Sphinn - Big-Time Black Hat - Mike Grehan Interviews fantomaster ::

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Big-Time Black Hat - Mike Grehan Interviews fantomaster ::

Went Hot: August 20, 2007 - 10:29 am
Posted By: fantomaster 685 days ago
Topic Type: News Story (Jump to http://fantomaster.com)
Category: Other

It's obviously the interview season over at fantomaster.com. Now, it's SEO topshot Mike Grehan who has posted his piece on ClickZ, explaining the return of the Nefarious Search Engine Spammer industry. And as always when Mike's signed his name to an article, it's a ripping good read.

10 Comments

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from qwerty 685 days ago #

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I've never heard of this Black Mask thingie. I guess I'm not on the mailing list.

from Eavesy 685 days ago #

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I couldn't believe it when I started getting his with those trackbacks a few weeks ago, I kept my blog open to comments and kept getting hit with it, it got so annoying that a disabled comments, then I started getting hit with them trackbacks, that is sly, now I have had to disable comments and trackbacks on all posts. When I do a new post I keep the comments and trackbacks open until it gets discovered (usually a day or two) then I have to shut em down.

I notice you have your comments disabled too fantomaster, whatever happened to honor amongst thieves?

from fantomaster 685 days ago #

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We never had comments open on our blog - a question of time management. If I do allow comments, I'm not going to simply let readers fight it out amongst themselves. But as I don't have the time for monitoring them and addressing questions, etc., we didn't implement them.

As for "honor amongst thieves", you'd better go pose that question to the search engines. After all, it's not we who are stealing their content and making a mint of it.

from Eavesy 685 days ago #

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I didn't mean to call you all thieves, just an expression.

from fantomaster 685 days ago #

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Ah, we've been called worse, no worries. And lived, heh

from JohnWeb 685 days ago #

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Nice history on the linked article. $97 buys a lot of domains on the affiliate article though :)

from dannysullivan 685 days ago #

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Direct link to Mike's article is here:

http://clickz.com/3626780

from fantomaster 685 days ago #

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Thanks for the hijack, Danny...

from AndyBeard 685 days ago #

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Use Spam Karma, install an additional plugin such that first time commenters (and trackbacks/pingbacks) are held for moderation (but remember to switch off the optional captcha recovery)

Optionally if you really want you can also add an additional plugin which uses Akismet but it normally isn't needed.

I can relate to the time issues with having comments open, just handling legitimate discussions takes time, but does build an audience if that is what you are looking to achieve.

There is a difference between allowing comments and encouraging discussion.

If the above solution ever becomes ineffective against the likes of Trackback Spider (though there are plenty of other cheaper options), I will just hire someone to write a plugin for SK2 that forces a first time commenter to also confirm their email address.

All said and done, trackback spam is aimed at weak targets

from fantomaster 685 days ago #

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Andy: Thanks for your comments, most notably this one: "There is a difference between allowing comments and encouraging discussion." Couldn't agree more.

As it is, we're actually NOT trying to build an audience in terms of lively discussion etc. - plenty of excellent places to go for that. We're tending to that part of our business communication elsewhere, not on our blog, which better reflects our specific clientele and the environment they feel more comfortable in when approaching us.

Re trackback spam: Yes, it's entirely aimed at weak targets and just another number game gimmick in the black hat toolbox. As such, it's lifespan is probably quite limited, but then is are most tools'.