February 8, 2007

What is the point of comment spam, other than to drive me batshit?

Randomness.....

  • The comment spam is getting to me. I hate to turn word verification back on, but I hate to let comment spam linger out there. It's bad enough that all old comments were lost when I shut down Haloscan commenting, so it looks like crickets are chirping away on those old posts, but to have comment spam on them is just sad and pathetic. I've shut down comments on a few posts that were hardest hit, but I would think that is confusing to get OLD posts in Bloglines and Google Reader - unless you would really like to read all about NippleMunch 2005 again. Opinions? Should I just leave comment spam up? Should I turn on word verification? Should I get a life?
  • Regarding shoes - thanks for all the opinions! I am definitely going to live a little and go with the red. Which will be my ONLY pair of red shoes. Sad, eh?
  • Regarding the rocker, Flybunny spurred my memory of a place near Lawrence. I am also going to hunt antique malls. Estate auctions are a great idea, but not really feasible for me right now with Arun in tow.
  • Whenever I've mentioned my two book clubs, I've had so many people here pine wistfully for one. I do feel fortunate that 1) I have a group of friends who read and 2) are willing to meet in person periodically. Both of those things are sometimes hard to find. I am thinking of starting something on-line. It would work like this, I would pick a book (say Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf, which I am considering) and state the date we would discuss it (say March 22nd, which is 6 weeks from now). I'd leave that post up as the most current one Thurs-Mon for discussion in the comments - that would cover the folks that use work for blogging AND the folks that use the weekends to blog from home. What do you think? Am I crazy? Is this already being done? I've seen on-line book clubs before, but none open to anybody and everybody who wants to pop by and make a comment.
  • Is anyone else bothered by this knife set? I actually saw this featured in Redbook with verbiage that said "This kitschy knife set will be to him what the "You know better" look is to the kids: a reminder of what you'll do if "baby" goes a little too far." I was shocked when I saw that and read it twice. How offensive! If this was featured in a men's magazine, people would be UP IN ARMS - probably, even Meredith Viera would jump on this bandwagon. Anyway, shame on Redbook.
  • Warning: Cute Kid Stories heading your way...... Arun is full-swing imitation mode, which of course is very fun. The other night, we were watching 30 Rock and as Paul Reubens was sputtering all over his birthday cake, blowing out the candles, Arun starting walking around and sputtering away, too. I also declare Toddler Dance Moves to be the cutest EVER. I call it The Bob because they bob up and down on their knees.
  • Speaking of 30 Rock, if you don't know what I am talking about, why not? That show is definitely a worthy successor to the Arrested Development throne. The recent episode with Paul Reubens was GOLDEN. It also reminded me of the Alec Baldwin/Paul Reuben's connection on Pee Wee's Playhouse. Anyway, great show.
  • When Average Jane was over here last, her hubby played Arun's drum for him. Now, Hubby is a VERY good drummer and Arun actually got scared. However, now Arun is a little obsessed with the drum.........


Little Drummer Boy

I love the dorky snaps.

Of course, I like these, too.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ok, that was strange. My google bloglines told me you had a new post called What's with the Chainsaw?, and it seemed a totally different voice than I normally hear from you, then I looked at the date and its October 18th, 2004! Which I tell you for two reasons - 1, how weird is that that the RSS feed grabbed it, and 2, Do you ever go back and read your own archives? And see how different you are now from then? I do sometimes, but I think I should do it more. I wonder if I am more whiny or less whiny now. Probably, more.

Anonymous said...

RE: Comment spam - I say turn the word verification back on. It's not that big of an impediment.

As for the drumming thing, I'm sure my hubby will be more than happy to give Arun drum lessons eventually should his love for the instrument continue. ;)

Leah said...

I hate word verification because I'm an inept typer, but I would do it for you.

My Wordpress moderated all comments from first time commenters. Once I've approved you, you get to comment whenever you want. It has worked like a charm, though I do turn off comments on old entries that seem to get hit hard.

Celebrate Woo-Woo said...

I don't even bother to delete the spam on old posts. I can't seem to figure out why the spammers hit old posts instead of new ones. Because they're always on old archives, I don't bother with word verification still. I don't like word verification, but I won't not comment because someone has it on; it doesn't discourage me in the least.

Anonymous said...

I love toddler dancing, too! While babysitting my nephew once, he added DJ to his dance skills. He had 4 or 5 noise/music toys and he would get each of them going then dance until they stopped. Then, he repeated the process about 25 times.

And I'm giving a mighty shout out to 30 Rock!

Anonymous said...

30 Rock rocks.. but it's going on hiatus. Damn NBC.

Yea, you might as well turn on the verification. Monkey has it on her blog, and although it's an extra step, I have no issues with doing it when I really want to leave a comment. (Talk about a run-on sentence. Yes, I am studying journalism in college,why do you ask?;))

Anonymous said...

Word verification seems like a pretty good solution. I'm able to moderate my comments so that any comments made on posts more than 10 days old need approval. Spammers rarely hit new posts and my old ones are rarely legitimately commented on. But if I catch something that looks like a real comment instead of spam on an old one, I'll publish it. Otherwise, I ban and trash all my unpublished comments on about a weekly basis, even though they'd never be made public.

The book club sounds like a great idea! I always want to read more but I have such a terrible time picking books out myself because I'm worried I won't like them. At least with a book club, I can blame someone else for a poor choice. ;-)

I hated 30 Rock in the beginning, but it's starting to grow on me. I'm a fan of Tina Fey and I like Alec Baldwin on this, but the other characters drive me nuts. It's yet to earn a spot on my TiVo list, but if I happen to catch it I don't turn it off.

Anonymous said...

30 Rock is starting to grow on me as well -- I think it's pretty darn funny! Tina Fey is really good, I think, and Alec Baldwin is really cheesy (in a good-cheesy way).

Absolutely adorable pics of that sweet boy, by the way!

Monkey McWearingChaps said...

I have it on my blog only because I was getting ridiculous spam.

You know what's funny though? One time on my blogspot blog one of my spammers actually took the time to freaking write me a real comment after spamming me (I'm guessing it wasn't a robot). It was on a post about pelt.

I do like the knife set in an Alfred Hitchcock kind of way, though!!
On the knife set: that is very insulting. My favourite obnoxious commercials are the ones for children's medicine featuring a tagline about how mothers are always the ones who know best and take care of kids. Because all the times my dad sat up in the middle of the night spooning Tylenol down my throat and patting my back through horrible lung infections were all just a mirage. It never happened.

Anonymous said...

I'd be into the online bookclub. And, that knife set was definitely on the disturbing/offensive side...

Anna

Anonymous said...

An online bookclub would be fun - I'd be for it.

Diana said...

Turn your word verification back on. (Oh, wait, you did!) I turn mine on when I get hit and turn it off again after a month or so, when I get tired of having to word verify to answer comments on my own blog.

I would totally do a book club online with you. (Assumming I can get myself together enough to get the book in time to read it.)

Lisa said...

Wow. Your house is REALLY clean. I'm impressed. (Looks under your couch...) Wow. REALLY impressed. heehee.

Photos of your little man are adoreable, per usual! :-)

CPA Mom said...

We have the SAME drum. Our kids love it to.

I'm totally in on the book club. I tried to start one here but no go.

I'm doing a review, chapter by chapter, starting next week, of a parenting book with Kristen of Motherhood Uncensored.