Spam spam and spam
Sorry I’m a little quiet. You can thank the spambot, for one thing – it deposits comments (porn ads) on an old N&C, and I have to remove them. The number of comments has been steadily rising; it doubled between yesterday and today. Yesterday I had 8 pages to delete, today it’s 18. It’s a slow process – click ‘check all,’ click ‘delete,’ then wait, then click yes, then wait; repeat. 17 times. It’s slow, because I don’t have broadband. I can do other things at the same time, but it’s jerky and interrupted. Deleting 18 pages takes a very long time.
Anyway, it’s just as well for me to be quieter. I’ve learned that JS has to pay more the more I talk. It had been my understanding that B&W didn’t increase costs, but that was wrong. I have to find some skeptical organization or other that would like to affiliate with B&W and bankroll it in the process. (I tried to insist that I was the one who should pay, but I got nowhere.)
202 spam comments left to delete. 7 pages. More than half finished. That’s only an hour wasted.
I might be able to help you with some free Web hosting – and a more useful blog system, without the comment spam – if that’s of any interest. Let me know if I can help.
It is despicable. Why should B&W webserver having to play host to people whose obvious goal is to cynically exploit the co-operative protocols of the internet to their own selfish, antisocial gain.
Hi Ophelia,
The last time I checked in, there was some talk of B&W regulars contributing towards getting you a laptop. What happened to that initiative?
Because I am ready to chip in with my bit for you to get that laptop or broadband connection or whatever else you need to keep B&w going without so much strain on yourself. Please consider accepting some financial help from those of us who’d be honoured really if a few paltry dollars from us meant that you’d be free to rant unrestrainedly without worrying about the cost to JS!
It would be very easy to have a link from B&W to a blogspot site that would give you free unlimited space. With a little effort, you could design it to look like a B&W extension, not a separate entity. But I bet you’ve thought of that.
DFG: “Absurd, is it now? Did he address his audience from inside a rubbish-bin?”
Scrallettan: “Absurd, it is now. That OB has to rant to B&W readers on a computer that is fit for the rubbish-bin?”
Thanks all. I think an affiliation of some kind would be preferable to putting out the begging bowl.
Jean, no, actually, I hadn’t thought of that…
I would kick in a few quid as well, even though you do clean my clock every so often.
I’d feel privileged to add my sick squid* – see http://www.joejoesoft.com/vcms/115/ as an example of how someone does this using both paypal and amazon options.
A sponsorship deal might be more dignified, but there’s something appealingly old-fashioned and democratic – Athenian, even? – about the idea of OB’s cyber-barrel.
*about US$10 at current exchange rates
Drowing in spam sounds grim. Can you outsource deleting some of it? A round up blog I know farms out checking the links to some of its readers – would it be possible to give your readers some access to help deleting? I’d do some for you and I am on broadband. (Don’t know if it would be technically possible tho’ – perhaps some other readers would have an idea.)
I don’t think creating a donations account would besmirch B&W’s reputation. PBS has been doing it for years, even before its reputation was tarnished by Republican politicians meddling in its affairs. I honestly think many people would give generously, which sounds like it would be a pretty big help to the site.
Thanks guys.
No I guess you’re right – PayPal would be okay. If Ben Goldacre can do it, surely we can. We could just say it’s to cover running costs (because it would be). I’ll ask JS about it – some day, when he has phone service or Internet or both.
Thanks also for the suggestion about help with deleting – the thought had occurred to me. I’ll take people up on it if it becomes necessary! But for now, JS has succeeded in blocking this particular spambot. Big relief.
(That was one thing that was actually easier at C f I, because they [not surprisingly] have broadband.)
Loads of perfectly ordinary moody sock bloggers have PayPal Donate buttons. You can get the html from Paypal (search Help for “donate”). You need (gosh!) a PayPal account, but that doesn’t take much effort.
OB/JS, please take my cash so as you can set yourselves up properly/betterly. I’m still up for the laptop donation to Ophelia as well.
If you don’t want to outsource N&C to a blog farm as Jean.K suggests, there is forum software that can stop spambots posting, but typically it requires registration from users (something like what Ben’s bad-science does).
Okay. I really will talk to JS about it – but he has no phone or internet right now, so communication is not possible. (Of course he could be just saying he has no phone or internet in order to avoid talking to me, but either way, the effect is the same.)
There is no harm in making a bit of cash for your writing as well as just expenses!its not a sin.