I humor them mostly because they aren't common - real comments outnumber the spam replies -- and because they remind me of my old friend Eliza, the artificial-intelligence simulatrix about whom I have written on several occasions.
I think of these spambots as Eliza's grandchildren. Their attempts to find relevant topics and comment in a meaningful way are often amusing, because they tend to give themselves up as soon as they open their virtual mouths. The Turing Test is an instant fail, because it's obvious they haven't actually read or comprehended the post -- they're looking for a word or phrase they recognize, generating some text, and posting it with an ID stealthily linking to a commercial website.
Today, one calling itself "generic viagra" attempted to post this comment concerning the Atari 2600 game Strawberry Shortcake: Musical Match-Ups:
I thought it was an excellent blog, that information has been very helpful in my life, I am a strawberries lover, so I really enjoyed this reading, the strawberries taste is so delicious! Thanks for this great moment!
I wonder what led this bot to me. Did its dictionary somehow lead it to conclude that it should call itself a "strawberries lover" to justify posting a Viagra link on a post about 80's kiddie favorite Strawberry Shortcake?
But I admire the attempt, transparent as it may be. And I'm glad the information was very helpful in its life.
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Your report on generic strawberries make me glad that I am responding at will to this blog without a need for our wonderful to help you very soon. Please to thank-you am we that this is interesting to the amusing!
ReplyDeleteLOL - just kidding around its really me. But I know what you mean. I host a number of yahoo groups and get constant requests to join by spammers. Usually they are simple to see through but not always.
I am glad you do take the time to vet the comments! Thanks its appreciated!