Comments on: Will spammers kill Digg? http://www.centernetworks.com/will-spammers-kill-digg Web 2 and Social Media News and Reviews Sat, 21 Nov 2009 01:50:56 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Moojjy http://www.centernetworks.com/will-spammers-kill-digg/comment-page-#comment-13832 Moojjy Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-13832 No, spam will not kill Digg. Digg is adapting all the time (just look at the comments sytem). The spammers aim isn't to get listed on the front page of Digg (otherwise they are just plain stupid). It is probably an intelligent way to get around spam filters on blog comments. Instead of linking directly to the website they are using a reputable third-party site. The spam filter see's digg.com and allows the comment. If this trend continues there are plenty of ways to combat it. Digg can remove articles that are a month old with 1 digg. Spam filters can hook into the diggapi to check the website address of the article and even run any typical spam tests on the description of the article. Interesting trend though, nonetheless. No, spam will not kill Digg. Digg is adapting all the time (just look at the comments sytem).

The spammers aim isn’t to get listed on the front page of Digg (otherwise they are just plain stupid). It is probably an intelligent way to get around spam filters on blog comments. Instead of linking directly to the website they are using a reputable third-party site. The spam filter see’s digg.com and allows the comment.

If this trend continues there are plenty of ways to combat it. Digg can remove articles that are a month old with 1 digg. Spam filters can hook into the diggapi to check the website address of the article and even run any typical spam tests on the description of the article.

Interesting trend though, nonetheless.

]]> By: Russell Rockefeller http://www.centernetworks.com/will-spammers-kill-digg/comment-page-#comment-13963 Russell Rockefeller Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-13963 Spammers exploiting Digg as a landing page is no different than how they used geocities back in the day. A less emboldened approach would be to mask the url to Digg in a tracking link. They were also probably experimenting to see if the spam would cause random users to Digg the article. As for Moojjy's comment, he had a good idea but the number of Diggs/Buries on an article does not directly reflect spam. One month gives the spammer more than enough time to bilk the response out of their email drop. If they can get twelve hours of uninterrupted hosting time, they can get in and out with a profit. A report spam button will also not work in this situation because the users of Digg (I myself use Digg) can be highly intolerant to sites that carry any advertising. I have seen on countless occasions comment threads where people are complaining about sites that display AdSense revenue. The community is too extreme in their opinions to achieve a balanced solution, so the solution will need to be technological. I'm quite sure that if this exploit gains momentum the digg.com url could very well end up being a default keyword in anti spam software both at the isp level and at the user level. By the way I enjoyed your article immensely. Sincerely Russell Rockefeller CEO Extravagant Media Inc Spammers exploiting Digg as a landing page is no different than how they used geocities back in the day. A less emboldened approach would be to mask the url to Digg in a tracking link. They were also probably experimenting to see if the spam would cause random users to Digg the article.

As for Moojjy’s comment, he had a good idea but the number of Diggs/Buries on an article does not directly reflect spam. One month gives the spammer more than enough time to bilk the response out of their email drop. If they can get twelve hours of uninterrupted hosting time, they can get in and out with a profit.

A report spam button will also not work in this situation because the users of Digg (I myself use Digg) can be highly intolerant to sites that carry any advertising. I have seen on countless occasions comment threads where people are complaining about sites that display AdSense revenue.

The community is too extreme in their opinions to achieve a balanced solution, so the solution will need to be technological.
I’m quite sure that if this exploit gains momentum the digg.com url could very well end up being a default keyword in anti spam software both at the isp level and at the user level.

By the way I enjoyed your article immensely.
Sincerely
Russell Rockefeller
CEO
Extravagant Media Inc

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