You write a blog, take care to craft its words, its pictures. You care about your readers. You try to put the least number of obstacles before them to prevent them reading.
And the minute you turn your back, some individuals (perhaps it’s best if I just refer to them as ‘scum’) deface your blog with hundred (yes hundreds) of spam comments. In Chinese. And what’s even better is that there’s no way to delete all these comments in one or two simple operations. I have to now begin going through every single comment, clicking half a dozen times to get rid of each one.
Thank you.
[I've counted them. 923 comments to be deleted. I might as well just shut this bloody blog... It's not worth the *many* hours it will take me to clean this mess up. Two years of work ruined by people who create nothing but want to make easy money by detroying other people's work. Scum. Absolute scum.]
13 comments:
I feel for you, Uncle Dick.
These spammers get everywhere nowadays. Hopefully you can rise above it all and make sure that we, your doting public, continue to be treated to your craft.
Don't let this scum get you down. Just gradually go through and delete these stupid comments. Your readers will understand. I know I haven't visited for a long time (sorry!) and, coincidentally, was just about to do so when suddenly my inbox was filled with comments from this creature. (I had subscribed to follow-up comments on some previous posts.) Easier for me to delete than for you, but you can do it, a few at a time. If you give up blogging he will have won. Don't give him the satisfaction. Just saying... :) xxx
Ouch! I probably have a lot less traffic than you but Wordpress' built-in spam catcher has managed to get all of the buggers on my blog so far: about 25 I think. Does blogspot have anything similar that can be installed or switched on? Or have they just busted through anyway? 923! Again: Ouch!
Uncle Dick, I am feeling a bit breathless at the thought of no more blog - please don't give up ... please don't. This message is coming to you from a chicken wrangler in far off NZ who models herself on madeley and just can't contemplate a life without your blog ... just can't. Keep going, don't let the spammers win.
Good Lord - how amazing - Chinese Spam. It sounds just as unsatisfactory as a Chinese Take Away . .
I hope your clicking finger doesn't get repetitive strain injury .. . . take care now. ;-)
I had no idea that your fame had reached so far, presumably many of your media works have been dubbed in the local dialects to meet the demand. Funny that they can read and respond to the captcha but not write of their overwhelming admiration for you in the Queen's own English.
But surely there is some tool for mass-deletion of comments? As someone who has nary a thought worth blogging I'm not familiar with the tools, but as a software developer I find it appallingly poor design to make a blogger jump through such hoops to keep one's fans under control.
Please don't give up
we LOVE your blog
Antonia & Jeffrey
I noticed that yesterday when I got a few emails notifying me of 'follow-up comments' on old posts I'd commented on. Then exactly the same thing happened to my girlfriend's blog, by the same people. She's not bothering to go through her archives and delete them all, it's not really necessary. Try not to get too hacked off about it.
They're just assholes, and i wonder what they think they'll achieve by leaving those comments on a load of english-language blogs.
Im disgusted Richard, that these mindless people have nothing else better to do with their time...dont stop blogging though as I would sincerely miss it!!!
First, I'm not really "anonymous"; just too lazy to go through any sign-up processes on this fine Saturday morning in London. I'm @gillradcliffe from Twitter.
Here's my thinking on the spam issue, Uncle Dick.
I'm surprised to find you an almost defeated man. Where is that glass-half-full type of guy we know and love?
I mean, how do you know it was spam? It could have been 923 ardent Chinese fans, each expressing their great admiration for the literary and comic genius we know as Uncle Dick Madeley.
OK, so it could have been the same person repeating the message. But it might have said, "I love Uncle Dick Madeley with all my heart and urge the people of China to rise up and make him Emperor." (And you'd look so delightful in the robes with a chopstick in your hair.)
Or, it might have been a crie de coeur - "I'm not going to eat another grain of rice until my hero - Uncle Dick - visits my town to join me as an honoured guest for dinner." Now, how bad do you feel about deleting what might have been genuinely desperate pleas?
So, come on, cheer up. You still have US, the fans who are usually too lazy to write anything at all and just leech (albeit appreciatively) off your magical writing. We'll always be there for you: generally passive and ambivalent but able to rise up to comfort you, as we have this week, in your hour of greatest need. We love you, Uncle Dick! If I could, I'd say it in Chinese.
Dont let the buggers grind you down :(
There, there, Dicky.
Nobody likes spam, but don't quit now. I've only just discovered you, well not you, but your blog.
Can't Judy help you. Or maybe one of the work experience slaves. Perhaps one of the studio runners?
Dicky Madeley shouldn't have to be faced with administrative tasks.
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