[spam-stopper] Plain privacy terms

[Roy Schestowitz]

_____/ On Fri 28 Oct 2005 05:33:19 BST, [Derek Scruggs] wrote : \_____

>> Judging by the effect of rel="nofollow"
>
> Is there an effect? I get hammered now more than ever, even though I've had
> nofollow in place since it was first announced. Has anyone made an effort to
> measure this?

Well, tonight for example, one of my sites has been getting hit every few
minutes while the other was neglected. Judging by what I hear in the
newsgroups, it only gets worse, just like you said. Many posts/enquiries
address spam and nothing but spam. The spamming scripts, once owned by a few,
are proliferated (maybe exponentially), leter to hit new blog, which are
created every 1 second (c/f BBC). Script kiddies have been elvated to become
script Gods.

Some would argue that all presently-maintained Web applications 
incorporate the
rel="nofollow" attribute by default. Some would would also argue that within a
few years, as the Web evolves, any Wiki, guestbook and the like should have
protection built-in. Then again, there will always always remain innocent
surfers who follow such spammy links, so there is still incentive for the
spammers. Moreover, not all sites evolve and some are no longer maintained.
Remember that not everything gets upgraded. There is a graveyard 'trail'.

What about the words contained within comments, which then get indexed and can
boost a brand name? For the spammers to stop knocking on 
rel="nofollowed" sites
is /not/ worth the investigation effort. They don't care if you have 
filters or
rel="nofollow" in place, so as long as some people resist it or stay exposed,
it'll get worse. The best solution: make filtering as autonomous as possible.

In summary, it seems like link spam attempts are here to stay, forever. The
author of ABC of SEO < http://www.abcseo.com/papers/referrer-spam.htm > agreed
with me on this speculation. It's too late to annul the effect of link-reliant
algorithms. If Web 2.0 is about involvement, it also involves some malevolent.

Roy

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