tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968787219619380438.post2721177800321613143..comments2023-09-21T04:02:29.457-04:00Comments on Skeptical Scalpel: Comments you haven't seen on my blogSkeptical Scalpelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13206922456661320751noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968787219619380438.post-46177552163294925242013-06-06T13:15:22.588-04:002013-06-06T13:15:22.588-04:00That might be true but see my comment just above y...That might be true but see my comment just above yours. Do you really think that was not done by a human? A quote was taken directly from the post and inserted into the comment.Skeptical Scalpelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13206922456661320751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968787219619380438.post-29259045302070067562013-06-06T13:12:16.530-04:002013-06-06T13:12:16.530-04:00Pretty sure these comments are created by some Mar...Pretty sure these comments are created by some Markov Chain spam software, not penned by humans.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968787219619380438.post-21322676361275300112013-06-06T09:51:08.480-04:002013-06-06T09:51:08.480-04:00I received a very creative bit of spam on this pos...I received a very creative bit of spam on this post last night. I didn't allow the comment but here it is with the link removed. <br /><br />"They finally gave up, but other spammers persist. I have noticed a www.___.com thread which is that spammers are either illiterate, careless or maybe both."<br /><br />The link goes to a commercial website.Skeptical Scalpelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13206922456661320751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968787219619380438.post-50231560887149954722013-06-05T17:58:14.746-04:002013-06-05T17:58:14.746-04:00Some of those posts seem to have been put through ...Some of those posts seem to have been put through a language translator. I have gotten e-mail requests, in similar challenged English, for money to be wired to a Nigerian bank.<br /><br />EmilyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968787219619380438.post-13993251329659167712013-06-05T17:15:01.023-04:002013-06-05T17:15:01.023-04:00KBD, my pleasure. I felt that I had to share.KBD, my pleasure. I felt that I had to share.Skeptical Scalpelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13206922456661320751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968787219619380438.post-23419700839366216262013-06-05T16:43:45.623-04:002013-06-05T16:43:45.623-04:00Thanks for the humor!
KBDThanks for the humor! <br /><br />KBDAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968787219619380438.post-54100252061011172042013-06-05T13:24:18.111-04:002013-06-05T13:24:18.111-04:00Survivor, thanks for the comments. So what you are...Survivor, thanks for the comments. So what you are saying is that the presence of links alone on my site without anyone even clicking on them will increase the chances of their site being ranked higher by Google? I have had some spam comments with 10 or more links in them. Now it makes sense.<br /><br />Of course, that strategy fails if the spammer's link and spam comment isn't posted.Skeptical Scalpelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13206922456661320751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968787219619380438.post-2399986171432049222013-06-05T12:29:36.059-04:002013-06-05T12:29:36.059-04:00I've recently had these people start showing u...I've recently had these people start showing up on my site as well. Annoying! I'm not sure if you have ever listened to Planet Money on NPR before but they just happened to do a piece on why these spammers do this. It has to do with how Google indexes sites. Basically the more links to your site from outside sources the higher you will be ranked and if the link happens to be from a popular site such as yours they will be ranked even higher. So when they leave these links it is not in hopes that you or your readers will click on them. They are just hoping Google will see them!<br /><br />Survivor DOSurvivor DOhttp://www.survivinggrays.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968787219619380438.post-51130525720808281212013-06-04T18:48:00.397-04:002013-06-04T18:48:00.397-04:00Thank you for your insightful explanation. Unlike ...Thank you for your insightful explanation. Unlike the spam comments, it makes a lot of sense. <br /><br />However, since these are comments on a blog post, it's hard to see how a scam would be effective. It has to get by me (not likely), and then the website has to be viewed by someone who would copy and paste the link into their browser (possibly more likely, but I doubt it as my readers tend to be doctors, nurses, med students and informed lay people).Skeptical Scalpelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13206922456661320751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968787219619380438.post-46403707170459942552013-06-04T17:12:36.453-04:002013-06-04T17:12:36.453-04:00The consensus seems to be that the bad grammar is ...The consensus seems to be that the bad grammar is purposeful: (tl/dr: The spammers seek people gullible enough to complete the transaction, not just click through).<br /><br />DANIEL SIMONS: The interesting insight is that what the spammers need to do is filter out people who aren’t gullible enough. They need to filter out the people who might respond but wouldn’t in the end send them any money.<br /><br /> [BROOKE LAUGHS]<br /><br />It takes the scammers quite a bit of time and effort to reel in the suckers. They have to send repeated emails, they have to prolong the scam, making them become more and more comfortable with the idea of wiring large amounts of money to them and try and limit their time and effort to those people who are most likely to give them money, so, one of the best ways to do that is to make the scam obvious enough that anybody who has any ounce of skepticism won’t participate.<br /><br />Signal detection originally was applied to hearing, right? So can you detect that very faint beep when you go for a hearing test? If your hearing were perfect, you’d say, “Yeah, I heard the beep” every time there was a beep, and you’d say, “No, there was no beep” every time there wasn’t a beep. But it turns out we tend to sometimes think that something is present when it’s not, and we sometimes miss something when it’s actually there.<br /><br />BROOKE GLADSTONE: And so, in the case of these scammers –<br /><br />DANIEL SIMONS: The gullible people are the beeps, right? And all the people who respond but never send them money - they’re the absence of a beep that they think is a beep. They don’t care about beeps that they don’t hear because they can send out millions of emails, and if they miss a few targets, so what. What they want to make sure they do is eliminate those cases where they think they’ve got a sucker and they don’t.<br /><br />http://www.onthemedia.org/2012/aug/31/why-nigerian-email-scams-work/transcript/<br /><br />See also:<br /><br />http://www.quora.com/Scams/Why-are-email-scams-written-in-broken-EnglishAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com