Comments on: On Solving Spam http://www.darcynorman.net/2006/11/25/on-solving-spam/ ce n'est pas la connaissance. Mon, 13 Oct 2008 14:26:37 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: David Esrati http://www.darcynorman.net/2006/11/25/on-solving-spam/#comment-82666 David Esrati Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000 8888148#comment-82666 D'Arcy, Right on- although you are skipping e-mail spam- which is also a problem. Right now Spam Karma and Akismet both can ID spam, and IP's quite easily- and it should be easy to just shut those servers out- trust me, there aren't normal sites doing anything like that kind of linking. But, face it- until the US government deems it a threat to National Security- nothing will happen- even with the chargebacks for click fraud- Google is riding a wave of ignorance selling adwords and has no interest in stemming the flow of cash- or links. But- I'm right there with you- something needs to be done. D’Arcy,
Right on- although you are skipping e-mail spam- which is also a problem.
Right now Spam Karma and Akismet both can ID spam, and IP’s quite easily- and it should be easy to just shut those servers out- trust me, there aren’t normal sites doing anything like that kind of linking.
But, face it- until the US government deems it a threat to National Security- nothing will happen- even with the chargebacks for click fraud- Google is riding a wave of ignorance selling adwords and has no interest in stemming the flow of cash- or links.
But- I’m right there with you- something needs to be done.

]]> By: dnorman http://www.darcynorman.net/2006/11/25/on-solving-spam/#comment-82667 dnorman Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000 8888148#comment-82667 David - the problem with email spam is that there are enough people stupid and greedy enough to click through the obvious (to us) scam messages and proceed to give their bank PIN etc... in the hopes of getting rich off of some Nigerian General offshore bank account. Email spam is different, because it's basically just social engineering at internet scale. Blog/comment spam is completely removed from social engineering - the entire market is evolving strictly to game Google's tools, without human intervention. Actually, these spammers work best when there is no human intervention (moderation blocks much of it). Google's in a precarious position. Their $6+ Billion revenue per year is based on advertisers trusting that their ads will be shown on relevant websites, and will be clicked by people who have at least a passing intention of buying their product/service. If Google blows that trust by letting spammers take over both PageRank and Adsense, then the advertisers will not buy in. And Google will collapse. They need to stop this as part of their long term corporate survival strategy, if nothing else. David - the problem with email spam is that there are enough people stupid and greedy enough to click through the obvious (to us) scam messages and proceed to give their bank PIN etc… in the hopes of getting rich off of some Nigerian General offshore bank account. Email spam is different, because it’s basically just social engineering at internet scale.

Blog/comment spam is completely removed from social engineering - the entire market is evolving strictly to game Google’s tools, without human intervention. Actually, these spammers work best when there is no human intervention (moderation blocks much of it).

Google’s in a precarious position. Their $6+ Billion revenue per year is based on advertisers trusting that their ads will be shown on relevant websites, and will be clicked by people who have at least a passing intention of buying their product/service. If Google blows that trust by letting spammers take over both PageRank and Adsense, then the advertisers will not buy in. And Google will collapse. They need to stop this as part of their long term corporate survival strategy, if nothing else.

]]> By: David Esrati http://www.darcynorman.net/2006/11/25/on-solving-spam/#comment-82713 David Esrati Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000 8888148#comment-82713 D'Arcy, Considering most of the people buying adwords still have no clue what they are doing, I think Google is going to keep quiet. They may have a solution already, but for now, the clicks send a message to advertisers that "Hey, everyone is doing this"- when in fact, most people do not click on sponsored links (stats say around 30% will). Personally- I only click on adwords when it's someone I don't like (pay for killing all the small guys Walmart). Have you thought about getting Matt Cutt's take on this? http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/ Both e-mail spam and comment spam suck- and cost us time. Both hurt the basis of trust that is required for the 'net to function at it's highest level. But, you are right- comment spam is more Google's fault than ours- and they should fix it for their own health. D’Arcy,
Considering most of the people buying adwords still have no clue what they are doing, I think Google is going to keep quiet. They may have a solution already, but for now, the clicks send a message to advertisers that “Hey, everyone is doing this”- when in fact, most people do not click on sponsored links (stats say around 30% will).
Personally- I only click on adwords when it’s someone I don’t like (pay for killing all the small guys Walmart).
Have you thought about getting Matt Cutt’s take on this?
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/
Both e-mail spam and comment spam suck- and cost us time.
Both hurt the basis of trust that is required for the ‘net to function at it’s highest level.
But, you are right- comment spam is more Google’s fault than ours- and they should fix it for their own health.

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