September 18, 2009
Category: Writing and blogging
I posted what was to be the last post on this blog yesterday. This morning, in clearing out archives (of stuff that originally appeared on the original site), I accidentally cleared out the most recent 25 posts instead of post 796-821. (Don't ask.)
I'll restore the other 23, maybe, at least to one of the two sites. Meanwhile, for anyone who didn't get the message:
This version of Walt at Random is ending.
The original Walt at Random will continue (with, eventually, posts from this one added.)
Here's most of what I said yesterday about reasons for this change:
As noted on what was, for a while, "the last Walt at Random post" at http://walt.lishost.org, I was invited by ScienceBlogs to join their newish Information Science channel, already populated by John Dupuis and Christina Pikas.
The invitation itself was an honor, particularly given the regard in which I hold John and Christina.
Even then, I was a little doubtful of my credentials as an information scientist. Quoting further from that post, under the heading "Information scientist? Moi?":
I've never claimed that title and don't intend to start now.
Still...
I believe I've done better (more comprehensive, more careful) research on liblogs and library blogs than I've seen elsewhere, even if I've deliberately stuck to meatball statistics rather than sophisticated analysis.
I've certainly written (and will continue to write) about open access and other topics that concern scientists.
My brother's a chemist. Does that count?
So I moved here--and moved the archives as well. (I may delete those here, since they're all available on the old/new site.)
I was delighted when Dorothea Salo started a new blog on ScienceBlogs, after closing her old one. The Book of Trogool is an important new blog, one that I believe will have a real impact on data curation.
And, of course, both Confessions of a Science Librarian and Christina's LIS Rant continue to be fine blogs that enrich the liblog community and ScienceBlogs.
So why did I leave? It's complicated. Some of the factors (from a message I sent to ScienceBlogs' Erin Johnson):
- To the extent that I was reaching a new audience, it's outside of the library field--and, while it's welcome, I felt the need to explain things that I wouldn't explain to the few hundred people I know get my posts.
- I find an internal pressure (a) to write more posts, (b) to make them a little more formal. Neither of these makes much sense within my overall scheme of things....
- The split between old and new--in essence, between reviews of old flicks (and duplicated posts on new material in the Library Leadership Network)--seems artificial to me, at odds with the random theme of Walt at Random.
- I'm really not an information scientist; in fact, I've historically made fun of the term.
- I believe Dorothea Salo (whose star continues to rise), Christina Pikas and John Dupuis all make sense as ScienceBlog bloggers. I don't believe I do; I think I'm decidedly the odd blogger out in that community. (Note: these are all at least virtual friends--I don't know that I've met Christina in the flesh, but I have both of the others--and I think the world of all of them.)
- Given everything else, I'd just as soon have complete control of my own space. (And, given everything else, my dislike of the MovableType editing platform as compared to WordPress becomes significant.)
One factor not mentioned there, but one I think may be more significant than all of these:
Walt at Random has always been a secondary outlet. Cites & Insights, my ejournal, has always been more important to me and, I think, to the community. I found it difficult to explain Cites & Insights within this space...
Based on the metrics, ScienceBlogs wasn't gaining much from my presence, and they've been very gracious about letting me go.
The randomness continues
I'm not wild about managing multiple blogs in any case, and between work and other things, I was handling four. Maybe with only three (and only one open to all that randomness), I'll do a better job. Maybe not.
In any case, you'll now find me there--not only the LLN and C&I announcements and reviews of old flicks, but all my posts.
Explicit disclaimer
I haven't been blogging all that much at either address. I'll continue resist the urge to blog for the sake of blogging.
Note that I am not promising to take up the slack. I'm in the midst of doing another liblog research project, and I've seen a few too many cases where a blogger, after an absence, says "I'll be writing a lot more..." and then is never heard from again.
I'll say this: I'll post when I have something to say that appears to suit the particular venue.
Posted by Walt Crawford at 10:47 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 17, 2009
Category: Movies and TV
Some of you may remember back in May 2008 when I discussed the unexpectedly good customer service provided by Mill Creek Entertainment, the company busily mining public domain (and otherwise minimal-license) flicks and TV flicks to create really inexpensive bundles of movies on DVD.
(That's not all the company does, to be sure, but I know them most for the "50 Movie Packs"--50 movies on 12 DVDs--of which there are now 23 examples. The company's motto is "changing the face of value entertainment!" and they're also doing other things, including TV series and documentary compilations.)
The gist of the earlier post: When I reached Disc 8 of the Hollywood Legends 50-pack, with The Town Went Wild and Man with the Golden Arm on Side A, I found that Side A was actually Disc 11 Side A. Since I paid $15 or so for the set and had had it for a year or more, I just sent Mill Creek email to let them know, in case there had been a general production problem. I didn't have a receipt, I didn't remember where I'd purchased the set, I didn't feel the need for compensation.
They responded the next day and mailed me not only the replacement disc but a couple of other (smaller) DVD collections for my trouble, along with an apology. That, I thought, was great customer service: Above and beyond the call, particularly for something so inexpensive not purchased directly from them.
(A few of you may also remember the contrasting post when one of the six discs in Angel, Season 4 proved to be utterly defective. The only way I could get a replacement disc is by sending the entire box set back to Fox, via insured mail, with a recent receipt, and waiting six to eight weeks. Oh, and the receipt needed to be dated within "a reasonable time frame," that time frame not stated. But hey, it's Fox.)
Getting past the preamble
So I continue to buy Mill Creek packs when they look interesting and Amazon has them at the right price--or at least I did when I was still using old movies to stay on the treadmill. (Each time I've seen all the movies on one disc, I review them--but I'm putting those posts on Walt, Even Randomer, since they're too silly for ScienceBlogs.) I'm still watching the old movies, even without the treadmill...
And I was intrigued by Mill Creek's ultimate repackaging attempts, the four 250-movie collections they produced for a while (and seem to have stopped, at least based on their website): 60 DVDs, 250 movies, selling at the time for around $50 at Amazon. Yes, of course those collections are repackaged compilations of multiple 50-movie packs (where they don't overlap, as sometimes happens), just as the dozen 100-movie packs are simply combinations of 50-movie packs. I purchased the Mystery Collection (the link here is to Amazon, which still has this collection but at a higher price lower price, although it was a higher price a couple of weeks ago). That was also a while back--probably at least six months.
Last week, I neared the point where I'd start alternating discs from this megapack with discs from less massive collections. So I skimmed through the 60 sleeves, partly to see how many flicks are in color (most aren't, as I'd expect) and how many I've already seen (not many). And got to Disc 57. Which was actually Disc 59, both sleeve and disc. And there was also a Disc 59.
Well, hey, no big deal--but, given the quality of the previous response, I did send a quick email to Mill Creek, basically saying "don't need to send me any extras, but if you have another Disc 57 handy, I'd be grateful."
Next day, a reply, saying a replacement is on its way. How can you argue with service like this--where they trust me even though I've never had business dealings directly with the publisher? Sure, the discs can't cost them much, but handling--preparing the shipping label and paying MediaMail--is far from free and probably eliminates any profit they make from a typical 50-pack.
That was just before ALA. When I returned, there was a bigger box than I'd expected. That box included two 20-movie packs (4 or 5 discs), both of which I'll enjoy (one of 'em is 20 spaghetti westerns, only two of which I've seen: how can I go wrong?); a 50-movie pack I didn't already own (although, as it happens, it includes 19 of the 20 Hitchcock movies they sent me as a freebie last year)--and "Action Classics Disk 9" (in a previous incarnation, they had a problem with Disk vs. Disc, since corrected).
I sent a "thank you" email and noted that what I was missing was Mystery Collection Disc 57, not Action Classics Disk 9. And, the same day, got back a note: They're the same thing. (As noted above, I believe MCE isn't producing the 250-movie collections any more, so probably didn't have extra copies of the other sleeve.)
Conclusion
Mill Creek Entertainment didn't ask me to blog about it. I doubt that they're really aware of this blog. They just seem to respond to minor problems by going above & beyond...and assuming good faith on the part of the consumer.
Oh, I imagine that if I sent them six emails in a month saying I was missing six different discs, or that I had defectives from several different collections, they might raise questions--or at least I hope they would. (I'd like to see them stay in business; I believe these collections are, on the whole, Good Things, mining the public domain and also offering in-copyright material that original producers wouldn't deem worthwhile for DVD, always at extremely reasonable prices.)
So, on that up note, I won't go into the details of a last-night-in-Chicago incident that could be summarized as "don't pay cash in a lobby bar." Mill Creek had nothing to do with that little contretemps, which still hasn't been resolved...
Posted by Walt Crawford at 4:58 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: ALA • Library Leadership Network
More of you attended this year's ALA Annual Conference than ever before.
If the programs I attended (and I attended more programs than usual) and the crowds I saw in exhibits are any indication, you were active at the conference, not just there for the sunshine. (Yes, "active" includes schmoozing; seeing e-acquaintances from all around the country face-to-face is certainly one big reason I've been attending ALA for the last 34 years...)
So here's a challenge for y'all:
What lessons related to leadership (or other topics covered on the Library Leadership Network) did you learn in Chicago?
There's a brief Letter from the editor posing that challenge and a skeleton article waiting for your contributions.
- If you're already a registered LLN member, log in and add your lesson or lessons.
- If you're not a registered LLN member, this is a good time to find out what you're missing--a wealth of material, free for you to use and comment on. (The registration process requires two email confirmations and an approval step--just to deter spammers--but you only need registration to add or edit material, not to read it.)
- If you'd rather not add text directly, feel free to mail it to me (waltcrawford at gmail dot com), or even add it as a comment on this post--I'll mark it up and add it.
- It's not just about leadership as such. LLN also covers aspects of management, innovation, technology, policy, marketing, services and people that leaders need to know about. If you don't see something discussed in LLN that you believe leaders should know about, great: You may inspire a new article or cluster.
- If (when?) the challenge shows good responses, I'll distribute some of them to other articles as appropriate, leaving links in the "Leadership lessons from ALA 2009" spot.
Posted by Walt Crawford at 10:35 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 15, 2009
Category: ALA • Writing and blogging
I don't usually go nine days between posts, but...
You can blame ALA Annual 2009 in Chicago for most of that. I (still) travel without technology, so no blogging from ALA--and also no keeping up with blogs, FriendFeed, etc. (but email once or twice in the hidden Internet room in the exhibits).
There's also getting ready for Chicago... and catching up from Chicago, which is likely to take another day or two. Particularly since it's mixed in with continued "trying to fix wifi/internet" (which may finally be fixed, by replacing both modem and router)--and dealing with people doing quotes for various household projects; you can't be showing someone around/talking to them while you're trying to catch up online. At least I can't.
Status: DSL maybe better. Household project quotes (roof, solar, heating/air conditioning, a couple little things), about half done. Work: Need to write up ALA notes and get on with other stuff. Post-ALA: Haven't even started to look at blogs, have realized it's futile to go back too far on FriendFeed, haven't started on notes.
One remarkable note: Even though ALA membership is down (2.6%), the annual conference was a new record high--and, indeed, the exhibits seemed more crowded at off-hours than I'm used to, and most programs I attended were well-attended. What this means about the future of P2P conferences, the "death of megaconferences," etc.? I leave to the observer...
Posted by Walt Crawford at 7:55 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 6, 2009
Category: Copyright • Movies and TV
A couple of days ago, on Walt, Even Randomer, I posted a set of desultory reviews of the fourth and final DVD of Alfred Hitchcock: The Legend Begins.
Sidebar: One eccentric feature of this blog used to be the "treadmill movie reviews," brief reviews of movies from Mill Creek Entertainment's multidisc packs viewed while I was exercising. I've reviewed a little more than 300 movies over several years. In moving to this more august site, I left the reviews behind and am not posting new ones here; that's one of few things still being posted on Walt, Even Randomer. The treadmill's gone as well--RFI problems and other reasons--but the movies remain.
You can go to that blog for the reviews, such as they are--and you'll find a compilation of all four discs in a future Cites & Insights. The reviews aren't the theme of this post.
Legitimate?
That's the hook here: Was I watching a legitimate packaged set of old movies or is this set "dodgy"?
A couple of key points up front:
- I am not a lawyer. I'm interested in copyright and have written about it, but always from a semi-informed layperson's point of view. Let me say that again: I am not a lawyer. This is not legal advice.
- Mill Creek Entertainment, successor to TreeLine Films, has been around for a while. The company--a division of Digital1Stop--has a street address. It is possible to contact them. The Hitchcock set's been for sale for at least two years, through such obscure distributors as Amazon.
Anyway...
When I posted my off-the-cuff reviews for Disc 1, one of my online correspondents from the UK objected strongly--that these movies were not in the public domain and that Mill Creek wasn't a known licensee. The post came from someone I respect, but I had to edit the comment, as it made legal claims I wasn't going to get in the middle of.
On the other hand, the post did alert me to something I'd never heard of before: Copyright restoration. Apparently, thanks to the wonders of international treaties, some UK material that was definitely in the public domain within the U.S. (and maybe even in the UK) had copyright restored retroactively--with a clause allowing distributors, who had released the PD material in good faith, to sell out existing stocks for a year after being notified by copyright-holders that the works were now once again protected.
So, well, other than saying "that's appalling if true"--as it seems to violate not only the spirit of U.S. law but also the Constitutional basis for copyright--I could only fall back on the second point above: The material's being sold openly by a legitimate company with a known U.S. address; if there's a problem, it's up to the copyright-holders to address it.
But wait! There's more!
More recently, I heard about Golan v. Holder, a case in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, decided on April 3, 2009.
Briefly, the 10th District Court found that the copyright restoration (Section 514 of the Uruguay Round Agreements) was unconstitutional.
Which would appear to put these movies (back?) in the public domain. At least for now. At least in the 10th district.
Subject to appeal, of course. And to possible new Congressional acts--but it's getting a little tougher for Congress to keep imposing longer and tougher copyright in the assumption that nobody's looking.
Why the licensees might step back
I don't believe it should be legitimate to restore copyright in materials that legally, properly fell into the public domain. I believe copyright is too long in the U.S. anyway--and this particular restoration means that materials created by non-U.S. citizens actually have an advantage over U.S. creations, within the U.S. (The act didn't restore any native-U.S. materials to copyright.) That also seems odd.
But there's another issue to consider--namely, that for movies, at least, proper license holders with actual access to original materials shouldn't worry too much about public domain versions. Why?
Because the license holders can offer something the PD vendors can't: Fully-restored DVDs created from the masters, rather than from whatever prints happen to be available. The movie may be in the public domain, but the masters continue to be the physical property of whoever owns them.
Having watched the Mill Creek set of 18 movies, 2 TV episodes, and 19 trailers (the 19 trailers being one of the most charming aspects), I would think that any true Hitchcock enthusiast would spend the $156 extra to get the "proper" versions of ten of the 18 movies from Criterion, Lions Gate or MGM after spending the $8 for this set. You'd presumably get better print quality, extras and expert commentary. (Not that these prints are all terrible--most of them are actually pretty good.)
Would I pay the extra money? No, because I've realized I'm never going to be a great fan of early Hitchcock. But I wouldn't have paid that money anyway--and at least I've been exposed to some interesting flicks I'd have never heard of otherwise.
Posted by Walt Crawford at 7:21 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Library Leadership Network
Say what?
I don't believe the three words are directly related--but they all play into changes in articles in the Library Leadership Network over the past week.
It's been one of those weeks where everything's a change in existing pages articles than brand-new articles. Sometimes that's a tough decision, sometimes not. Last week, it was a split decision: One major commentary from a blog, and a smaller related commentary from a different blog, started out as a new article--until I realized, the same day, that they worked better as part of an existing article.
Anyway...
Hemispheres
Much of what winds up in the Library Leadership Network emerges through a two-step process. Leslie Dillon reads widely in the management literature and some other non-library literature, e.g. Harvard Business Review, MIT Technology Review and others. As a contributing editor to LLN, she excerpts articles that she finds relevant to LLN issues, posting the excerpts and her commentary to "Leader's Digest" as blog posts. (The Leader's Digest page shows the first part of the ten most recent posts--unfortunately, changes in RSS handling in MediaWiki software mean that the whole posts no longer appear.)
At the end of each month, I do wiki markup on the blog posts, categorize them as one of the major topics, sometimes add a little editorial comment, and combine them into a monthly article. Then, as time permits, I find homes for most of the items in other articles and change the items in the monthly summary into links.
Two of the items for June 2009 deal with brain hemispheres, although certainly not in any scientific sense. In one case, there's a claim that "facing tomorrow's challenges calls for right-brain thinking," added to Leadership issues. In the other, now part of Creativity and innovation, we're told that the fashion industry has a "both-brain model" for innovation that's important to other industries. (An advance apology to neuroscientists who may read this: I'm just noting what appears in other articles--not making any comment about the reasonableness of the "x-brain" usage.)
Triumphalism
Two items seem to reflect a sort of technological triumphalism that I find all too common: X (whatever X might be) is not only terribly important, it's vital for everyone in every field and has sweeping implications--mostly sweeping away the old.
This month's examples? In Innovation notes, a new section on "Crowdsourcing: what it means for innovation" assures us that corporate attempts at crowdsourcing aren't just ways to get free labor--they're important new ways of doing things that can solve increasingly complex problems through mass collaboration. And, as with most sure-fire ideas, the advice for planning is "just do it" and let curation handle itself.
The other one is a new section in Innovation lessons, "Twitter's ten rules for radical innovators," where we learn that this "revolutionary" thing is a "living expression of the new principles of organization and management." It vaporizes monopoly and shows how messiness is better than cleanliness--oh, and business models will create themselves. The list even seems to suggest that the financial crash wouldn't have happened if banks were run by tweets.
xCamps
LLN's growing section on conferences, presentations and alternative approaches to both has tended to lump unconferences and xCamps (barcamps, librarycamps, etc.) together--and most notes on how they work in practice have related to unconferences--one or two day events that don't include sleepovers or full retreats.
Unconferences in practice: Notes and resources now features a thoughtful, interesting report on something that's distinctly an xCamp, the Creativity and Collaboration retreat in Monterey, CA. Nina Simon's report includes some of the things that probably wouldn't happen in an unconference.
Direct member participation
When the precursor to LLN began (before my time), one assumption may have been that library leaders themselves would provide most of the editorial matter--that's one reason it's a wiki. Part of my job was to check on new editorial matter and manage it coherently--editing as needed, adding subheadings, combining or separating items for better flow, avoiding spam.
That hasn't happened so much. Library leaders and managers are busy people, so LLN comes closer to the "990:9:1" version of the Nielsen ratio for network participation than the usual "90:9:1" ratios. (One good statement of the Nielsen ratio, from Jakob Nielsen himself, comes in an October 9, 2006 post at Alertbox.)
In fact, a few LLN members have contributed text directly--mostly via entries on talk pages--but most member contributions are indirect, via blog posts that I harvest for worthwhile material. For a while, I was pushing for more direct activity, including more discussion on talk pages--but it seems that such activity only grows at its own pace.
Still, if you have thoughts to add to something you find on LLN, you're invited to add your thoughts--directly on talk pages or by writing a new article. (If you detest MediaWiki markup or want an editorial eye, you can also just send me your material marked as intended for LLN, with a note on where you think it belongs--mailing either to waltcrawford at gmail dot com or to walt.crawford at lyrasis dot org.)
Posted by Walt Crawford at 12:59 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 5, 2009
Category: Books and publishing • Cites & Insights • Movies and TV
Cites & Insights 9:9 (August 2009) is now available--just in time for the 2009 ALA Annual Conference. That's not a coincidence, to be sure; although the issue may not be directly relevant to the conference, if I didn't publish it now, it wouldn't be out until at least July 19.
This one's 32 pages, PDF as usual, but those who detest PDF or otherwise really need HTML can download the three articles separately.
The issue includes:
The theme for this installment: Rethinking books and rethinking reading. Which means most of the long essay is about ebooks and ebook devices. (How long? A little more than half the issue, that's how long.)
What's funny is generally in the eye of the beholder, although I suppose there may be objective criteria for labeling a flick a comedy. Watching the many early shorts and early movies in this first half of a 12-DVD collection was sometimes hilarious, frequently a little painful. (If I never see another East Side Kids "comedy" that will be just fine with me.) There's some gold here--and some dross as well.
A large handful of items spread out over almost two years--very much a once over lightly. (Yes, Library 2.0 and "Library 2.0" continues to be downloaded almost as often as any current issue. $0.25 for each copy downloaded would nicely cover sponsorship for the next 18 months...)
Posted by Walt Crawford at 5:45 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 4, 2009
Category: Stuff
I was reading the July 2009 Consumer Reports (as usual, I'm about a month behind on magazines) and reached a set of ratings for chain restaurants. Read the commentary and the neat little sidebar where trained tasters compared oversized New York strip steaks at Morton's with slightly less oversized New York strip steaks at Outback, Applebee's and Friday's. (Conclusion: The steak's best at Morton's--duh--but Outback's probably the best value.)
But then got to the actual ratings--and noted a lot of chains with black dots (the worst rating) for taste, some also for service, mood and choice.
And thought, "wait a minute: Why do people go to restaurants if they think the food stinks?" These aren't fast-food chains; these are all sit-down, table-service restaurants. Starting the guide notes, I see that the chain with the most visits reported is one with the worst rating for taste. What? Are people all masochists? As it happens, it's a chain I've eaten at sometimes, at conferences or other situations where I'm not sure of the local choices--and while I'd never call the food first-rate, it's solidly in the "not great, not terrible" category. (And, to be sure, I'm likely to eat at airport outposts of two of the other chains, one with worst taste rating, one with next-worst, because they're there. And the food's usually adequate.)
The key is midway through the second paragraph of the guide, which isn't tiny print but is still more than you might read:
Scores for taste, value, service, mood and choice are based on the percentage of readers who judged the chain excellent for each. Those scores are relative, reflecting how each chain differed from the overall average.
The second sentence certainly clarifies the presence of so many black dots, particularly in the Family category (as compared to red dots, the highest rating, in Traditional American, Seafood, and Italian categories): Grading on the curve.
The first sentence makes me wonder, though. If I responded to the survey (which I may have), assuming there are the usual five Likert-scale choices, it's unlikely any "Family" or "Pub style"--or, indeed, any--chain restaurant would get an "Excellent" for taste. (Haven't been to Morton's; it's out of my price range.) I find it odd that, apparently, it makes no difference whether you think meals are very good or poor--if they're not excellent, it doesn't count. I guess I would have assumed the use of weighted ratings--e.g., 5 for Excellent, 4 for Very Good, and so on, with the total divided by the number of responses.
No great meaning here. Although, frankly, as a sometimes respondent to CR surveys, I'm a little peeved at the idea that there's no point in distinguishing between levels of quality other than excellence.
(Typo corrected in quote from CR. My typo, not their copy-editing, which is consistently excellent.)
Posted by Walt Crawford at 1:06 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
June 30, 2009
Category: Writing and blogging
It's time for a serious post. E.g., a careful analysis of patterns of spam attempts on a widely-read but essentially dormant blog.
The blog in question is now entitled "Walt, Even Randomer" and combines four years' of Walt at Random archives with the occasional new post that isn't right for the new home of Walt at Random--e.g., reviews of old movies, ALA schedules, pure copies of posts from other blogs (except for the announcements of new Cites & Insights issues, which do appear on both blogs).
The semi-dormant blog was averaging 3,000 page views per day when the active portion moved and has a Google Page Rank of 5 (sometimes 6, if the wind's blowing in the right direction), so it's a target for spammers, particularly link spammers. It also has Spam Karma 2, so very few spamments get through. (Notes also automatically disable six months after a post appears, since many link spam attempts are on very old posts--and I disabled linkbacks long ago, since the spam-to-signal ratio was just too high.)
The settings for Spam Karma 2 are severe enough that, once in a while, a legitimate comment gets moderated, so I try to check the spams before deleting them or letting them get deleted. (So far, that doesn't seem to be either an issue or a possibility at ScienceBlogs--and one spam comment, a very clever one, did make it through to one post already.)
Anecdata
That's what this is, to be sure--at best, anecdotal data or anecdata*. It has all the scientific rigor of talk radio.
That said, and (as regards the lead sentence) noting that I don't do emoticons, here's a few notes on the varieties of spam encountered over a brief study period.
Very informative!
Complimenting the blogger seems like one common way of ingratiating spam. For example:
I found walt.lishost.org very informative. The article is professionally written and I feel like the author knows the subject well. walt.lishost.org keep it that way.
This might work better if the domain name was the name of the blog, to be sure: "I found Walt at Random very informative" is a tad more convincing. Six payday loan companies offered this sentiment.
I Love the way you write
You can't be too effusive. This comment continues "...thanks for posting." You're certainly welcome, even if you're commenting on entirely bland announcements with no writing style at all.
Twentyfive people love the way I write--and, oddly enough, although each person has a different name and gmail account, there's the same URL for all 25. (In the case of all 25, that URL is on a blacklist. On the other hand, the posts to which these comments were attached would tend to make me wonder just why my style was so admired--and why posts arrived in pairs, but with identical text.)
Other compliments and apparently specific questions
"What is captcha code? pls provide me captcha codes or plugin, thanks in advance." Sorry, yet another payday loans company, but I don't provide that service.
"hey .. way to go with this post .. i'll need more tips tho so [remainder omitted]" Much as I'd love to help out a low-cost loans provider...
"good work, hope you make more related posts! will keep an eye on this blog ;)" Given the nature of the URL provided, you're too busy eying sexcams, I'd think. (Two of these, different gmail accounts.)
"walt.lishost.org - da best. Keep it going! have a nice day" Some Russian company that can post within five seconds of reaching the form.
"I always enjoy finding a 'good' blog. Thanx and I'm going to add you to my RSS feed." Another mystery "Flash Gordon" poster--and it may be worth noting that most of these were on LLN Highlights reposts.
"great stuff thx things make since now hehe good concept" - This one, linking to a supposed boot seller, starts to move over into the dada area...
"This is a fast loading page, do you know who the webhost is and if they are cheap?" Nah, yet another sex seller, the blog's just there--that URL with "lishost.org" in it is meaningless.
"Hi, I love your work." Concise, if from another sex seller (and on an oft-spammed post that should have no comments at all).
The dada element
I think most of the spamments fall into this category--text that's hard to take seriously if you actually read it. Just a few examples, including only the first few words of what are sometimes lengthy (lengthy--typically around 2,400 characers) spamments:
- "Stone happy rich source chemical formula..."
- "Within the blew and terbinafine..."
- "Parry con had agreed free circus..."
- "Bill heard through this denavir cream..."
- "Unless they destroying their altace photo..."
- "They gave horrific implicatio chemi..."
Most of these also seem to link to a single URL or one of several related URLs. I lost count of how many there were--let's just say dozens (scores, probably--more than half of all the spamments).
If someone was willing to accept all these comments, then filter out all the obvious spam words (drug names, etc.), you could make some interesting found poetry from the remnants. I can just see someone with a goatee and a beret, sitting in a smoky Berkeley cellar reciting the results...a few decades ago.
Flat-out spam. Deal with it.
These are the comments that start with a link and are, in essence, nothing but links. Some include long lists of links (43 seems to be typical), some only a few. In a way, they're the most pathetic form--easiest to block and obviously spam. Only about half a dozen of these, once all the dada-found poetry entries are eliminated.
Ah, but there are three variations:
- "x nude" followed by URLs (where "x" can be some surprising names): Half a dozen.
- Some nonsense word (eldbberyj, tdofnnkw, kxxlxhud...) followed by URLs: Another half dozen.
- "x" Sex Tape, or just "x" followed by URLs (where "x" can again be a little odd): Only five of those.
The rest...
What else? There's a long, long story about a kid and his computer; I saw that one three or four times. There's a string of nonsense characters followed by "Comment 1" or "Comment 3" or "Comment 5" or whatever--apparently testing to see whether anything makes it through. (If you're doing blog searches for the result, well, sorry, Charlie, it didn't and won't.)
Serious conclusions
- Spam is a damn nuisance. In four short years, a blog with modest readership in a narrow area had more than 31,000 spam attempts...and counting.
- Spammers are remarkably amateurish. Even the social-engineering spams were so badly done as to be laughable. If you're going to flatter me about my writing, at least choose a post with some vague evidence that I actually wrote something!
- It must work somewhere! If spamments weren't improving link scores and Google page ranks, they would disappear.
Now, back to skimming each day's set and sending them off to perdition...
*Updated 7/2/09: While I don't remember ever hearing "anecdata" before, I had no reason to believe it was original. It isn't, as a belated search shows. Some usages are similar to mine; some, unfortunately, seem to suggest the legitimacy of treating several anecdotes as being data. Sad, that.
Posted by Walt Crawford at 10:47 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
