Reported for Spam
Although it gets a lot less spam than Wordpress, Squidoo does get some. It’s not so big a problem when lensmasters pay attention and promptly delete the foul excrement (which is how I think of the dropping of random links that have nothing to do with the lens content) promptly, but then you have accounts that appear to be abandoned. What’s a conscientious squid goody-two-shoes (note to self, must look up that cultural reference that rolls off my tongue so easily) to do? Well, duh, report ‘em. So I do.
1) Look for the “contact me” button and if it’s active, let the lensmaster know by e-mail that he or she has comment spam.
2) Leave a comment for the lensmaster alerting him/her of the spam.
3) report the spam to HQ.
I had an interesting (?) comment ** from a lensmaster who apparently no longer exists. He/She left an odd comment, given that I’m not new on Squidoo, and in the comment approval page, I couldn’t tell that a link had been left, so I approved it. Although I visited the lensmaster’s homepage, I didn’t go look at the comment after I had approved it, and thus inadvertently aided and abetted the weasel by publishing the comment. Consequently when I noticed today that it had a link to some game site, I deleted the comment, but it really angered me that the scum-bag spammer had managed to get past all of my defences, so I spent some of my precious life energy tracking the varmit down.
This has got to be the first time I’ve ever found HQ was ahead of me … because the lensmaster account no longer exists, and the lenses are locked. Yay!!!
Except … that lensmaster left spam on other lenses that hasn’t been cleaned up. grrrr …
So, on a whim, since it’s very early in the morning and I have nothing better to do, I did a search of the site looking for the lensmaster’s name – woooo doggie (as Jed Clampett would say) [cultural reference to a 60's sit-com called the Beverly Hillbillies] there were a lot of them.
So I started reporting. Then it occurred to me that I’d really like to keep track of my reports because that’s how I roll sometimes. Better yet, I’d like to share who these spammers are … but sure can’t do that in the forum, or I might get my sea powers revoked and that would break my heart.
So … I hope this doesn’t get me into trouble, but here’s the report I just sent in to HQ:
These lensmasters:
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/txj2010
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/kissjordan
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/Bob_cs
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/cqianqian
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/doobin
Left spam on this lens:
http://www.squidoo.com/irenelentz
As did sonywedtrop and gamezwayal *** , who have already been dealt with.
These lensmasters:
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/tiffanyring
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/erajames777
left spam on this lens:
http://www.squidoo.com/christian-dior-history
along with a comment that has no link.
I sent a message to the lensmaster owning the lenses which have been spammed; however, given that her etsy and ebay stores are empty, she may have abandoned her account.
I know you’re busy, but I hope somebody can delete these spam comments.
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Well, this made ME feel better, anyway.
Stay tuned, squidlets … I’m sure I’ll be back with more spam reports.
Talk about wasting your time … and mine, LOL.
** Turns out the spammer was literally Squid surfing – he/she would literally copy a comment left by someone else on a lensmaster’s page, then surf to somebody else who had left a comment on the same page, leave that comment there with an added link, then copy a comment from THAT page, surf to another’s, drop … etc. Said spammer had been to a new lensmaster’s page where darling Tipi had left a kind comment, which said spammer picked up and dropped on MY page … hence although it sounded odd given that I’ve been with Squidoo a long time, the comment was a good one, and like I said, I totally didn’t know that said spammer had put a link in it. Tipi’s comment is on this page: Lensmaster linajo That’s the comment that gamezwayal left for me. Ugh. Now I am wondering if it was a person or a bot that did it. Guess I’ll never know.
*** Here’s another interesting (to me) aside to this story. @gamezwayal is on Twitter … and is listed on @KougarKat’s Best of Squidoo list. I’m sorry (not really) but that’s just plain funny to me.
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More spam reported:
These lensmasters:
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/onsale555
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/entry2011
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/middleeast24×7
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/raman019 (has lenses)
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/doobin
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/kissjordan
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/go4uggbootcom
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/AndreaBaff
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/treykizer
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/neetupahwa
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/hjordan23
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/zsn520
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/hjordan23
have spammed these lenses:
http://www.squidoo.com/eco-lights-to-illuminate-your-christmas
http://www.squidoo.com/secretsformanagers
http://www.squidoo.com/blair-waldorf
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/zsn520
http://www.squidoo.com/ushguli
http://www.squidoo.com/savemarykay
I have discovered that if I search the site for a known spammer name, I can find that there are many spam comments on those lenses. What I don’t understand is why the comments don’t disappear when you delete an account for spam. I realize that it’s up to each lensmaster to keep his or her accounts clean, and that lensmasters can become banned for spamming if enough lensmasters use the moderation panel and the ban button, but it would be a boon to all if comments connected with banned accounts vanished. Just sayin’ …
Tags: squidoo spam reports