Usually the comments that show up in my spam folder are obviously spam. But recently it’s not that obvious at all. Take these two spam comments examples I received yesterday.
Here’s one.
It’s from Zoe Atherton and the source is outlookindia.com. The comment is in response to this post. It seems to be quite legitimate and responsive given the post she commented on. But I clicked on the link to the site that it came from and this is where it took me:
So did a human write a legitimate comment that Akismet mistakenly swept into my spam folder? Or is Zoe Atherton an AI chatbot who scanned my post, picked up key words, and created that comment in response?
Here’s another.
It’s from Dante Trimble and the source is the marketerscorner.com. The comment is in response to this post. Like Zoe’s comment, Dante’s seems to be quite legitimate and responsive given the post he commented on. But I clicked on the link to the site that it came from and this is where it took me:
So is Dante real? Did a human write this comment or was it generated by an AI chatbot? I decided to actually reply to Dante’s comment.
What do you think?
- Are Zoe and Dante real people who read my posts and made legitimate comments?
- Are Zoe and Danta chatbots using AI technology to generate legitimate sounding comments that are actually spam?
- Will Dante respond to my reply?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments, please.
This, That, and the Other 
Interesting. I am on the fake side for both. I am sure I have seen Zoe in my spam with a non web address or a site full of marketing ads.
I will reserve judgement on Dante until there is a timely reply. Don’t forget to look in spam for the reply 😂
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The comments seem legitimate but the fact that there’s no website/ page belonging to the first commenter is suspicious.
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They both sound fake, but who knows? I’ve been letting some sketchy ones through with the idea that I can always block them later…
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🤔 I have received legitimate comments from people who have not updated their URLs. Unfortunately, there are those who do not update their Gravatar profile whenever they get a new URL.
My educated guess is that the second commenter wanted to create a link to your blog via a comment (Business-related bloggers often use this tactic; they know that some curious individual will click on their name; which forwards the person to the homepage of their website).
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It’s not real. Cannot be real. If someone comments on my blog I would atleast assume they have a blog site themselves. So no matter how real a comment looks, if the site it has come from has nothing to do with blogging, it’s fake as fuck.
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They’re both spam, Because I’ve had comments too where it starts “great post”. Meh… bullshit.
Seriously, I have my site set up so basically only people I heard of can leave comments. These messages come from people I never heard of.
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Not real but they certainly want you to think they are.
I’ve been getting a bunch of emails in my gmail account, supposedly from PayPal and UPS. Whoever these bastards are, they do an excellent job in making their emails looked perfectly legit. Of course it’s easy to verify payments by going directly to PayPal and checking activity.
The UPS spam was funny because upon further examination the letter U was actually a V – something that got by me the first time but I quickly caught on. If not for that, the logo was perfect.
As far as your question regarding Dante, I seriously doubt you’ll get a response. Should prove interesting. Keep us updated!
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Oh, I am SO SICK of the bot world we are and the superbot world we’re inevitably heading into, I’ve been considering just dropping out of online altogether. I don’t want to communicate with machines.
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I’ve had one from the Marketers Corner and got the same ad page you did. I think they’re both fake.
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Yep, the spammers and scammers are becoming ever more cunning, and generative AI is only going to help them in their nefarious tasks.
If I see a comment like Zoe’s that I suspect may be spam, the first thing I do is check their website link. If that’s ‘404’ or ‘coming soon’ I usually trash the comment.
As for ‘Dante Trimble’: the fact that his site is what it is makes it smell very much like spam to me. If ‘he’ actually responds to your challenge, I’ll eat my hat.
Some months ago I was being swamped by spam comments. I took some steps† and, fortunately, the flood has now turned into a trickle. For the moment….
† I’m planning on a post to share what I’ve learned, but, sadly, I don’t have time to put it together at the moment; too few spare round tuits.
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Both are fake for sure.
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The first is definitely a phony, the second? I’m not sure…. Let us know if he writes back.
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Will do.
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I would say spam. Nice spam but spam.
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Both are spam, l have or rather did [probably jinxed myself now] a bot leaving a comment that wasn’t even a recognised link but it kept getting longer and longer each time l deleted it. it was left on one post for ages, l kept deleting it and the next day it was there again…
Anything now that begins with Great Post is translated as bollocks to me, UNLESS it is written and submitted by someone l do know.
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I’d say the first one is definitely fake. I always check the websites of suspect commenters too. The second one sounds to me like one of the blog for profit people who do comment on posts in order to get you to visit their blog. However, it could well be AI, it is getting harder to tell.
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Yes it is!
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I’ve had one that I thought was legit but the site routed me to something like the second one. I swear, Fandango they all want to be featured in your spam of the week.
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Delete, delete, delete! They are spam! Don’t reply!
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Between the two Dante’s seemed more legitimate, but anymore I would say they are both spam.
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