Need someone to lead product management at your software company? I create software for people that create software and I'm looking for my next opportunity. Check out my resume and get in touch.

Comment Spam makes the news

Freshness Warning
This blog post is over 20 years old. It's possible that the information you read below isn't current and the links no longer work.

13 Nov 2003

The Associated Press has a story on comment spam and other non-email forms of spam. The article includes a quote from my Comment Spam Manifesto and a few other quotes from me, Mena Trott, Howard Rheingold, and others. Alas, no mention of my company name or links to my site. AP also did a photo shoot for the article, but apparently decided to spare its readers the horror of my ugly mug.

Nathan Wright
November 13, 2003 1:06 PM

QUOTE - "Alas, no mention of my company name or links to my site." Glad to see that comment spam is finally getting some time in the spotlight, but whatever happened to journalistic integrity? If they thought what you had to say was important enought to quote, they should have mentioned you. I'm sure there's something in the DMCA to protect you from this sort of blatant piracy ... ;)

Adam Kalsey
November 13, 2003 3:02 PM

They did attribute the quotes to me, they just listed my name but not my company name. And they didn't provide a link to my site. That's okay, but the links would have been nice.

Jay
November 13, 2003 6:43 PM

They never did get in touch with me Adam. Apparently the media doesn't find software sexy... :-)

Trackback from Life As A Geek - kbeast
November 14, 2003 12:18 PM

SPAM -- Even Grandma Knows It's Not Just Food Anymore

Excerpt: Wow, this guy went off the hinges on spammers, and I even think he made the news headlines with it. But what a perfect time to talk about a new application by Cloudmark for Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express called...

will fred
November 14, 2003 8:01 PM

Nice going, I read the article today in the newspaper! I wholeheartedly agree with you on your stance, and i wish I could do more about this problem. Still, great job! The world needs more people like you who are actually committed to working on spam and not just complaining about it.

Kristine
November 17, 2003 1:10 AM

Our local paper printed the story AND put your picture with it! I was like "Hey, look, I know that guy." LOL! :)

Ryan
November 17, 2003 5:35 AM

Surprisingly, the Houston Chronicle did link to your Web site. The Chron is known for lazy reporting, so this is likely the upset of the day. http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/2228331

fred
November 17, 2003 9:29 AM

You also made the front page of the Houston Chronicle: www.chron.com. I salute your work.

Mike Hajek Jr
November 23, 2003 7:53 AM

Anyone with the lease bit of computer sense will find your site as i did. The time is well past for controls on spam. We to have a right to privacy. I should have the option of choise on what i want on my computer. I am now on a no call list which limits there options to annoy me so why not a no spam list to. As i remember i also have ammemend right or did the use of my computer end them?

Liti
January 8, 2005 8:06 AM

When I started a blog I noticed a few odd posts from "online poker" that were merely quotes from famous people (with no credit given to the person they were quoting from). At first I thought it was a joke, but then with a little searching learned what comment spam was and I started the deleting. Now the quotes are gone and the compliments begin ("I love your site!" etc.). Ah, so now they appeal to the ego... The question in my mind was always "Why?!" Your site here is the MOST informative and helpful on the Internet! I just want to say thank you :)

This discussion has been closed.

Recently Written

The Dark Side of Input Metrics (Nov 27): Using input metrics in the wrong way can cause unexpected behaviors, stifled creativity, and micromanagement.
Reframe How You Think About Users of your Internal Platform (Nov 13): Changing from "Customers" to "Partners" will give you a better perspective on internal product development.
Measuring Feature success (Oct 17): You're building features to solve problems. If you don't know what success looks like, how did you decide on that feature at all?
How I use OKRs (Oct 13): A description of how I use OKRs to guide a team, written so I can send to future teams.
Build the whole product (Oct 6): Your code is only part of the product
Input metrics lead to outcomes (Sep 1): An easy to understand example of using input metrics to track progress toward an outcome.
Lagging Outcomes (Aug 22): Long-term things often end up off a team's goals because they can't see how to define measurable outcomes for them. Here's how to solve that.
Tyranny of Outcomes (Aug 19): An extreme focus on outcomes can have an undesired effect on product teams.