RainMaker after the first grandfathering but did NOT post for a year.  I saw Jonathan or Bob say something about last summers ungrandfathering being rollled back but I have not seen movement in that direction.  I think it would relieve the urge to spam by non Rainmakers but still there will always be new members and AR needs to make money. 

AR took down  bed bug spammers comments and I got my 10 points for each for the "Report a Concern."

After thinking about Dale's comment and my response I want to add

Members are always  better off making a real comment  on any post than spamming. Their comment signature is a link with Google juice to their ActiveRain profile. 

For example Dale's signature is:

Discover and Explore New Hampshire with Dale Baker (Baker Home Energy Audit & Commercial Properties Inspections )

Each time Dale comments on a public post  his ActiveRain profile benefits.

This bed bug guru /real estate agent (or broker?)  member would be better off putting his links to his business on his ActiveRain profile and leaving  conversational comments on other members blog posts  and building the authority of his profile, even if he is too cheap to spend $40 a month to blog on ActiveRain, or did not have the time for a year to add a blog post on ActiveRain and ended up ungrandfathered.  It is just crummy to try to use other members blog posts to promote yourself and your business.  That's why ActiveRain has that guideline. 

If other members see the comment spam as what it is, comment spam it gets reported as spam and your profile does not get another link.   If he builds content on his WordPress blog it should build it's own links. It will just take consistancy.  It takes more than 3 days of consistant blogging.

It must work for anonymous spammers / bots or why would there be so much of it? 

Maureen I reported those he left on my two posts and also a number he left on other posts. I can see that ActiveRain took them down on my posts and I got the 10 points from them coming off of other bedbug posts on ActiveRain, same comment posted in over and over.  Lots of comment spam.

In the comment he is just cutting and pasting in content from his new bed bug blog so at first I thought he was plaigarizing then I realized it was his blog.

His article is good... the bedbug blog is a smart idea NOW. He just wants people to read it.  Or at least to click on it and probably even more so some of the money making links on the site. IMHO if you are going to be a spammer better to leave comments on a blog where you'd get a link than ActiveRain.  Better to do it on WordPress blog that are set up that way. Of course you would have to get through the spam filters there too.  The comment was one that may sound conversational enought on an isolated site to seem like a real comment.  Seeing the same comment on two of my posts made me think... huh? 

I wonder could you keep adding content to a bedbug site consistantly to build traffic?