These are the days in which the credulous and gullible are casually misinterpreting a Mayan prophecy about calendric cycles. Yet, even if Mayans had actually forecast doom for this December 21st, why would anyone treat such a prediction more seriously than as an excuse to toast the Mayans?
Meta posting Normally, this blog does not talk about itself. This is only the second time it has offered such a discussion. The previous meta posting was a year ago.
In keeping with the spirit of such silliness, I offer a far more scary possibility for the demise of the world: we will all drown in irrelevant, unidiomatic and ungrammatical spam.
This blog is an introspective look at Kootenay Lake and its environs. It treats our region as a refugium: a sanctuary in which the travails of the outside world are held at bay. It even attempts to minimize its own visibility in the wider world: it eschews social media, it blocks image search engines, and it rebuffs the light-fingered folk who would like, share, or pin its contents on other sites. But, the biggest battle in maintaining the quietude is the ongoing fight with the sleaze meisters of spam.
Here is the problem: the blog allows comments. I readily admit that I welcome the feedback and find all of it both useful and interesting. Yet, for every honest comment received, there are twenty-five—gulp, that number is 25—messages from spammers. Each of these has to be assessed and trashed so that it won’t appear among the valued comments.
The range of products and services attempting to be promoted is surprisingly narrow: certainly there are the sexual enhancements and escort services, but the dominent hucksterism is for (counterfeit?) name-brand wearables: dresses, sports jerseys and shoes, purses, boots, and (amazingly) diaper bags. Each message is characterized by: no conceptual linkage to the blog posting about which it purports to offer a comment; a link to a site promoting the product; starkly unidiomatic or ungrammatical language.
Bear in mind the usual content of this blog when assessing the relevance of the product and the promotional snippets shown. You are allowed to weep.
• Handbags: Everyone loves our simply put i grow it almost everywhere
• Escort service: Every guy wish to be near attractive woman.
• Handbags: You managed to hit the nail upon the top as well as defined out the whole thing without having side-effects , people can take a signal.
• Diaper bags: I ask them both in color palette Worth every single single a red cent.
• Sports team: I dont suppose Ive learn anything like this before.
• Sports team: As well, a fantasy regarding the banking institutions intentions while talking about foreclosure is that the bank will not take my repayments.
• Handbags: In the event the rules aren a natural part of your personal bailout
• Purses for teanagers: I beloved as much as you will receive performed right here. The comic strip is attractive, your authored subject matter stylish. however, you command get got an impatience over that you wish be handing over the following. ill indisputably come further previously once more as precisely the same nearly very continuously within case you shield this hike.
• Some sort of hand bag: May very well any schokohrrutige usually like a glove to find eating out in nightclubs by working with a pair of jeans.
• Bridesmaids dresses: I have to show my admiration for your kindness in support of individuals who must have help with that field. Your very own dedication to passing the message across had become pretty informative and has continually empowered ladies like me to reach their objectives.
• Sports jerseys: Interesting article. It is quite unfortunate that over the last several years, the travel industry has had to tackle terrorism, SARS, tsunamis, bird flu virus, swine flu, and the first ever true global economic depression.
• Diaper bags: I really enjoy the I have tatty these individuals
• Hand bags: These people always keep this feet trend since i have be employed in a place through bit of temperatures.
• Fake hair: I haven
I don’t doubt that this posting will also receive its share of spam. While comments are welcome, that spam will be expunged.
Sigh…, does anyone wonder why, every so often, I seek the quiet company of otters?
Who wouldn’t seek the quiet company of otters, if they had the chance? Your spam is much more interesting than mine. I don’t believe I’ve ever received anything like the ‘purses for teenagers’ one.
Heather, I can imagine an interesting diversion as we slip into linguistic chaos: a contest to see who has been pummelled by the ultimate bit of bizzarre spam. It is probable that no rules can ever be devised to guide such a selection. Yet, one test might be: which message prompts the loudest, HUH?
Oh Alistair, these are the times that try mens/wom’s souls. Alas, I see a direct relationship between the
ungrammatical and irrelevant and the demise of the world. “Purses for teanagers;” could they have
meant tanangers, scarlet tanangers most likely. I must admit, with Heather, that one is interesting; like a riff by one of the surrealists; the incomprehensible juxtaposition of verbal strangenesses. Go to the otters, Alistair. May they smooth your furnished brow, Ill indisputably, come further once more the same, very continuously with cause you shield this site.
Pamella, that’s funny. It took me a moment before I realized how you had woven bits of the spam into your own wording.
Thanks Alistair. – That’s a relief. I didn’t want to offend, or seem to be trivializing your burden, but am susceptible to verbal strangenesses almost as though mesmerized. Must be a throwback to the pre –
or sub- verbal when sound units were possibly incantatory and not as caged by meaning.
The June 30 2012 Economist had an article about the language of scams. In essence, the argument was that bad grammar acts as a filter to weed out those too intelligent to respond to the message of greed in one form or another. Interesting hypothesis.
Dave, I have just read the article. Thank you, I had missed it last June. It is an interesting idea that the scammers use incoherent language as a way to selectively appeal only to (as the Economist puts it) idiots—the low-hanging fruit.
Dear Alistair,
Thanks so much for a genuine laugh on an otherwise gloomy day! Should you ever publish your wonderful photos in a book, I think “In the quiet company of otters” would make a great title!
Best wishes to you and yours for the New Year.
Marie, that is a cute suggestion for a title, I wouldn’t have thought of it. Mind you, I am trying to remember what this book thing is; doesn’t it involve something called paper?
I heartily endorse your rebuff of the spam Alistair. I don’t credit the spammers with enough intelligence to use poor grammar as a weeding tool. The unintelligent would have even more trouble understanding the stuff. I think it is more likely that this junk originates from countries where English is far from the dominant language. The spammers have some computer literate person who manages the process and then those who attempt to write seductive prose to attract the gullible English language speakers. Sometimes, I think they have read a cookbook on how to write a sentence by picking words from different columns and stringing them together. Do you recall the famous “When in Doubt Mumble” book by James Boren. He provided just such a series of words in columns that you could string together to sound smart but of course the collective was meaningless drivel
Cheers from another Faceless one who remains Twitterfree in Kamloops.
Rick