Comments on: Now They’ve Done It. Blogger Made Me Want To “Change My Tone” http://thiseclecticlife.com/2008/04/02/now-theyve-done-it-blogger-made-me-want-to-change-my-tone/ Sassy Texas Storyteller Fri, 18 May 2012 20:37:56 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: The “x 365″ begins — This Eclectic Life http://thiseclecticlife.com/2008/04/02/now-theyve-done-it-blogger-made-me-want-to-change-my-tone/comment-page-1/#comment-24239 The “x 365″ begins — This Eclectic Life Thu, 25 Feb 2010 01:24:16 +0000 http://thiseclecticlife.com/2008/04/02/now-theyve-done-it-blogger-made-me-want-to-change-my-tone/#comment-24239 [...] blog. I started a little Blogspot blog to house it. Blogger is stupid! You can read about that in this rant. My new WordPress blog is [is now defunct, because this didn't work for me people...I can't [...] [...] blog. I started a little Blogspot blog to house it. Blogger is stupid! You can read about that in this rant. My new WordPress blog is [is now defunct, because this didn't work for me people...I can't [...]

]]> By: Freelanceguru http://thiseclecticlife.com/2008/04/02/now-theyve-done-it-blogger-made-me-want-to-change-my-tone/comment-page-1/#comment-9311 Freelanceguru Thu, 03 Apr 2008 22:40:16 +0000 http://thiseclecticlife.com/2008/04/02/now-theyve-done-it-blogger-made-me-want-to-change-my-tone/#comment-9311 I find myself wondering why the blog of the Freelance Cynic was not treated so harshly. <em>Freelanceguru's last blog post..How can I win the Lottery but still keep it real - Part 1</em> I find myself wondering why the blog of the Freelance Cynic was not treated so harshly.

Freelanceguru’s last blog post..How can I win the Lottery but still keep it real – Part 1

]]> By: Kara http://thiseclecticlife.com/2008/04/02/now-theyve-done-it-blogger-made-me-want-to-change-my-tone/comment-page-1/#comment-9303 Kara Thu, 03 Apr 2008 12:05:56 +0000 http://thiseclecticlife.com/2008/04/02/now-theyve-done-it-blogger-made-me-want-to-change-my-tone/#comment-9303 That email they sent you is to much! Holy moly Blogger. <em>Kara's last blog post..who needs another mouth to feed?</em> That email they sent you is to much! Holy moly Blogger.

Kara’s last blog post..who needs another mouth to feed?

]]> By: Jessica The Rock Chick http://thiseclecticlife.com/2008/04/02/now-theyve-done-it-blogger-made-me-want-to-change-my-tone/comment-page-1/#comment-9300 Jessica The Rock Chick Thu, 03 Apr 2008 11:45:34 +0000 http://thiseclecticlife.com/2008/04/02/now-theyve-done-it-blogger-made-me-want-to-change-my-tone/#comment-9300 I think what happened was ridiculous. Even more ridiculous was the e-mail they sent to you. "Since you are an actual person reading this, your blog is probably not spam." hahahaha! I just love that! I almost feel bad for liking blogger-even after they lost my blog once! I think I'm overly attached to my template. <em>Jessica The Rock Chick's last blog post..<a href='http://lifeisrantastic.blogspot.com/2008/04/each-and-every-day-of-year.html' rel="nofollow">Each And Every Day Of The Year</a></em> I think what happened was ridiculous. Even more ridiculous was the e-mail they sent to you. “Since you are an actual person reading this, your blog is probably not spam.” hahahaha! I just love that!

I almost feel bad for liking blogger-even after they lost my blog once! I think I’m overly attached to my template.

Jessica The Rock Chick’s last blog post..Each And Every Day Of The Year

]]> By: Damien Riley http://thiseclecticlife.com/2008/04/02/now-theyve-done-it-blogger-made-me-want-to-change-my-tone/comment-page-1/#comment-9297 Damien Riley Thu, 03 Apr 2008 05:29:58 +0000 http://thiseclecticlife.com/2008/04/02/now-theyve-done-it-blogger-made-me-want-to-change-my-tone/#comment-9297 Blogger is a different animal. I have written against the machine there as long as I've been blogging. <em>Damien Riley's last blog post..<a href='http://rileycentral.net/wordpress/2008/04/02/interview-with-amy-palko-blogger-photographer-extraordinairre/' rel="nofollow">Interview With Amy Palko: Blogger, Photographer Extraordinairre</a></em> Blogger is a different animal. I have written against the machine there as long as I’ve been blogging.

Damien Riley’s last blog post..Interview With Amy Palko: Blogger, Photographer Extraordinairre

]]> By: the Wandering Author http://thiseclecticlife.com/2008/04/02/now-theyve-done-it-blogger-made-me-want-to-change-my-tone/comment-page-1/#comment-9296 the Wandering Author Thu, 03 Apr 2008 04:52:46 +0000 http://thiseclecticlife.com/2008/04/02/now-theyve-done-it-blogger-made-me-want-to-change-my-tone/#comment-9296 Yes, that would be a real pain. And, in my eyes, Blogger <strong>did</strong> really screw up at least one thing (see explanation below). For what it's worth, though, I doubt it was the word "pervert". That wouldn't appear in most spam. Some combination of words triggered the filter, but it's hard to say which ones. I suspect Blogger looks over a sampling of blogs identified each day as spam, just to tweak their filters, since the spammers tend to 'evolve' what they say to stay ahead of the filters. The oddest thing, to me, is the fact the notice said this wouldn't affect any of your other blogs. <strong>If</strong> your blog was auto-created by a spammer, all the blogs on that user account would have been (presumably) set up by the same bot. So why would they leave them alone? <strong>And,</strong> if they see a user account with only one blog flagged as possible spam, shouldn't that be a trigger for manual review <strong>before</strong> taking action? True spammers accounts (human or bot created) would have multiple spam blogs on them. I've got to say, I'm torn in the middle on this. I have a Blogger blog, and if they did that to me I'd... :evil: On the other hand, I work in social media (NO connection with Blogger) and have seen social bookmarking sites that didn't have effective spam fighting regimes in place. They were ruined, dead, slums on the Internet. Ma.gnolia (NOT a service I have any connection with, either) has had problems, to the point they've had to take drastic action (they're going to start rejecting new users who can't verify their identity - they don't <strong>want</strong> to reject users, so things must be bad). The stats I've seen suggest Blogger gets maybe 100,000 auto-created spam blogs <strong>every day</strong> (those stats could be wrong, but that's what I've seen as an estimate). So I think the spammers bear a lot of the blame. That kind and volume of attack does tend to complicate fighting the problem. And I don't want to let the spammers off the hook. Still, as I pointed out above, there are anomalies Blogger should have caught. And I really hate to be the bearer of bad news (please! don't shoot the messenger) but after reading about Ma.gnolia's troubles, and their comments that this is the direction the social bookmarking industry needs to move in, I'm not at all sure this kind of thing won't become more common. The spammers and the scrapers really mess things up for everyone; I hope we can agree on that much. And Blogger did fumble this one - I know we agree on that. :D <em>the Wandering Author's last blog post..<a href='http://the-wandering-author.blogspot.com/2008/03/is-amazon-seeking-to-dominate-small.html' rel="nofollow">Is Amazon Seeking to Dominate Small Presses?</a></em> Yes, that would be a real pain. And, in my eyes, Blogger did really screw up at least one thing (see explanation below). For what it’s worth, though, I doubt it was the word “pervert”. That wouldn’t appear in most spam. Some combination of words triggered the filter, but it’s hard to say which ones. I suspect Blogger looks over a sampling of blogs identified each day as spam, just to tweak their filters, since the spammers tend to ‘evolve’ what they say to stay ahead of the filters. The oddest thing, to me, is the fact the notice said this wouldn’t affect any of your other blogs. If your blog was auto-created by a spammer, all the blogs on that user account would have been (presumably) set up by the same bot. So why would they leave them alone? And, if they see a user account with only one blog flagged as possible spam, shouldn’t that be a trigger for manual review before taking action? True spammers accounts (human or bot created) would have multiple spam blogs on them.

I’ve got to say, I’m torn in the middle on this. I have a Blogger blog, and if they did that to me I’d… :evil: On the other hand, I work in social media (NO connection with Blogger) and have seen social bookmarking sites that didn’t have effective spam fighting regimes in place. They were ruined, dead, slums on the Internet. Ma.gnolia (NOT a service I have any connection with, either) has had problems, to the point they’ve had to take drastic action (they’re going to start rejecting new users who can’t verify their identity – they don’t want to reject users, so things must be bad).

The stats I’ve seen suggest Blogger gets maybe 100,000 auto-created spam blogs every day (those stats could be wrong, but that’s what I’ve seen as an estimate). So I think the spammers bear a lot of the blame. That kind and volume of attack does tend to complicate fighting the problem. And I don’t want to let the spammers off the hook. Still, as I pointed out above, there are anomalies Blogger should have caught.

And I really hate to be the bearer of bad news (please! don’t shoot the messenger) but after reading about Ma.gnolia’s troubles, and their comments that this is the direction the social bookmarking industry needs to move in, I’m not at all sure this kind of thing won’t become more common. The spammers and the scrapers really mess things up for everyone; I hope we can agree on that much. And Blogger did fumble this one – I know we agree on that. :D

the Wandering Author’s last blog post..Is Amazon Seeking to Dominate Small Presses?

]]> By: jen http://thiseclecticlife.com/2008/04/02/now-theyve-done-it-blogger-made-me-want-to-change-my-tone/comment-page-1/#comment-9294 jen Thu, 03 Apr 2008 02:11:55 +0000 http://thiseclecticlife.com/2008/04/02/now-theyve-done-it-blogger-made-me-want-to-change-my-tone/#comment-9294 Wow. I know I wrote stuff a LOT stronger than pervert when I was on Blogger and never heard a peep from them. What a PITA error. <em>jen's last blog post..<a href='http://laughingatchaos.wordpress.com/2008/04/02/here-it-comes/' rel="nofollow">Here it comes?</a></em> Wow. I know I wrote stuff a LOT stronger than pervert when I was on Blogger and never heard a peep from them. What a PITA error.

jen’s last blog post..Here it comes?

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