spam: the enemy of open content


It is with a heavy heart that I have to let you know I’ve turned on moderation for comments. This means I’ll have to manually approve comments before they can appear publicly.

This is a last-ditch effort to compromise between my desire for open discussion and the ever-increasing flow of spam comments (I’m talking 200+ ads daily for cialis, online gambling and porn, all of which I have been deleting each morning, usually while silently screaming obscenities). I viewed this early morning ritual as some kind of silent war between my own stubbornness and the merciless advance of an invading force. I have decided that I am losing this war really badly.

I don’t know if moderation will create less work for me (probably not), but at least it will prevent the pollution of the public version of my blog. And it’s better than disabling comments, or demanding that all visitors sign up for a typekey “identity” before they can post a comment.


2 responses to “spam: the enemy of open content”

  1. The person who first developed the concept of blogspam should not be allowed to procreate. I’ve had to start moderating comments on my blog, as well. After my experience, I’m astonished you managed to keep yourself to *silent* screaming of obscenities. I’m certain my neighbors called the police more than once.