I’ve just started to suffer from Spam comments the latest effort by these wretches to publicise their sites. They basically post fatuous comments to weblogs with links to their sites. I’ve only had two or three of these so far, though it’s clear from other blogs that there is a rising tide.
As this abuse starts, the community of bloggers starts swapping notes and solutions are invented. Now some guy I’d not heard of called Jay Allen is building a plug in for MovableType (my chosen blog software) that will create a slick mini-database to trap and block such comments. There’s even a facility for trusted bloggers to collaborate to create blacklists and filters to block the spammers.
Great stuff, and an example of how a community with loose ties creates and protects itself from abusive elements – without the need to go to law.
