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I also got the *craziest* spam yesterday, although it wasn't intended to be viral marketing. It was just this unbelievable nutjob. I deleted it, but kept the email I got, and here's a snippet (and when I say snippet, I mean it...the thing must have been over 2000 words):
"There are female eqivilents to circumcision::::pierced ears, plastic surgury and since at least the 60s young women give their precious virginity away. In the Old World the young people were matched at age 14 because they were ready for sexual relations. They were matched by elders who knew personalities better than 20 or 30-year olds who in today's age end up in divorce court.
CASUAL SEX WILL CLAIM YOU OUT!!! It masculinizes women (as does hip hop), makes them cold and deadens them, and prevents them from achieving a depth of love necessary for many women to ascend."
Heh. Hip hop masculinizes women. Super G snarfed his ice cream when I read him that.
Oh, it's everywhere, isn't it? And I've heard that public shaming is coming back into vogue...
Spam comments anger me. That's something I have yet to release to the universe.
I'm surprised it took this long to get to you when you have so many comments. I've gotten a couple "That's a great story, check out my blog for a simlar one." And you go to the blog and it's a sale's pitch. Aargh.
HaloScan has pretty damn good spam filters, Lisa. I get the occasional Japanese-robot spam, but infrequently. I don't know how he does it, but Jeevan at HaloScan deserves some sort of Internet Citizenship medal in honor of his spam-filtering achievements.
I agree about halo scan. I was amazed at what a difference it made. The sneaky part about this new thing is that it seems at first glance like a real thing.
I haven't gotten this on my site, but I published a tiny something somewhere that included my email. Ever since, I've been getting emails that make a comment about my essay --a legit one that shows they've read it--or someone has---and then ask me to read their writing. I click through and it's an ad.
ianqui, I got something like that the other day too. I deleted it, but have no idea what it was trying to do.
I hate this kind of marketing. A lot of video game makers have been doing things like this a long time. Having employees post about how their games are So Awesome and what not, but not revealing that the people posting work for the company. They also do a lot of marketing with fake fan webpages and whatnot.
It really takes the usefullness out of trying to find real information on the internet, it's so hard to tell what's real.
I was thinking about ditching Haloscan a while back ago, until I realized that people using MT and Typepad comments were spending an inordinate amount of time trying to stamp out comment and trackback spam. There is almost no comment/trackback spam on the Haloscan system. I get occasional things that slip through, but they tend more towards the really strange(like the one Ianqui mentions) than neatly targeted marketing. Oh, I also get occasional attempts to bring me to JEESUS, probably because the word "heaven" in my blog name brings religious folks to RoH on some pretty odd Google searches.
Of course, I am BURNING with curiosity as to what site is paying people to flog it in old comment threads, even as your desire to NOT publicize it is entirely correct.
I've noticed that there are people who go onto some of the sites where you can post reviews of books and movies, and flag any review with a negative slant with "not helpful"--usually within hours of its being posted.
Yes, I've had it happen to me. 
I'm just curious, though . . . I have hasd situations where I can't really tell whether a commenter is is actually spamming, or if they're just a regular reader or browser who thought they had something to contribute. How do you tell when it's not quite clear? I usually end up giving them the benefit of the doubt in such situations, but I'm sure I've left quite a few genuine comment spams on my blog doing that.
Maybe you should change your statement about e-mail addresses to something like, "e-mail address will be seen only by the blog owner--unless said owner has reason to believe you're a spammer, in which case it will be published on the blog for all spammers and spiders to collect."
That may be quite an effective retribution.
OH SERIOUSLY? That just pisses me off. The phenomenon that is PayPerPost is bad enough, since now I visit some of my favorite blogs and read a post just to find I've wasted my time on an advertisement.
But a work-from-home opportunity that tries to turn everyday people into comment spammers? As though there aren't enough comment spammers as it is?
Do these people have no conscience?
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Yah, I've started getting very discreet spams too, usually "Great blog! Like what you have to say!" with the URL they're shilling for in the personal URL rather than the body of the message.
I've got my Wordpress filtering set up so that just about any mention of a pharmaceutical goes straight in the trashcan rather than to moderation, and that helps a *lot*. I may be filterign out all the people with good suggestions about how to drug my children... but that's okay too.
I don't actually have a problem with PayPerPost, if it's done properly (although the commenting thing isn't that, but SMIT above mentioned PPP). In fact, I'm going to write a post about PPP (for free) and do a little experiment with it (as a member).
Which is not to say that I think spammy comments are a good thing. I think they're evil. Jeevan at HScn does a great job. I have blogs on all major blog platforms and the spam is _hooorrrrrriiiiibbbbble_ even wih filters.
wolfa!
Good question, PK. I tend to be quick on the delete button -- I'm the suspicious sort. But what usually tips me off is that the borderline commenter doesn't seem to be participating in the conversation the way a regular person would. She didn't say, "Hi, I've been reading for awhile" or "I wish I could afford Swedish Childrensson" or "Why does your small child say 'Snakes on a plane,' you rotten parent you." I mean, yeah, the post is about shopping for kids' clothes, but I didn't say, "Gosh, I wish someone would give me some shopping hints." (I've done that in other posts, and the links people have provided in response are completely appropriate.)
Also, there is the sure tip-off of commenting on a month-old post. Whatever they're paying her, she ought to get half the going rate for filling her quota on old posts that no one is reading.
I got a comment like that a few weeks ago, but according to sitestalker it was from the Philippines. I thought they were outsourcing spam to somewhere with lower wages, but I got one yesterday from the US. At least, I think it was spam. They offered a couple of (decent-looking) book recommendations along with their sleep medications, though, which is more helpful than I'd expect. Unless they have a contract with a publisher along with the pharmaceutical companies.
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