How not to comment-spam a website
[updated to protect the guilty] We have had a wonderful example of how not to comment spam a website, by an otherwise reputable company.
[Name deleted] seem to think my readers are too stupid to recognise a content-free comment when they see one.
By publishing examples I [was] in fact playing along with their seedy little game: all they want is some "link-love" from my page-rank-5 site to their sad page-rank-0 one, in a desperate attempt to get up higher in the google results. I've mitigated that by removing the page links from their posts and using the nofollow attribute on the link above.
Without bothering to read what is going on, and certainly without any attempt to actually add something meaningful to the conversation, they leave their little comment full of links like rat-droppings on the blog.
I expect that kind of behaviour from some teenager over-eager to pump their new MySpace page, not from an ITIL consulting firm. They insult your intelligence and they waste my time cleaning up their spoor.
Perhaps they've employed an ethically-challenged SEO firm to pump them up? I'll draw this post to their attention.
Made in New Zealand 
Comments
For those who need a lesson on nettiquette
For those who need a lesson on nettiquette, my favourite reference is ProBlogger: 10 Ways to Hurt Your Blog’s Brand by Commenting on Other Blogs.
And I should take this advice: How Not to become a Grumpy Old Blogger
More of my thoughts here. Oops! Is that comment spam?
Pots and Kettles
I strongly dislike spammers of all types. It is not nice is it?
The pity is that YOU are as bad as anyone for it. Yes, YOU.
I have been around the blocks reading plenty of websites in this market over a very long period. And I have seen plenty of it from you. Crude link placing at its worst.
Yet when someone does it on your turf, you come with the clean guy act?
Excuse me for laughing.
If you are going to poke at people for playing a dirty grubby game like that, stop playing it yourself.
unsubstantiated accusations
I haven't had time to be around the forums and blogs for quite a while, but I believe I have always had something useful to say when commenting. If you have some examples of "crude" spamming why don't you offer links to them here and let readers make their own evaluation instead of slinging unsubstantiated accusations.
Sigh: I was going to take this thread down soon and let Matrix off the hook. I can't now until this little issue is resolved...
Mind Games
Come off it. Are you trying to fool yourself, or just us?
I have seen PLENTY of this type of spam from you. It is very easy to find.
It ranges from trivial worthless comment posted as a paper thin excuse to spam your link, to crudeness like "get the latest on .... at www.itskeptic.org".
This isn't in the mind, it is real. Maybe you have blanked it out of your mind, but it is still around for everyone else to see.
If you are going to sink to that level, that is your choice. But posting as though you are an innocent when someone does it to you insults the intelligence of anyone reading this.
Contribution to public discourse: zero
Personally I think there is a qualitative difference between on the one hand saying something meaningful on the topic, then telling people you have something more to say over at your blog when you really do, for which I don't apologise, and on the other hand saying "hey folks" and signing with a link to a commercial website that offers no value to the topic, which is what happened.
if it was some overeager person pumping another commentary site by dropping a meaningless comment I probably would have ignored it - I've had one or two of those - but it wasn't. It was a commercial consulting firm trying to drive traffic to their brochure site. Contribution to public discourse: zero.
Maybe you haven't noticed but the web is a web: people actually appreciate links that direct them to more related information because they are interested. That isn't spam. If you are incapable of telling the difference then how about you go study how the web works and what the ettiquette is before you accuse me of being "crude".
Facing The Truth
You seem to be having a problem facing up to your own actions. It is a matter of record that you drop links to your own commercial website just like Matrix have done. The quote I posted last time was pretty much taken directly from one of your comment spams I came upon. It says nothing apart from "come to my website".
You now even seem to be in denial about the nature of your website too, as though it is somehow pure and clean. It isn't. It is commercial. I see adverts all over the place. Adsense, books, grockle, you name it.
So what makes you different to them? Not a lot really. Although you add insult to injury by the ridiculous denials.
And I really don't need lessons on net etiquette from a comment spammer.
That would be spamming.
Regular readers will be aware that this blog is a learning tool for me to experiment with different web revenue generators. So far the blog has paid me somewhere approaching $200. Total. Ever. I estimate that I have spent well in excess of $100,000 worth of my time on it. So when I say this blog is not a commercial blog I feel fairly comfortable in that assertion. It is here to learn and enjoy.
This blog is not a static brochure website advertising my business. That is here. And that isn't comment spam. It is a link to a site for those who might be interested. it is also a link in the hope that you might actually grasp the difference.
You seem unable to point us to a single example to support your continual pestering, but let's accept for the moment that I once commented by saying there was more to say on the topic on my site. I don't recall it but you seem determined that I did, so whatever. I'm not ashamed of that. I have never placed an unrelated link or out of context link: the link has always been there because it was something that would be of interest to the readers of the comment, not because I would derive commercial benefit from deceiving a reader into following an out-of-context link. That would be spamming.
You Need To Wear Objective Spectacles For Self Assessment
Yes, it would be spamming, which is what you have done repeatedly in many places.
I have just checked on that last example I found and it is still there in all its glory for the whole world to see. It seems that you have comment spammed so often that you have forgotten where you have done it.
Adding "get the latest on .... at www.itskeptic.org" as the sole contribution to an article is not what a genuine person would consider adding value. It is exactly what Matrix did above, and what you have been crying about. It is spamming.
So now that we have established that you are a spammer, a spammer who can dish it out but not take it, let us look at commercialism.
There are adverts all over this website. Everyone can see that. The more visitors you get the more money you make. Everyone knows that too. So the more you comment spam the more you make. Yes, the world knows.
The amount of money you make from this is not relevant, even though we only have the word of a comment spammer for that. It is the intent that matters.
So when you complain about others placing links to their commercial websites and accuse them of doing exactly what you do to your commercial website, maybe you can see how you look. Or maybe not. You seem to have a problem looking at yourself through objective spectacles don't you?
I don't. I see you clearly. Unfortunately for you a lot of others on here do to.
I don't think I'm the one with the problem.
I don't think I'm the one with the problem. You and all readers have the option to read elsewhere. I've made my case. You seem incapable of understanding it. I don't intend to respond to you any further.
QED
Yes, the case is indeed proven.
You behave exactly as Matrix did. In fact much worse and over a much longer period. You then wring your hands in denial when you are caught out.
You can justify your spamming to yourself all you wish, but do not expect us to buy it.
I and others I have spoken to have long found your comment spamming habits to be distasteful. You just add insult to injury by wriggling on here, a commercial website, trying to play the innocent. It doesn't wash.
Ok this is dead
Leave the Skeptic alone and lets move on to the next topic.
What Goes Around Comes Around: 2
Let's hope that he leaves others alone then, rather than infest them with his unwanted spam. It works both ways, unfortunately for him.
RSS Spam
So what was the point of this post?
It seems to me that you're just passing their spam along to those of us subscribed to your RSS feed. You even linked to their site in your post! Why?
I'd never heard of this company, now I have. No such thing as bad publicity and all that. So yeah, they win I guess. Your readers lose.
Oh and speaking of the kind of behaviour expected from a teenager: "from my page-rank-5 site to their sad page-rank-0 one, in a desperate attempt to get up higher in the google results."
Nice epeen display there...
They won't do it again
Sorry Pete. Yes I was annoyed. At least they won't do it again.
And while I have linked, I linked nofollow which means they derive no Google benefit from it.
Any publicity is good publicity if one is an underwear-bereft pop tart. I don't think the same applies to a consulting firm.
incidentally they've been at it all over the web...
I'm going to pull this post soon, now I have made my point to Matrix, and to anyone else who feels inclined to abuse the right to comment.