Humor me, just for a minute, ok?
This is only going to work if you’re reading this post on my blog. So if you’re reading this via email, or in a reader, you’re going to have to do me a solid and click through to my blog. I KNOW. I AM SUCH A PAIN IN THE ASS.
“Aaaaaamy, it’s SAAAAAAAATURDAY, I don’t WAAAAAANT to.” Urgh, just HUMOR me.
OK, so you’re here. Scroll on down to the bottom. Ooh and aah over Andreas’ pretty blog redesign while you’re there, no one’s stopping you.
Are you there? Awesome. Right there in the middle. See that? See my follower count?
2,336 followers. (Well, that’s what it is NOW. Who knows what it’ll be when you read this, at the rate things are going.)
Now, if you’re new to blogging, or maybe not a blogger, this probably seems pretty spiffy. And if you’d told me when I started blogging I’d have that many followers? I’d totally have laughed at you. I was thinking the other day how funny the idea of blogging would have been to the me I was ten years ago, and how, if now-me went back and talked to then-me and told her what I’m up to, then-me would tell now-me she was a crazypants. She’d admire her kicky new glasses, though.
Now, you can break this statistic down further, if you get behind-the-scenes in the dashboard. I’m not supposed to show you this, probably. This is probably breaking all kinds of blogger rules.
Eh, don’t care.
Now, first I added these all together and didn’t get the 2,336 and was all WHAAAA? but then I realized they’re not counting the comment followers so that’s alright.
As you can see, I don’t care about Tumblr enough (I know, I suck, I really only use it to post blog posts and never, ever click over there, Tumblr has always confused the everloving hell out of me) and probably I should use my blog Facebook page more (listen, there are only so many hours in a day, people, I do what I can.) Twitter’s ok, even though I’ve been really terrible at the Twitterz lately. I keep saying I’ll go back eventually. It never seems to happen. I HAVE NOT YET GIVEN UP HOPE, HOWEVER!
The blog-follower count looks nice, though, right? Impressive? Look at all my readers! I’m like a legitimate blogger!
Well, no. Not really. And let me tell you why.
That follower count?
About 75% of those people are spammers.
It’s a dirty little secret WordPress doesn’t want you all to know. Or doesn’t CARE if you know, actually; they’re doing nothing, absolutely nothing, about it.
How do I know they’re spam followers? Well, I’ve clicked through to their blogs. Or, at least I used to, before I started getting probably ten of them a day and I just got tired of it. Some don’t have blogs, just Gravatars with shady non-name names. Some have blogs, but with only one post, and it’s in really broken English. Some have blogs with just reblogs. Some have blank blogs. Some have blogs with links to things like “free vacations now” or “iPad giveaway.” sj had one the other day with posts about boxes. No, not the euphemistic kind, which would kind of be an awesome, if porny, blog. Cardboard boxes. Posts like “Boxes vs. Cartons.” Because THAT’S a real blog. (Side note: it wasn’t.)
ZOMG SO COMPELLING BOTH CARTONS *AND* BOXES YOU GUYZZZZZ!
I’ve tromped with my kickass Doc Martens all through the forums trying to find out a why, and a how, and a WHAT THE HELL CAN I DO ABOUT THIS, and the answer, per WordPress?
There’s no option to delete spam followers, once they’ve chosen you to target. (And it seems they’ve chosen all of us to target.) WordPress says they’re “looking into why spammers have increased lately.” These threads go back to April, and that’s when I started seeing the spammers – March/April.
WordPress also added the option to “like” a post straight from the Reader not too long ago, when they updated the Reader, which means you get likes on your posts IMMEDIATELY upon publication. Well, if you only published a photo, there’s a possibility a like happened that quickly. But if you write at length as much as I do, odds that someone named “trueerectionpillz4u” read and liked my 2,000 word post in .0005 seconds are pretty slim.
WordPress doesn’t seem to think this is a problem. And I suppose, for them, it’s not. It inflates their user count. They can then use that user count to sell ads, to recruit new bloggers, etc. And some of the new bloggers (me, for example) pay for this service, so they make money from us. No, these spam followers aren’t a problem for WordPress.
And, technically, they’re not really a problem for us bloggers, are they? Not really. They aren’t DOING anything there. Sometimes they randomly reblog our content on their shady blogs, and their weird Gravatars show up in our likes, and they’re there inflating our follower counts, making us look fancy and popular. And who doesn’t like to be popular, am I right? I mean, when I started blogging, I’d look at that follower count on other blogger’s blogs and think, whoa, THIS person knows what’s up.
But they’re lies. That follower count is lies. Most of our followers aren’t real people; they’re not reading our content. They’re not interacting with us. They’re just kind of…there. Weirdly lurking. Sometimes they hit “like,” which I assume they think maybe would get someone to click their spammy blog. Sometimes they don’t do ANYTHING. And that’s a little disconcerting, isn’t it? It’s like having this weird silent army stalking you all the time. You don’t know what the hell they WANT.
Now, WordPress has been oh-so-helpful in telling us that we can report each and every one of these spammers to them, they’ll “look into it” and “maybe delete the accounts.” Well, if it was just one or two spammers, fine. But who the hell has the free time to check up on, and report, probably 700 or so fake bloggers? And why is it MY job to do this? Shouldn’t these people have to prove they’re not spammers on WordPress’ end?
Another end result of this? Some of you new followers, who very well MIGHT be real people? Well, I wouldn’t know. Because I no longer have the time to weed through all the spam to get to the real blogs. So I might be missing some awesome new blogs I should be reading. I WOULDN’T KNOW. I used to be able to check out all the new blogs that followed me, and now I can’t do that. So, new bloggers, if you ARE a real blog, say hi. Comment, or say hi on Twitter, or send me an email. SOMETHING. I can’t promise I’ll follow your blog – I read a LOT of blogs, and my time gets more and more limited daily – but I can promise if you’re a real blogger, and not a creature made of spam, I’ll at least check you out.
I’ve also stopped following other blogs in the WordPress reader. I used to do a courtesy follow every time I followed a WordPress blog. Why courtesy follow? Well, I hate the WordPress reader. I refuse to use it. So I use an alternate reader. (Feedly, if you must know – it’s no Google Reader, but nothing is. Sigh.) But I *used* to click the “follow” button on any WordPress blog I was following in my reader; that way, the blogger knew I was following them, and maybe they’d return the favor, and we could all go ’round the mulberry bush. NOT A EUPHEMISM. I don’t bother anymore. I assume most WordPress bloggers aren’t bothering to even check out new followers anymore, so why should I do the extra step? I follow on the sly; if I like the blog and have extra time and feel I have something worthwhile to say and am not too daunted, I comment, and then they know I’m reading, I suppose.
What’s the solution to this? Well, there isn’t one. Not until WordPress creates one for us – and they’ve shown no interest in doing that whatsoever. And like I said, this really shouldn’t bother me. And I know I’m kind of biting the hand that feeds me by even blogging about it here – WordPress doesn’t like you to complain about them on their own service. (Or at all, actually. Too many complaints, I’ve noticed, they stop responding to you in the forums, or their most vocal volunteer, whose name I won’t mention but I’d be willing to bet anyone who’s come in contact with this person knows EXACTLY who I’m talking about – will snark at you, seemingly in the hopes of making you…I don’t know, quit asking for help? Quit WordPress? I’m not really sure.)
(Side note: as I was writing this, I just got another spam follower. Don’t think I didn’t note the irony. I’m like a magnet for such things.)
So, you either move to Blogger (terrible service, terrible functionality) or you self-host (and lose the community you have on WordPress, because there really are real people in there, among the spammers) or…you, I don’t know, go to LiveJournal? Start writing furiously in notebooks and taking photos of the pages and putting them up on Instagram? Your options, they are somewhat limited, friends. WordPress is by far the best blogging platform, and they know it. And when you’re at the top of the food chain, you don’t have to listen to the little guys saying “help, help, I’m being oppressed,” now, do you?
I don’t have an answer for you. I don’t have anything. I just have a huge cloud of spammers following my blog, is all. Like gnats. Like pesty, pesky gnats. I’d ask them to stop following me, but we all know they’re not reading these posts, so there’s no point.
I can tell you, based on the way this, and many other things, have been handled, if another comparable blogging option ever opens up, I’d be one of the first ones to jump ship. Hell, it’s either that or the random scribbling in notebooks.
Which, sometimes, seem like a very good option.
Shoo. Shoo, spammers. Shoo.
September 7th, 2013 at 12:04 pm
I’m real and human, and also frustrated at the spam.
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September 7th, 2013 at 9:35 pm
Hi, real human! Thank you for your comment and for sharing the frustration!
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September 7th, 2013 at 9:45 pm
It is frustrating. I have to explain to almost every writer on my community blog to ignore the numbers because most of them are spam.
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September 7th, 2013 at 10:40 pm
Even the reads aren’t as true as they used to be; what with readers, the WordPress reader, etc. – a lot more people are reading than are being reflected in our stats. The whole thing’s skewed now.
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September 7th, 2013 at 12:24 pm
Sigh…thanks for the great blog…at least we should be able to block a follower if we choose to do so!
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September 7th, 2013 at 2:49 pm
I think so too, and not just for the spammers. There are actually people being blog stalked who would like that option too, I’d bet.
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September 7th, 2013 at 3:53 pm
Don’t I know it.
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September 7th, 2013 at 9:35 pm
You’re welcome! Thanks for reading and commenting and being a real human!
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September 7th, 2013 at 11:20 pm
Well I at least try to be the latter from time to time…I can be quite beastly though ;-)
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September 7th, 2013 at 12:26 pm
Reblogged this on Bastet and Sekhmet and commented:
Ok…you have an increase in followers, but not in reader? Probably spammers. Take the time to read this post if you want to understand a little more about those stats that have so many people in a state of constant anxiety.
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September 7th, 2013 at 12:28 pm
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September 7th, 2013 at 12:31 pm
Boo for Spam (the meat) and for spam (the bot-people). IT’S ALL GROSS.
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September 7th, 2013 at 9:34 pm
Boo for them. YAY FOR YOU. Six more days, lady!!!
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September 7th, 2013 at 12:32 pm
I am a real human. I generally scroll through blogs and will like the blog or occasionally follow somebody. It seems like a lot of blogs are inactive and the people never respond back or show any interest in you showing interest in them. But, some people really do like building new friendships and showing interest in each other’s blogs. Good post!
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September 7th, 2013 at 9:32 pm
Hello, real human!
I reply to all comments. Or, at least try to. Unless I get distracted by shiny things. And I LOVE the interaction in the comments. It’s the best part of blogging.
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September 7th, 2013 at 9:54 pm
I agree. And I will try to keep lots of shiny things on my blog to keep you coming back to it for more…
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September 7th, 2013 at 10:39 pm
I do like shiny. I admit that. Freely.
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September 7th, 2013 at 12:46 pm
I was on a self hosted blog until a month ago… You don’t know spam until you switch to that format. Even with its flaws, I am glad to be back on here.
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September 7th, 2013 at 9:31 pm
See? Everything is flawed. It’s a bother. Who’s going to make their millions making a user-friendly blogging platform? It’s totally something someone could make money from, if done correctly.
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September 7th, 2013 at 12:50 pm
I’m totally real, I swear! ;)
And those pictures of various Spam recipes gross me out. Spam upside down pie?? Frightening!
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September 7th, 2013 at 9:29 pm
I believe you! And, I KNOW. Spam = worrisome. I don’t care for canned meat. Not even a LITTLE.
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September 7th, 2013 at 12:51 pm
And I agree with those who say we should be able to block unwanted followers. I think they have that on LiveJournal, so why isn’t it available on something as big as WordPress? Come on, WP, get with the program!
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September 7th, 2013 at 9:29 pm
I’m convinced they want the inflated numbers. They sell themselves to advertisers – “we have 1.5 million bloggers,” or whatever – and the advertisers don’t care that they’re spammers, just that they’re BLOGGERS. But I agree. We should be able to block them, and I hate that we can’t.
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September 7th, 2013 at 1:19 pm
I don’t check out every new person who follows me, because — spammers aside — it’s kind of like I feel about Twitter… if someone follows me but never interacts with me, they’re probably just following because they hope I’ll follow them back. Either that or they’re a lovely blogger who truly does appreciate my blog but who doesn’t feel comfortable speaking up (I get it, I used to be a lurker for a long while) but unfortunately I just can’t go looking for those special little flowers among all the weeds. I DO like to visit the blogs of those who comment… though I’m woefully behind on that.
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September 7th, 2013 at 9:28 pm
There’s just not enough time, you know? It’s annoying. I need like another 5 hours a day. Not WORK hours, either. After-work hours. I could be so awesome with those extra hours, I really could.
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September 7th, 2013 at 1:30 pm
I laugh when spammers follow me on Twitter – because I never tweet and I hardly ever go on there. I only set it up because there was a retweeting requirement in some contest that I wanted to enter and that’s pretty much what I use it for.
I followed some people and tried to use it, but I really don’t get it. At all. Sometimes I use it when I’m watching a race, but my husband usually records them and then we’re behind the realtime and looking on Twitter will ruin the race for me anyway.
All of which means – it’s a waste of time to follow me.
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September 7th, 2013 at 9:27 pm
I used to be good at Twitter. Things happened. I am no longer good at Twitter. I could be good at Twitter again, but I am out of practice and it seems like it would be hurtful.
I think about it at times. Then I do other things. Like housecleaning. Which seems less hurtful.
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September 7th, 2013 at 1:41 pm
I give little thought to spam other than the real comments that get caught in my spam filter. I’ve kind of set up my blog to dissuade non readers, or at least I believe so. That said I’ve reduced my numbers down to about 30-50 people that read my blog on a regular basis and about 20-30 casual returning readers. I am considering not doing any more Daily Post Prompts because of people linking to my post without visiting it. There is a lot of what I call false traffic on WordPress and I do my best to deter that kind of traffic, everything short of holding up a huge Detour sign. Outside of my primary blog I have two other blogs that I work on quietly and those numbers are more honest although I will say the first 3 people that followed my newest blogging experiment did so without visiting the blog. What I’ve figured out is some people follow new blogs in an effort to increase their own following by getting the obligatory follow back you mentioned.
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September 7th, 2013 at 9:23 pm
Do a lot of people just follow back without checking out the blog? How ridiculous. That’s like lying in public. I hate that so much. It’s the reason I won’t follow a page on Facebook unless I really believe in it/like it; I don’t want my name attached to something I don’t believe in.
Thank you for commenting and reading – I’m glad you’re real. This has, at least, brought a lot of real commenters in that might not have commented otherwise, and I love that.
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September 7th, 2013 at 1:49 pm
Something that has been bothering me lately! Thank you for the very theral post on it, as well as informing me that asking for help probubly won’t sort a thing (I was about to try and push that boulder up the hill!). I also thought I was alone in noticing these, like everyone was just going around pretending it does not exist and is not happening.
Salutations from a real reader!
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September 7th, 2013 at 9:20 pm
I’m glad you’re real! And, yes. Nothing to be done about it. You can add your voice to those in the the link I posted, but nothing will be done.
Thank you for reading, and commenting!
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September 7th, 2013 at 2:00 pm
Great post, especially for a newbie blogger such as myself. Things to be aware of.
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September 7th, 2013 at 9:18 pm
Yes, follower counts really don’t matter, especially since they’re mostly spammers lately. You know who your people are – just concentrate on them and ignore the rest.
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September 7th, 2013 at 2:10 pm
Amen and all that! I hate spambots!
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September 7th, 2013 at 9:10 pm
So pesky. Shoo, shoo, shoo.
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September 7th, 2013 at 2:16 pm
Basically, it’s one of those aggravations with no perceivable consequences, good or bad. Ignore it, and it may not go away, but so what? If you’re worried about your inflated follow numbers, don’t post them on your front door.
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September 7th, 2013 at 9:09 pm
Yes. I know. I mentioned that in the blog. There are no true consquences to this. Just that it annoys me, and it’s got this vague sense of maliciousness about it. I wasn’t aware I could remove the follower count; I am now aware I can, and will be doing so.
I don’t like things that are false, and I don’t like things like this that are wrong, and yet the powers that be won’t set them right. And, by the comments, I’m not alone in this.
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September 7th, 2013 at 10:31 pm
I used to fret about it a lot, then realized I was the one making difficulties for myself. Just a perspective shift, and – poof!- it’s gone.
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September 7th, 2013 at 10:38 pm
It would be nice to have a brain that worked that way. Maybe someday I can be that zen; one can always hope.
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September 7th, 2013 at 2:18 pm
I’m real, I promise!
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September 7th, 2013 at 9:03 pm
Hi! Good, I’m glad! Nice to see you here, and thank you for commenting!
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September 7th, 2013 at 2:54 pm
I have noticed more spammers getting through the Askimet net and posting comments. I gathered several up before using a few in a post and then deleting them. If it’s just weird follows, that’s one thing, but I hate when I think I’ve got an honest-to-goodness comment and it’s “I am to enjoying the educational content please continue.” and it’s posted on one of my 50 Shades recaps.
But I’m with you – I highly doubt they’d do anything about it or any other issue unless people really starting leaving in droves. Same with Facebook.
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September 7th, 2013 at 8:59 pm
Yes, me too. If they’ve never posted a comment here before, they go into moderation, so I just report and delete them there…but they are getting through more and more.
No one’s leaving here, or Facebook. They’re both the best in their business. So unless somebody comes along that’s better, we’ll all stay.
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September 7th, 2013 at 3:14 pm
I would love to be able to block people. And I am considering not allowing likes, as those seem to be extra spammy and they really tick me off when someone likes something they haven’t read even though that’s idiotic on my part.
Mostly I don’t care. But now I just try and check out people who comment and look at their blogs because they are obviously real people. I have to say though, I love the courtesy follow in my wordpress so I can see your face. I can’t help it. It’s nice to see you.
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September 7th, 2013 at 8:57 pm
It’s not idiotic. It’s completely logical. If they didn’t read it, they shouldn’t like it. It annoys the CRAP out of me.
I know. I should keep doing the courtesy follow. It just seemed so extra-steppy. And pointless. Considering WordPress didn’t care, you know? Sigh.
(NICE TO SEE YOU!)
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September 8th, 2013 at 7:59 am
Aw, thank you. Well, in addition to the like thing making me pissy, why should they get the opportunity to spam my followers? Later for that.
:) You made me smile.
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September 7th, 2013 at 3:18 pm
yeh it’s a rather odd phenomenon to say the least. great post from a real person read by a real reader ) i ignore the spammers – easiest strategy for me – beth
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September 7th, 2013 at 8:48 pm
Thank you! Yes, I know. It’s best to ignore them. I have problems with ignoring, though. Ever since I was little. It’s a definite failing of mine.
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September 7th, 2013 at 3:43 pm
I started off getting terribly upset when non enthusiastic readers followed me because I thought I was RESONATING and everyone was loving on me, but they weren’t.
Still, I quite like LOOKING like I have a healthy readership, and that’s what counts, appearances.
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September 7th, 2013 at 8:43 pm
Well, if everyone’s NOT loving on you, there’s something wrong with them, and that’s that. Because you are SHINY.
Hee! Appearances. Well, they’re something. But I like the truth an awful lot, too.
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September 7th, 2013 at 5:13 pm
All I can say is that the spammers have excellent taste in blogs to stalk. Perhaps you can teach them some things. Maybe they’re hoping their search terms appear on your next post!
I want the Spam Upside Down Pie. It looks like it’s fun to make AND delicious.
Actually, I have nightmare stories about Spam. Maybe one day I’ll get the chance to tell them to you.
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September 7th, 2013 at 8:39 pm
Aw, you are the SWEETEST! And their terms MIGHT end up here. If they’re fancy enough.
OMG, that spam pie. You know who’d love that? Dad. He ADORES canned meat products.
Oh, I do hope someday I get to hear spam stories. One, two, three…shh, STOP COUNTING!
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September 7th, 2013 at 5:16 pm
I still get prematurely excited and then subsequently heartbroken when another spammer latches onto me (though not at nearly the rate they do you). I’m still naive and optimistic enough to hope that real honest-to-goodness people have stumbled upon me and decided they like me. This is why I fled LiveJournal, because it seemed like no one read me and no one was likely to start (I did have a small, loyal, but maddeningly selectively mute circle of friends who posted all the livelong day about themselves but could never find the time to shoot me one single comment. LJ sucks).
I did legit LOL at “help, help, I’m being oppressed.”
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September 7th, 2013 at 8:38 pm
Don’t let it bother you. It’s all of us, and it’s happening CONSTANTLY. Just celebrate the real people, I guess. (It’s hard to tell when they’re real anymore, though. I’m thinking of adding something about this in my About section, because I’m sad thinking people are reading, and not commenting, and wondering why I’m not commenting on THEIR blog, since they FOLLOWED me, you know?)
There are a lot of readers who don’t say anything. I’m one of them, a lot of the time. I have (I think?) about 150 blogs in my reader, but only comment on about 5-10 a day. I just don’t have the time, or something to say, on all of them, sadly. I wish I did.
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September 9th, 2013 at 12:29 am
Understandable. I only follow about five blogs and I can’t even do that every day. I work from home and some days it takes enormous self-control to focus and not wander. FB is a concentration killer.
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September 9th, 2013 at 7:49 am
I love the idea of working from home, but I get distracted so easily. I don’t know how much work I’d actually get done. (Although I do ok at my job, and the same distractions are there…so PROBABLY I’d be ok. But it just seems like, at home, I’d be a lot more apt to fall down the internet rabbit hole, for some reason.)
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September 7th, 2013 at 7:26 pm
I am a real blogger! I don’t know if I even show up in your “followers” section though – I follow through Blogger’s Dashboard; which don’t even ask me to explain how that works.
It is my very firm opinion that there is a very, very special place in hell for spammers and the like. And it boggles the mind to think that people spend time spamming. Don’t they have a real job? They can’t possibly be getting paid (or at least not well) for that crap.
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September 7th, 2013 at 8:35 pm
I don’t even look at my followers anymore, so no worries there. And I know you’re real!
I think spamming IS their job! I just don’t know how they get paid for it. It confuses me. I mean, telemarketing is annoying and spammy, but at least I understand how people make money from it. Spamming, especially this kind, when they’re not DOING anything…it makes no sense.
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September 7th, 2013 at 7:55 pm
I am a real person, and I love this post! I’ve noticed plenty of spammers among my followers. I have one follower who already has been kicked off WordPress for violating their standards. She now has a blog by another name (the 3rd that I’m aware of) and is following me again. More of a creepy stalker-type than a spammer. What can I do? Nothing.
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September 7th, 2013 at 8:33 pm
Thank you! I LOVE that so many new people commented today. This made me so happy.
It IS creepy, and weird, and it seems so preventable – but WordPress seems to have good reason to NOT want them gone. And you’re right, there’s nothing we can do but ignore them, I suppose. But we can make our own community out of the real people, and the good force in that will outweigh the creepy. Always.
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September 7th, 2013 at 8:19 pm
When I first started blogging, I used to see people’s follower count and get so incredibly jealous because all I had for the first months or so (before the spam got out of hand) were like 30 followers. Now that I’ve got quite a handful of followers, I unclicked the box on my dashboard that says Display Follower Count because I don’t want anyone getting started to feel like it’s all about numbers, especially since spammers make up such a chunk of my numbers too. I think that it still displays the number after you follow the blog, but at least I tried? Ugh.
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September 7th, 2013 at 8:29 pm
I didn’t even KNOW we could unclick that box. I’m going to have to find that, I think. I thought it was part of the “follow me via email” thing or something. See how I learned a new thing today? THANK YOU!
I used to click on people’s blogs and wonder, “how did they do this? I WANT THIS!” and back then, it mattered, but now…I just assume that they, like me, have mostly spam followers. And it’s sad-making. I can just hope that more people are reading than are commenting (I know I read a lot of blogs that I don’t comment on, for various reasons.) If so…hi, people! Please say hi! I’m not scary and love the comment section!
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September 7th, 2013 at 11:04 pm
You know I had noticed a WHOLE lot of like-y people. And now I know.
Signed,
A Real Human
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September 8th, 2013 at 7:41 pm
Yep. Spammy spam spammers.
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September 8th, 2013 at 11:01 pm
Sigh and here I got all excited…oh bother.
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September 7th, 2013 at 11:45 pm
You know, I’ve seen a ton of these ridiculous spam blogs out there, but I didn’t realize they would actively like or follow other pages. I thought there were just click-magnets for suckers and MLM rejects. Your post makes me wonder if I have that problem too, because while my following has grown substantially in the two months I’ve been blogging, my overall views/visitors per day and traffic hasn’t quite kept pace. It’s kind of dispiriting, but I guess there’s nothing for it but to drive on.
Thanks for the post. I really learned something here today.
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September 8th, 2013 at 7:41 pm
That’s a very good sign, if your readership has stayed the same but your follower count has gone up. Probably spammers. But if you’ve only been blogging for two months – you just wait! You’ll get a LOT of real readers. You’re just starting. The fun stuff is just beginning for you. Promise. (This is the exciting time! No, really. That sounded sarcastic, but I couldn’t be more serious – the first few months are totally exciting.)
And hi! I’m glad you’re a real human. Thank you for commenting!
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September 8th, 2013 at 11:30 am
sj and I were talking about this not too long ago. I don’t know that I get the spam followers (although I haven’t checked recently). It kind of sucks that your reward for being a popular blogger is a BIG CAN OF SPAM. That’s not a very nice reward.
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September 8th, 2013 at 11:31 am
Oh, but I DO get about a bazillion spam comments lately. If I don’t sign in to my blog for a couple of days, I have over 500 spam comments to delete. Seriously.
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September 8th, 2013 at 7:36 pm
Ooh, that’s crazy, I wonder why? I get…probably 5-10 a day or so? No more than that. Mostly in Korean, oddly. Selling purses. And a lot recently for failing kidneys, which they seem to think I have, so I have to wonder if they are prophetic. And hope they aren’t, because dialysis looks like it would SUCK.
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September 8th, 2013 at 7:39 pm
I get the same ones, but TONS of them.
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September 8th, 2013 at 7:43 pm
I wonder why? This is very odd, Heather. And totally a case for the Scooby Gang.
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September 8th, 2013 at 7:36 pm
Canned meat is never a good reward. I do not approve of meat in cans. Except maybe chicken. I could be down with canned chicken, if that was all that was available to me.
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September 8th, 2013 at 7:41 pm
I could maybe do canned chicken, but never canned pork or beef. Unless it’s soup, but then I still really don’t like canned soup. I would only eat it if I had no other choice. But just plain ol’ canned pork or beef? No thanks.
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September 8th, 2013 at 7:43 pm
Canned chicken is ok IN something. Like a casserole, or a dip. I’ve never tried it on its own, so it might be gross there.
Canned soup I’m ok with (although I have to say, that soup in pouches that’s out now is a little better and doesn’t have that slight tinny taste. I approve.)
Canned meat all reminds me of dog food. I am not a canine, thank you.
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September 8th, 2013 at 8:07 pm
YES. It reminds me of dog / fancy cat food, too.
There is soup in pouches? That doesn’t taste like a tin can? Oooo…I need to check that out.
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September 8th, 2013 at 8:28 pm
Yes, and it’s good, and flavorful, and comes in exotic types! I’m a total fan.
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September 8th, 2013 at 12:58 pm
Wow! Lol, ironically, I found this blog on ‘reader’. I am so glad to read publicly what I have been surmising all along. And yes, I know only to well about the support on forums and ‘certain’ responders. Lol take a look at my cry for help blog (when you have time). It can be so infuriating and I always check out new followers and have found spammy fake people. We can only keep writing, for ourselves and hope the ‘real’ people who follow just enjoy!
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September 8th, 2013 at 7:34 pm
Hi, and thanks for commenting! You’re completely right, we just keep on truckin’, spammers be damned. Even though they’re creepy. Shoo, spammers, shoo.
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September 8th, 2013 at 11:08 pm
I’m with ya 1000%
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September 8th, 2013 at 1:01 pm
Oh, one other thing, when I posted this comment, a warning bar came up on my page saying this page contains blocked content from dangerous or suspicious sites and on your side bar this is an ‘ad column’ that is blocked off, just thought I’d tell you what I see.
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September 8th, 2013 at 7:33 pm
The only ads I have on the blog are from WordPress, directly (they’re WordAds) and I only leave them up because I get paid per click (well, kind of – it’s a whole long explanation, but EVENTUALLY money makes its way to me)…so I don’t think they’re dangerous or spammy. But thank you for letting me know you’re getting a warning bar. That’s strange.
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September 8th, 2013 at 11:08 pm
Your welcome, I don’t know that warning came up when I saw blank space where it said the blocked ads are. It reminded me of a terrible time I had when I found spam porno site ads on my own page!
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September 8th, 2013 at 3:51 pm
I… have never thought to actually click through and see the followers for my blog! I mean I get an email each time I get a new follower & usually I click the link the email to see the person’s blog.
So I only have 140 followers, and since I’ve learned I can CLICK THROUGH THOSE FOLLWERS (like 5 mins ago, thanks to this post), I’m pretty sure most of them are human. And obviously I’m glad for that, but at the same time… WTF spammers? Am I not cool enough for you? Is that it?
It’s really annoying that WordPress won’t crack down on the spammers though – we bloggers get a teeny little thrill at that count, and it’s not as cool if there are spambots inflating the numbers.
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September 8th, 2013 at 7:31 pm
Oh, you don’t want them. Shh. Don’t tempt them. (They’ll find you. I’m sure they will.)
Agreed. WordPress is constantly writing posts about how to use your stats to your full advantage…well, how can I do so if my stats aren’t true?
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September 8th, 2013 at 9:12 pm
Just so you know, I’m real. I rarely comment, I sometimes hit the like button, but I do read. The reason I don’t comment much is because I often feel like what I have to say in response is super lame, like “Ha ha, your dad is funny.”
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September 8th, 2013 at 10:46 pm
I know you’re real! And don’t worry. There are a lot of blogs I read that I don’t comment on, for various reasons. (But don’t ever worry about being lame. No one’s lame around here. We’re all awesomesauce.)
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September 9th, 2013 at 12:54 am
[…] on “Lucy’s Football” there was an interesting article about Spam and our “followers” many of whom are […]
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September 9th, 2013 at 2:33 pm
I am a real human and I guess I should now feel lucky that I am too small for the spammers to care anything about. :)
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September 9th, 2013 at 9:50 pm
Oh, they’ll find you. Don’t worry. I’m sure they’re on the way!
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