Close
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Applications
    • Applications
    • Cybersecurity

    Microsoft Bloggers Face Search Spam Pinch

    By
    Matthew Hicks
    -
    December 21, 2004
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      Microsoft Corp.s growing group of 1,200 Weloggers were among those feeling the pinch from a recent rash of spam messages to blog comments.

      Company officials confirmed this week that some Microsoft Developers Network bloggers had noticed a spike in spam and that the company was encouraging bloggers to turn on comment moderation while it investigates a more widespread solution.

      “MSDN has seen a sudden rise in comment spam over the last two weeks,” said Betsy Aoki, MSDNs community site manager. “The last time Microsoft saw a rise like this, it took steps to implement comment moderation on blogs.msdn.com.”

      In August, Microsoft first noticed a comment spam spike and suggested that bloggers moderate comments, either by requiring approval for someone to post or by approving each individual comment, Aoki said. Microsoft also decided to disable comments on posts that were older than 30 days as a way to reduce the places where spammers could post.

      While Aoki said that the level of comment spam began to slow this week for MSDN, the earlier spike drew concern from MSDN bloggers and fit into a broader pattern of increasing comment spam in recent weeks.

      On Monday, Six Apart Ltd., the maker of the popular blog tool Movable Type, released an update to patch a Movable Type bug that was allowing comment spam to slow servers even when the comments were blocked from appearing on blogs.

      Both Web hosting companies and individual bloggers earlier had begun disabling comments on their Movable Type blogs in response to the spam deluge.

      Officials at Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft didnt offer any details of the future approaches it is working on to combat comment spam, though multiple bloggers alluded to ongoing work.

      /zimages/4/28571.gifClick here to read more about another issue facing blogs—the bandwidth consumed by syndication feeds.

      Josh Ledgard, a Microsoft program manager, wrote last week on his MSDN blog that the volume of comment spam was leading him to moderate comments.

      “I have no intentions of making this permanent, but recently Ive been having to delete 50 to 100 blog comment spam messages each day,” Ledgard wrote. “This far outweighs the cost of un-moderating the few real comments I may get each day. This recent storm has kicked off further efforts here to improve our system and Im hoping I wont have to keep moderation on very long.”

      Another MSDN blogger dissected the type of spam being posted to his blogs comment sections. Blogger Robert Hensing wrote that much of the spam appeared to originate from China and to advertise Chinese Web sites, and he posted samples of the spam messages.

      As with other bloggers, Hensing pointed out that the apparent goal of the spammers was to disseminate links throughout blogs in order to improve search-engine rankings.

      Hensing originally moved toward approving comments before they posted, but then switched last week to blocking comments all together because he was receiving multiple illegitimate comments per hour.

      “I quite simply dont have the time to try and weed out the legitimate comments from the spam on a moderated blog,” he wrote. “Ill probably go back to moderated in a few weeks.”

      /zimages/4/28571.gifCheck out eWEEK.coms for more on IM and other collaboration technologies.

      Matthew Hicks
      As an online reporter for eWEEK.com, Matt Hicks covers the fast-changing developments in Internet technologies. His coverage includes the growing field of Web conferencing software and services. With eight years as a business and technology journalist, Matt has gained insight into the market strategies of IT vendors as well as the needs of enterprise IT managers. He joined Ziff Davis in 1999 as a staff writer for the former Strategies section of eWEEK, where he wrote in-depth features about corporate strategies for e-business and enterprise software. In 2002, he moved to the News department at the magazine as a senior writer specializing in coverage of database software and enterprise networking. Later that year Matt started a yearlong fellowship in Washington, DC, after being awarded an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellowship for Journalist. As a fellow, he spent nine months working on policy issues, including technology policy, in for a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives. He rejoined Ziff Davis in August 2003 as a reporter dedicated to online coverage for eWEEK.com. Along with Web conferencing, he follows search engines, Web browsers, speech technology and the Internet domain-naming system.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Big Data and Analytics

      Alteryx’s Suresh Vittal on the Democratization of...

      James Maguire - May 31, 2022 0
      I spoke with Suresh Vittal, Chief Product Officer at Alteryx, about the industry mega-shift toward making data analytics tools accessible to a company’s complete...
      Read more
      Cybersecurity

      Visa’s Michael Jabbara on Cybersecurity and Digital...

      James Maguire - May 17, 2022 0
      I spoke with Michael Jabbara, VP and Global Head of Fraud Services at Visa, about the cybersecurity technology used to ensure the safe transfer...
      Read more
      Applications

      Cisco’s Thimaya Subaiya on Customer Experience in...

      James Maguire - May 10, 2022 0
      I spoke with Thimaya Subaiya, SVP and GM of Global Customer Experience at Cisco, about the factors that create good customer experience – and...
      Read more
      Cloud

      IGEL CEO Jed Ayres on Edge and...

      James Maguire - June 14, 2022 0
      I spoke with Jed Ayres, CEO of IGEL, about the endpoint sector, and an open source OS for the cloud; we also spoke about...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Yotascale CEO Asim Razzaq on Controlling Multicloud...

      James Maguire - May 5, 2022 0
      Asim Razzaq, CEO of Yotascale, provides guidance on understanding—and containing—the complex cost structure of multicloud computing. Among the topics we covered:  As you survey the...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2022 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×