Many of us dream of island sunsets and endless beaches. I have written a few photo essays about this kind of family vacation. One of them, Aruba, Natalie Holloway, Bad Hair and Photos, recently received a spike in views. Classmates reported Natalie missing ten years ago last weekend. I included a waiter’s conspiracy theory in my post, drawing legit traffic.
Unfortunately slimy spammers also staked out turf on my Aruban beach. They left comments like, “I found your website quite by accident. I were tiny bit acquainted of this your broadcast provided vibrant transparent idea.”
Yep. Spam found its new digs.
Sometimes the same spammer stretched out on a lawn chair to work on their tan once an hour. Then others joined in the fun. They arrived at my Aruban post, pitched their umbrellas and played beach volleyball. I’ve labeled each pesky comment as “Spam!” to teach Askimet the Spam Filter, only Askimet must be on a beach vacation too.
This made me wonder.
Is there something about Aruba that is attracting them like cockroaches to crumbs under a picnic table?
Are the photographs seducing them into a visit?
Have they found a secret portal to my blog?
Are spammers camping out in one of my photographs?
Is Askimet partying down on the beach with them?
I have no idea why spam has blown a hole in the filter to an old post, but I’ve been finding spammy comments for days. Now I dream of spam-free island sunsets and endless beaches.
What do you think?
Susie Lindau's Wild Ride 
My wife and I went on a vacation to Aruba within a couple of years of Natalie’s disappearance. We spotted Geraldo Rivera near us at the airport. Is he better or worse than spam?
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That’s a tough one. He’s just as slippery!
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My spam blocking doesn’t work as well as the Geraldo blocking on my TV.
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That guy is a live spam. Spam with a mustache, annoying personality and no shame.
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“Spam with a mustache” – that sounds about right.
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Hate trolls and spammers! That’s about it here this time. The original article was very interesting. So, the thing about Natalie is especially interesting. Who would have thoughts after 10 years?…
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Someone came forward in March admitting they saw van der Sloot bury Natalie at the Marriott Spyglass construction site. They are following up on all leads. The Marriott is denying construction had started, but Natalie’s dad thinks otherwise. Natalie’s mom is still furious over how they handled the case.
It was a beautiful island where we felt very safe. The Dutch people are so friendly. It was hard to believe something horrific like that happened there.
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Unfortunately, the bad happens everywhere…just as does the good!
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There are portals to blogs?:)
“I found your website quite by accident. I were tiny bit acquainted of this your broadcast provided vibrant transparent idea.”
That killed me.. get the flyswatter out
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Ha! That’s exactly what I’ll do!
Actually Carrie Rubin had a great idea. I’ll close comments on the post. That’ll plug the hole.
I still don’t understand why that particular post?
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Last year I had a situation where one of my old posts started having spam slipping through onto the post regularly, and I couldn’t work out why. I contacted WordPress support forums about it and was told I shouldn’t be complaining because apparently other blogs have hundreds and thousands of spam every day slipping through and ending up on the blog (yeah right, like anyone would put up with that!). If you have a minute, have a look at the support conversation, her tone wasn’t exactly the most helpful (although just re-reading it again now I notice that my tone is a little curt in response too!) – https://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/spam-keeps-getting-through-on-one-post?replies=2#post-1690332
Oh and I want to go to Aruba now 🙂
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Hundreds and thousands????? Now I feel really lucky! One of the tricks is not to delete them.
Thanks for the linkage!
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Yes, count yourself lucky rather than complaining!
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I do! That is a lot of work. I would moderate my comments if that was the case.
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Being perfectly honest here, she seemed pretty rude and sarcastic from the start. I think your responses were appropriate, V.
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She did Darla didn’t she, I think I responded in the way I did because she seemed to be implying I was a bit stupid. I’m getting wound up just reading it again now! I just clicked through and looked at her own page and on there she says “I enjoy helping people who are learning to blog” – is that what she calls helping?
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Yeah, her comment would have pissed me off, I can tell you that. She does know her stuff but she can be a bit more respectful of people who aren’t so wordpress savvy. There’s no need to be flippant about it. If I was getting two spam coming through a day I would want to fix it, too.
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That used to happen to me with spam. I’d get hundreds of spam comments some days on certain posts. Then a blogger posted about how she’d cut her spam drastically by closing out comments to old posts after a certain amount of time. So I went to settings and set mine to close out after eight weeks. Hardly a morsel of spam since. It’s wonderful!
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Woohoo! I have a Make a Wish post where people leave wishes in legit comments and I wouldn’t want to close comments on all my old post. I will try to figure out how to close comments on the Aruba post. BRILLIANT!
I still would love to know why that particular post has been spam-bombed…
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I don’t know why some posts become spam magnets. I guess they just invite one and then the rest follow. Like cockroaches…
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That could be! Since it was an old post, I may have missed a spammer for a week telling Askimet to let them all in! YIKES!
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Heh. I was going to say this. 🙂 It works like a treat!
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Isn’t it interesting how a few comments can leave you feeling slightly creepified? Aruba looks like a really wonderful place to go, though. 🙂
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You should go! It is hot, but prevailing winds keep the temperatures down. There is a lot to see and do. The Dutch food is wonderful!
Sometimes it’s hard to tell if it’s spam, but when they start pouring in, it becomes obvious! I think they must send an innocent sentinel to widen the hole first, then the rest follow… Stinkin’ spam.
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I think I’ve had one or two spam go through directly to my blog without my approval in five years. Still kinda ticked me off though. I don’t even like to see the spam in my spam folder.
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Hey Girlfriend! Great to “see” you!
That’s all???? Wow. My blog is spam-free for weeks and then pow. They leak through every day for a while. I hate seeing those little suckers too. There’s a T-shirt company who keeps staking out their turf in Aruba. I used to delete my spam folder because it bothered me too, but Timethief warned me to never delete spam. So thousands sit in there until they self-implode.
Thanks for stopping by!
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I didn’t know that about deleting. I just checked my stats and I’ve had 161,000 spam and only 35 missed spam. Not bad!
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I didn’t know that about not deleting either – why not?
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Yeah, why not? (Hello Miss Peggles!)
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Howdy, Miss Darlypants.
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Because once they get through, we have to “teach” Askimet that they are spam and not legit bloggers. That can only be done by labeling them SPAM! I used to clear out my cache of spam, but WordPress Happiness Engineer, Timethief, warned me not to.
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If Askimet has already labeled them spam, do we have to go in and do something? Or is further action required only if it slipped through the spam filter?
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You don’t have to do anything. Only if they slip through to your comments.
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That isn’t bad! I have a theory that bloggers who go to self-hosted sites think they’re getting tons of views, but they’re spambots….
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How frustrating. I’m thankful to say I haven’t been spammed in quite a while. Also haven’t checked out my spam folder in a while – cover me, I’m going in.
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I got your back!!!!! That spam folder is best left alone. It’s like a hornet’s nest!
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Just returned, cobwebs in my hair but otherwise unharmed. I forgot how funny those spammers’ imperfect command of English can be. We should post the comments every couple of months for chuckles.
I noticed most of my spam from the last few weeks is on the same, old post, same as you experienced. Do you think one spammer breaks thru then sells that post address on some spammers marketing website?
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I only see a couple of spiders in your hair, Peg!
I bet that’s what happens, then they hope and pray someone clicks to their site. Sometimes it’s hard to tell if they’re new bloggers or spammers. I hate profiling newbies!!! Sorry about all the exclamation points. They’re in my genetic make-up! 🙂
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That’s interesting that a particular post drew them in. I find mine quite consistent and I’m glad WordPress is great with spam. I sharply check it these days. Who knows how many legitimate comments I’ve missed loll.
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I must have let a few slip through or they broke in somehow! Stinkers.
I hate it when new bloggers leave dumb comments like, “Great post! I’m so glad I found your blog.” I’m left scratching my head. I would hate to put an innocent blogger in Spam jail! That would totally suck…
Thank for stopping by, Catherine!
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I think that spammers are other worldly alien beings sent here to test our intelligence. Can we block them? Can we conquer? Can we learn to live with them? Can we annihilate them? Hmmmm.
I love the blue lizard photo. That’s pretty dang awesome.
Patricia Rickrode
w/a Jansen Schmidt
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I agree about the alien spammers. THEY’RE HERE!!!!
Thanks! I loved those lizards. I had a great photo of an iguana. Not sure where it went. Back through the worm hole…
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I just let the comments go to my spam folder and don’t waste any Deep Thoughts on them…
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That’s what I do until they start partying down on my turf and keep me awake at night. 🙂
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Gotcha.
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Is Aruba in the news lately? Maybe it’s because a popular vacation spot, although I’ve never been there!
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Last weekend was the tenth anniversary of Natalie Holloway going missing.
Aruba is an amazing place! We loved it. Add it to your bucket list!
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Weird!
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I know, right??? They have slowed down. I think this post scared them off. 🙂
Great to “see” you, Julie!
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I find when one spammer gets in, it’s like he does a loud whistle and invites the rest in, or all the spammers have tracking devices on each other or something and follow each other into the same posts Susie. I too, mark them as spam and get on with my life… ❤
Diana xo
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That’s exactly what happens! They have a secret club or send up a flare and they all come running.
I just checked. I think we scared them off!
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I have no idea how the spammers got through, but I loved Aruba. Went there in 1988… 3 times. Long story. I had a great time and snorkeled on the same German ship wreck. Delicious rum punch!!
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How cool is that? I loved everything about Aruba. The food was delish and the Dutch people were super friendly.
Did you order pancakes while you visited?
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I have no idea. But I was introduced to cheese pastechi for breakfast. Pastry filled with cheese. They also had ham and cheese. And yes, the locals were very friendly.
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I’ll have to go back for the pastechi!
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Spam seems to go in cycles. Every so often it’s like they graduated a new bunch and send them to practice their spammy styles. You can close comments on a problematic post or close comments after a short period like Carrie suggested – it does seem to work – and then go back and gradually reset it back to where it was once you think the spam brat pack has gotten bored and traveled on.
Dealing with spammer steals time.
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That’s a great idea. If they keep spamming me this week, I may close comments. Weasels!!!
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I need to check Timethief again. Once you label it as spam and it’s in the folder (off the post’s page), you should be able to delete the spam folder after a while? For sure the important thing is to label it so WP identifies it. Hope your corner of the world has avoided the extreme weather recently. (or is that the spammers taking their wrath of being identified to a whole new level? – chuckles inserted here)
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It deletes over time. I don’t touch it.
That would be a dirty trick if spam could do that! Ha!
It’s beautiful today. Storms are supposed to roll in again toward the end of the week. We’ll see…
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Excessive heat here, but storms due the same here…We’ll see…
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Never been to Aruba, seen lots of pictures. I lied I’ve been there, but I went by way of Google Maps and satellite. Although it was cheaper (no airfare, baggage problems, hotel or food cost) I missed the scents and aromas, however, they missed my money. Looks like you and the family had a great time, Susie, and that is the way its suppose to be. :O)
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It was a blast. I would put it on your bucket list! Google maps just doesn’t do it justice….
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LOL I think you may be right.
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That is so bizarre! What is it about Aruba???? That’s where Mr. B and I went for our honeymoon. We had a blast except for the day the tour bus driver tried to pick me up, knowing we were newlyweds. Mr. B was not too happy with him. 🙂
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Ha! That would not have flown with Danny either.
I loved Aruba! The only reason I think they spammed it is one comment probably snuck through and then taught Askimet it was okay to let their friends overrun the Aruban beaches. I’ve been deleting them for a couple of weeks and I found the same spammer there today! Sheesh!
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Ptooey on spammers.. You have good filters, too — one dumped me into your spam folder once because I typed the letter that is between w and y three times. Thank you for releasing me to the land of the respectable. May your spammers be whammo’ed.
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