Andy Beard - Internet Business Systems Discussion - Latest Comments in Wide Circles = Blog Comment Spam

Re: Wide Circles = Blog Comment Spam

AndyBeard — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 04:53:29 -0000

I have no idea why anyone would want to have something to do with Widecircles

If you have done some work for them, I am sorry but I am not going to help you - you should have researched them before undertaking any of their "jobs"

Re: Wide Circles = Blog Comment Spam

nihtin — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 01:38:25 -0000

can you help me out how to make post on widecircles, from last 6 months im trying to post on this website but im unable to post its waiting approval or moderation how to avoid this any suggestion

Regards
Nithin,

Re: Wide Circles = Blog Comment Spam

Janeth — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 13:17:57 -0000

These guys have been spamming my forum for the last couple months. I contacted them today and got this email back.

Please understand that we do not spam anyone. We have over 25,000+ people we
work with. We do not know which sites they visit and where they post. They
were supposed to be following rules and not abusing our system. If you tell
me the ip address and URL, then I can try to ban them from the program.

On their site is says

1. Advertiser Creates Message Content Describing Their Product/Service
2. Message Content Gets Approved By Our QA Department
3. Multiple Publishers Log-In And Review Created Message Content
4. Publishers Recieve Highly Ranked, Visited and Relevant Forum, Blog, Wiki and Other Types Of Websites
5. Publishers Check The Rules Of Each Website And Deliver The Message Content Using Our Indirect Social Signature Posting Approach ( or Regular Posting Approach For Wiki/Classified Types Of Websites )
6. Content That Is Delivered Includes The Link To Product/Service As Specified By The Advertiser

Maybe I am missing something but it looks like they lie as well as they spam.

Re: Wide Circles = Blog Comment Spam

Janeth — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 13:17:57 -0000

These guys have been spamming my forum for the last couple months. I contacted them today and got this email back.

Please understand that we do not spam anyone. We have over 25,000+ people we
work with. We do not know which sites they visit and where they post. They
were supposed to be following rules and not abusing our system. If you tell
me the ip address and URL, then I can try to ban them from the program.

On their site is says

1. Advertiser Creates Message Content Describing Their Product/Service
2. Message Content Gets Approved By Our QA Department
3. Multiple Publishers Log-In And Review Created Message Content
4. Publishers Recieve Highly Ranked, Visited and Relevant Forum, Blog, Wiki and Other Types Of Websites
5. Publishers Check The Rules Of Each Website And Deliver The Message Content Using Our Indirect Social Signature Posting Approach ( or Regular Posting Approach For Wiki/Classified Types Of Websites )
6. Content That Is Delivered Includes The Link To Product/Service As Specified By The Advertiser

Maybe I am missing something but it looks like they lie as well as they spam.

Re: Wide Circles = Blog Comment Spam

facebook — Fri, 23 May 2008 22:10:14 -0000

The spammers that have posted to my blog leave a link to a blog with comments turned off.

Re: Wide Circles = Blog Comment Spam

facebook — Fri, 23 May 2008 22:10:14 -0000

The spammers that have posted to my blog leave a link to a blog with comments turned off.

Re: Wide Circles = Blog Comment Spam

igorthetroll — Wed, 21 May 2008 06:43:58 -0000

Yeah just send me an email and I will set it up for you.

If there is some domain that is not on PHSDL but it is a bad one, I will add it to the list.

So you can update me from time to time with new Spam domains, and we will populate the list with more bad ones.

Re: Wide Circles = Blog Comment Spam

igorthetroll — Wed, 21 May 2008 06:43:58 -0000

Yeah just send me an email and I will set it up for you.

If there is some domain that is not on PHSDL but it is a bad one, I will add it to the list.

So you can update me from time to time with new Spam domains, and we will populate the list with more bad ones.

Re: Wide Circles = Blog Comment Spam

JYDC Admin — Wed, 21 May 2008 02:14:04 -0000

Thanks Igor, I would love to give it a try. So, should I email my request to admin [at] phsdl [dot] net or you can mail it to me. ;) admin [at] JunkieYard [dot] Com
And another Q. Can it also block the auto link submitter for phpLD? I hate those porn bots. :-/ Thanks again.

Re: Wide Circles = Blog Comment Spam

JYDC Admin — Wed, 21 May 2008 02:14:04 -0000

Re: Wide Circles = Blog Comment Spam

igorthetroll — Mon, 19 May 2008 20:35:11 -0000

Well let me know if you want to give it a try. You can actually use both PHSDL and Karma at the same time.

It is not difficult to install. You just need to add a bit of code to your wp-comments-post.php file.

I do advise you to back up all your WP files and a database before you attempt to modify the code. It is always good to be safe.

Let me know if you want to try it out.

Re: Wide Circles = Blog Comment Spam

igorthetroll — Mon, 19 May 2008 20:35:11 -0000

Well let me know if you want to give it a try. You can actually use both PHSDL and Karma at the same time.

It is not difficult to install. You just need to add a bit of code to your wp-comments-post.php file.

I do advise you to back up all your WP files and a database before you attempt to modify the code. It is always good to be safe.

Let me know if you want to try it out.

Re: Wide Circles = Blog Comment Spam

JYDC Admin — Mon, 19 May 2008 17:08:40 -0000

I have a do follow WordPress blog and I'm using Dave Spam Karma 2 to filter out spam but sometimes the spam bots manage to slip through somehow. Maybe I'll try that anti-Spam PHSDL filter of yours for a change. btw, I'm not a tech savvy. :D

Re: Wide Circles = Blog Comment Spam

JYDC Admin — Mon, 19 May 2008 17:08:40 -0000

Re: Wide Circles = Blog Comment Spam

lohan — Sun, 18 May 2008 20:42:14 -0000

To Igor, "content is king" is not accurate, read this article to find out why http://www.v7n.com/pagerank...

PageRank does matter. In fact, anchor text and inbound links is 95% of effective search engine optimization. Anyone who tells you otherwise does not practice real search engine optimization. Real search engine optimization focuses on link acquisition. Content is second to links.

To Andy, you can always find out the source by simply contacting advertiser, maybe sometimes they won't tell you who the uplink is but in most cases they are. FTC is not concerned with this stuff, there are so many pay per post blogs out there, you even backed one yourself before, payperpost.com.

They only introduced disclaimers recently, but there is so many which do not have disclaimers, I could name a ton, but I won't, you can look them up, pay per post model has been around for a while now and people haven't been using disclaimers of any kind. They know google and other search engines watch disclaimers.

In my opinion there is nothing wrong with posting quality comments on some blogs, and Ill give dofollow for this as long as the content is related to the discussion. As for the service, I haven't used it myself, but I heard lot of buzz from people who used it to build good SERP's in combination with solid content writing.

Just my 2 cents.

Cheers.

Re: Wide Circles = Blog Comment Spam

lohan — Sun, 18 May 2008 20:42:14 -0000

To Igor, "content is king" is not accurate, read this article to find out why http://www.v7n.com/pagerank...

Just my 2 cents.

Cheers.

Re: Wide Circles = Blog Comment Spam

JOHN — Sun, 18 May 2008 13:31:33 -0000

The spammers that have posted to my blog leave a link to a blog with comments turned off.

Re: Wide Circles = Blog Comment Spam

JOHN — Sun, 18 May 2008 13:31:33 -0000

The spammers that have posted to my blog leave a link to a blog with comments turned off.

Re: Wide Circles = Blog Comment Spam

David Leonhardt — Sun, 18 May 2008 13:16:01 -0000

I could not agree more. I also have removed the NoFollow from both my blogs (and written extensively about it!), because I believe it is a fair trade. People leave comments and create a sense of community - and over time perhaps even create a community - and I know that leaving them a little link juice is not just a fair trade, but also a good incentive to return.

We both have good blog, IMHO, and so do dozens, maybe even hundreds of other on the topic. We can't spend time reading every blog and forum around, but all other things being equal, I head to the places where my time and effort spent leaves a little extra bonus for me, not just the blogger. Of course, all things are not equal, and the forum I spend the most time at is a NoFollow forum.

I have no problem with software that seeks out DoFollow blogs for people, but once on my blog, I do expect some intelligent commentary (not the "bulk" messages some software out there are peddling - spam, indeed!). And as my blog grows in popularity, I will raise the bar on what qualifies as intelligent.

Re: Wide Circles = Blog Comment Spam

David Leonhardt — Sun, 18 May 2008 13:16:01 -0000

Re: Wide Circles = Blog Comment Spam

igorthetroll — Sun, 18 May 2008 05:10:59 -0000

Andy, I have no problem with a Marketer dropping a link on my forum or blog as long as it is relevant or viral.

I do have a problem if the content of the message is Mass Broadcasted, then it becomes Spam!

When a user signs up to a forum, they need to have responsibility to contribute in a positive way and not Duplicate the content all over the Internet.

That is why I built www.phsdl.net Filter to stop mass broadcasting by software like XRumer.

While I welcome human participation, I will catch the bots and will add the domains on PBSL.

Users beware!

As a market you hold professional responsibility for your clients' domains and brand. Eventhough you cloak the domain with redirects, people who run PBSL are not stupid. We check to which domain the redirect goes to! We see it too many times we put the client domain on the Spam list as well.

Having your domain on a publicly broadcasted Spam list is very bad publicity for your Brand!

Once someone associates your business and product with Spam the information gets snowballed on the Internet via social media networks.

You get a bad name for your company! Public perception of your product is very important. So if you think positive marketing brings you new clients and sales, negative marketing hurts you because you lose customers.

Do not Spam!

Re: Wide Circles = Blog Comment Spam

igorthetroll — Sun, 18 May 2008 05:10:59 -0000

Andy, I have no problem with a Marketer dropping a link on my forum or blog as long as it is relevant or viral.

I do have a problem if the content of the message is Mass Broadcasted, then it becomes Spam!

When a user signs up to a forum, they need to have responsibility to contribute in a positive way and not Duplicate the content all over the Internet.

That is why I built www.phsdl.net Filter to stop mass broadcasting by software like XRumer.

While I welcome human participation, I will catch the bots and will add the domains on PBSL.

Users beware!

Having your domain on a publicly broadcasted Spam list is very bad publicity for your Brand!

Once someone associates your business and product with Spam the information gets snowballed on the Internet via social media networks.

Do not Spam!

Re: Wide Circles = Blog Comment Spam

AndyBeard — Sat, 17 May 2008 22:01:09 -0000

Joex interesting you are posting using some kind of proxy, first time from a Swedish IP, second time from Shaw Cable in Canada.

Spam = UCE = Unsolicited Commercial Email

Bulk really doesn't apply, unless you are looking at the rules of specific ISPs and State laws where quantity of emails might be a factor.

If something ends up being sent by email, and it is commercial, the law requires things like mailing addresses in the emails.

I doubt you will ever find a comment policy on a blog which states:-

"I encourage paid comments from people being paid to pimp 3rd party client sites without disclosure"

If the links you are dropping are advertising, then where is the disclosure? I am sure the FTC are going to love that.

It is great to claim that people can opt out of being spammed, but impossible to do so unless they know the source of the spam.

Re: Wide Circles = Blog Comment Spam

AndyBeard — Sat, 17 May 2008 22:01:09 -0000

Joex interesting you are posting using some kind of proxy, first time from a Swedish IP, second time from Shaw Cable in Canada.

Spam = UCE = Unsolicited Commercial Email

Bulk really doesn't apply, unless you are looking at the rules of specific ISPs and State laws where quantity of emails might be a factor.

If something ends up being sent by email, and it is commercial, the law requires things like mailing addresses in the emails.

I doubt you will ever find a comment policy on a blog which states:-

"I encourage paid comments from people being paid to pimp 3rd party client sites without disclosure"

If the links you are dropping are advertising, then where is the disclosure? I am sure the FTC are going to love that.

It is great to claim that people can opt out of being spammed, but impossible to do so unless they know the source of the spam.

Re: Wide Circles = Blog Comment Spam

joex — Sat, 17 May 2008 16:32:03 -0000

Dear David,

SPAM email lists are completely different subject as email spam is automated bulk sending of the same message over and over. This is not done by human, but by a computer without any prior thought. Also email spam is illegal everywhere these days and really outdated, so I don't know why you are even making the comparison.

While working with this company some of the feedback my team got while posting on sites from site owners is that we have contributed excellent feedback and content to their sites. They are getting quality content for free. It all depends who is posting, ofcourse sometimes quality suffers but that depends from person to person who is providing the posting. Also they offer the option to your site to be excluded, so if you do not want commentators giving you free content, then you have choice. In any case it is good service, nothing shady and they pay on time. I make money and we like doing it. Like I said before their main goal is driving referral traffic to your site, which is also much much cheaper then google adwords for example if you compare the two, this is why people use it. The second part is seo but main focus is referral traffic. Also it is opinions of people and free content they post, if someone doesnt like this content, they can just tell them to opt out. The posters are also supposed to research the site where they post, so they know the rules of the site before they post.