Spamalot 401

 

  So some of you may have noticed I just completed Post #400 on Blogspot here, which is pretty awesome, but also that you cannot comment anonymously anymore (booo). Reason being, I was getting a lot of Spam from a character I called "Master Yoda" who spoke in broken English, usually referring to loans originating out of the UK. 

    It was fun at first, as I'd reply back to the Spambot humorously, and even go to the websites (all protections on full-blast on my PC just-in-case like a reporter reviewing the Carter Hotel in New York City.)  It was a lot of fun and I'd critique the comments it'd post.  Until recently, there'd only be one or two a week of these Spambot posts, but now it's reaching several dozen a day, and it's getting a little ridiculous.  Granted, it increases my view counts and comments, but I take a bit of pride in keeping my website (www.mikecronis.com) and posts free of evil Spam.  I allowed a smattering for humor's sake but the Spam has become an infestation and I was being over-run like pouring gallons of honey in and around a California home near an ant colony daily.  It really was getting unruly.
 

  To solve for this, you cannot post anonymously as I have set up a basic Level 1 requirement for posters to simply have an account of some kind, like AOL or AIM or Google +, etc. which makes the poster of a comment more likely to be human than 'bot.  I have several other levels of protection I can invoke, but this is the least invasive for my viewers, and most people by now should have a Google + account as FaceBook and its data-mining and personal-information-sharing behemoth is coming to a grinding halt anyway as it's the most evil corporation selling people's souls for anyone willing to pay the twelve cents it costs to glean 500 million people's addresses, home or IP, work schedules, purchasing habits, face pictures (yeah, there's facial recognition on those pictures of yourself you post, you narcissistic kiddies), product placement, etc.  It's actually become the worst data-mining monstrosity in the history of the Internet at this point.  It was pretty okay about two years ago, but they want to make a buck as the stock is floundering.  I suspect Tom of MySpace is delighted, hoping people will migrate back and be his friend again (Tom was the initial first "friend" everyone would get on MySpace.com)  Luckily, there's plenty of other social-media sites that are less intel-stripping, though arguably not everyone's completely migrated yet, and there's some argument as to where to vacate to.  I don't recommend Friendster, Tumblr, or FourSquare, of if you're into Chinese girls, QZone is pretty popular, though Google+ recently is the #2 site, just over half of FaceBook's status in English-speaking countries, followed by YouTube, Twitter, and LinkedIn respectively.  Interesting Google+ is actually more popular than YouTube in hits.  Hm.

  Regardless, I need an iota of protection.  On this site you can comment by logging in with your Google+ account, or an OpenID account, which is sort of an "everything" passport to all sites (to include FaceBook, etc.).  I can't allow Anonymous replies anymore because I can't spend my days bantering against a hoard of orc-like spam-bots every waking hour.  I have a life and I'm not spending it against a subroutine that eats away at my posts, so I counter with a verification subroutine and, well, we break even.

  So, sorry for the inconvenience.  I urge everyone to evolve past FaceBook (personal information Rape Book for Tween Suckers) and get on-board to the current decade.  It's not 2004 anymore.

  As for Master Yoda the SpamBot from the UK, don't worry.  Some old gramma's gonna click you someday and you can feast on her meager fixed-income checking account and feed while you guarantee your room with a view in hell.