Venting my aggravations (GRRR) about being railroaded with spam!!!

Am I being railroaded with spam? I’ve been trying to figure out how, when I get four or five views a day, I get twenty comments. It doesn’t make sense to me, nor does it help that the comments are usually written in extremely poor English, and talk about things that have no connection to my post.

Drugs, CBD, Intimate Photos?

I’m not talking about the five million (OK, I exaggerate) comments that offer a way to get drugs online at a discount. Those are bad enough. Then there are the three million (still exaggerating) comments offering links to their CBD oil for dogs, for sleeping, for whatever. No, I’m not even talking about the comments from Adele, Angelina, Luisa, Whoever telling me that they are sending me the intimate photos I requested. Sorry ladies, I’m a gay man. I did not request any intimate photos from women. Again, it feels as if I’m being railroaded with spam.

Comments in foreign languages I don’t speak?

Nor am I talking about the comments that come through written in Polish, Turkish, or, I assume, Ukrainian–at least in the Cyrillic alphabet. And I get a lot of comments in all those languages. I used to copy and paste them into an online translator, but for the most part, they just try to sell me something–just in Polish, Turkish, or, presumably, Ukrainian.

Legitimate comments?

What particularly irks me are the comments that sound, at first glance, as if they’re legitimate. They ask a question, or comment favorably (without detailing exactly what, in my post, they liked), and they tempt me to approve their comment, and even respond to it. But three comments down the list, I find exactly the same wording, or else wording that is so similar to what I just read that it has to be coming from a bot. I’ll give you some examples. And where you find a series of XXX’s, it’s because I’m not going to share the URLs these bots imbed in their comments.

For instance, what would you think/do when reading a comment like this:

That is really fascinating, You are an overly professional blogger. I’ve joined your feed and sit up for seeking more of your great post. Additionally, I have shared your website in my social networks

Wow, I’m “overly professional.” I should be flattered, right? Or am I just being railroaded with spam?

Good English, anyone?

Or this one, speaking of comments in poorly written English:

Thank you for the auspicious writeup. It in fact was a amusement account it. Look advanced to more added agreeable from you! By the way, how could we communicate?|

Well, to communicate, it would help if we were both speaking/writing in the same language.

Stumbling upon my site

Or this:

I’ve been exploring for a bit for any high quality articles or blog posts in this kind of house .
Exploring in Yahoo I finally stumbled upon this site. Reading this info So i’m glad to express that I have a very excellent uncanny feeling I came upon just
what I needed. I most without a doubt will make certain to do not overlook
this web site and provides it a glance regularly.

Look into my homepage: XXXXXXXXX

Then there’s this one:

Do you have a spam issue on this blog; I also am a blogger, and I was curious about your situation; we have created some nice procedures and we are looking to trade techniques with other folks, why not shoot me an email if interested.|

Do I have a spam issue? DO I HAVE A SPAM ISSUE? I’m going through over 500 comments, most of which have to be spam. Well, the URL attached that comment takes me to a website titled “Advantages and Downsides of the iPhone 4S,” so I sent an email to the address attached to the post. In that, I said:

I received a comment on my blog post “Driving Around Pacific County, Washington” that has your name on it. Forgive my scepticism, but I have received a great many comments that had false names on them. If you actually wrote the comment, then I’m happy to have a conversation with you. Otherwise, I will mark the comment as spam.

Now we wait and see if my e-mail bounces or goes unanswered.

Hi, it’s me…

And here’s my favorite, so far:

Hi it’s me, I am also visiting this website regularly, this web site is actually nice and the people are truly sharing good thoughts.|

All well and good, but when I go to the URL attached, I find this “WordPress” blog, The Love of Nedergard. Which sounds like it could be legitimate, but there’s only one post. That post is titled “Article Marketing–Perform [sic] Afraid of Writing?” And the article is just as difficult to read as the title. The page does have links for “Home,” “Blog,” “About,” and “Contact.” When you click on “Contact,” you get this very useful information:

10 Street Road

City, 10100

USA

myemail@example.com

(123) 456-7890

Now that certainly looks legitimate, doesn’t it?!? Or is it another example of being railroaded with spam?

In Closing…

I could go on, and on, and on, but I’m already over 1,000 words and all I’m doing is venting. Venting about being railroaded with spam. So to close out, how about a couple of photographs about a real railroad I’ve shared in my RedBubble sales gallery (and on a new board I’ve set up in Pinterest, Railroad Photography).

Twin Grove–the End of the Line

The website VisitNorthIdaho.com, has this to say about the railcar pictured here:

The Twin Grove, built in 1947, operated with the Morning and Afternoon Hiawathas between Chicago and St. Paul. The Twin Grove has a lounge and kitchen and originally had a dining room. The rail car is filled with historic railroad photographs and memorabilia.

I haven’t yet written up Shoshone County where you’ll find the Twin Grove, but to see what I have written about Idaho, try my Idaho–the Gem State page.

Locomotive E57B

As for the photo at the top of the page, according to an article in the Missoulian newspaper, Locomotive E57B was built in 1915 with the purpose of hauling the Milwaukee’s trains over the 440 miles of electrified rail between Harlowton, Montana and Avery, Idaho. In time, it was replaced by more powerful locomotives, but it did not retire. It ended up as a switch engine in Harlowton’s rail yard. It was, in fact, the last locomotive to run when The Milwaukee switched from electric to diesel power in 1974. Today it rests in glory in the center of downtown Harlowton.

Both railroad photos are available in a wide variety of forms at my RedBubble.com sales gallery. Clicking on the photograph will take you, in a new tab, to the site. Go visit my RedBubble site, and I promise, I won’t railroad you with spam.

TTFN

Update November 5th, 2021

As of this morning, I have received 41 unsolicited spam comments on this post. What does that tell you?