Bloggers Declare War on Comment Spam, but Can They Win?

Spammers find a way to game Google search results by posting links in comments sections of popular blogs. Now the makers of Movable Type and bloggers are banding together to try to keep real-time interactivity alive in the blogosphere. Here's a look at the battle so far.

Mark Glaser Posted: 2004-09-16

Blogger Jeremy Zawodny wrote about "Guerrilla Tactics Against Blog Comment Spammers." Blogdex honcho Cameron Marlow called it the "Comment Spam Arms Race." And blogger/consultant Adam Kalsey said with resolve, "We now intend to fight back." Just what the heck is "comment spam" and how did it get so many prominent bloggers up in arms? Basically, spammers have been using blogs to help boost their standings in Google searches by posting massive numbers of comments that include links to their pornography sites, scams and get-rich-quick sites. If your site is linked by a top-ranked site or blog, then Google will often raise your site's ranking -- at least that's the thinking of spammers.