This, That, and the Other

I get some interesting spam comments on my blog, most of which are captured by Akismet, WordPress’ spam blocker. I generally do a mass delete of all of my spam comments after checking to see if any legitimate comments got caught up in Akismet’s spam-catching net.

I thought it might be fun to select a particularly interesting or unique or outrageous spam comment and highlight it each week.

This week I’m going to feature two spam comments. The first appears to be another AI-like spam comment. This one came in from Claire Brown and was in response this post of mine about being over 70 and having to go to the DMV to take the written exam and a vision test.

I’m so glad you’re writing about this! I’m also 70 years old and I have to renew my driver’s license soon, but I don’t think I’ll be able to go to the DMV and take the written test and an eye test. I think I’ll just go online and renew. What do you think?

Was this a real person, someone who actually read my post? It can’t have been created by an AI chatbot, right? It was a direct and very appropriate response to what I wrote in my post. But the site for Claire Brown was outlookindia.com and her email address was a bogus one. This comment, and other similar seemingly legit comments from commercial sites and invalid email addresses, has me confused. How can an AI chatbot create a comment like that?

Okay, one more spam comment to highlight. This one is unquestionably spam. It’s from Patrica Carolan, and it was in response to my Song Lyric Sunday post from last week.

I am usually to blogging and i actually admire your content. The article has actually peaks my interest. I am going to bookmark your web site and preserve checking for new information.

Okay, my “article” “peaks” your interest, huh? Good, I hope you continue to “preserve checking” my site.

What about you? Have you read some catchy spam comments that you’d like to share with us? If so, put them in the comments or create your own post and tag it #FSCW.