A post I wrote back in 2009 and updated in 2013 receives a disproportionate amount of spam attempts in which someone tries to get me to add a link to the page. Of course the link they want me to add has nothing to do with the page (it's very clear they've not read it or understood the page).
The intention in getting the link onto my page is to 'tell' Google that my site thinks their page is worth linking to. Nope. This has been going on for a decade and I have kept 50 or so examples which I'll gradually add below, with their link, name and email address redacted.
The page in question is which is a fairly
popular page but is actually only my 10th most-read page is (inexplicably!). You might expect they'd want to pick a more popular one but perhaps are hoping to go under the radar.
Where London science communicators might work (24 July 2009) - this one attracts all the spam despite being much less popular than nine other posts.
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| All-time views for the most-read posts on this blog - the one that attracts all the spam is the one right at the bottom! |
Here are some examples from the back catalogue.
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| Suggestion of a link about nursing but my page is not about that. |
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| I get a lot of requests from people claiming to be teachers or home educators saying that a small child in their class is terribly excited to share a resource with me and please can I add it and then tell them I've added it so they can celebrate. Bit too social engineering for my liking. Hard no. |
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| The most recent one, on holistic ophthamlmology. Note that 'click to unsubscribe' link at the end. I hadn't subscribed ;) |
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| Spam link attempt from weight loss surgery and diabetes |
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| Spam link attempt from someone with a guide for safe travelling for people with diabetes |
And a couple of bonus emails from people who've misinterpreted my post showing how you could (in 2012) "bypass" a third-party resource for handling RSS feeds sent to Twitter.
Handy Twitter RSS feeds to bypass IFTTT Twitter trigger switchoff (30 September 2012)
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| Someone asking me to post advice that is about heart bypasses on a page where I'm talking about a completely different type of bypass. |
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| This one is hoping to get a page about heart disease and hair loss after a bypass on my page. |
Another one just came in later this evening!
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Comment policy: I enthusiastically welcome corrections and I entertain polite disagreement ;) Because of the nature of this blog it attracts a LOT - 5 a day at the moment - of spam comments (I write about spam practices,misleading marketing and unevidenced quackery) and so I'm more likely to post a pasted version of your comment, removing any hyperlinks.
Comments written in ALL CAPS LOCK will be deleted and I won't publish any pro-homeopathy comments, that ship has sailed I'm afraid (it's nonsense).