Archives
7:20:00 AM EST
Hearing Nothing at the Moment
Reporting Comment Spam and More
Some jerk has put up an AOL Journal with pornographic ads all over it and taken it upon himself to start spamming other Journals' comment threads announcing the Journal. It's been reported to me, and I in turn have got AOL's TOS folks on it, so if it's not already been yanked by the time you see this, it should be yanked fairly quickly thereafter. This is one of those times where AOL's Terms of Service does indeed come in handy.
This fellow incidentally illustrates why it is difficult to spam AOL Journaler comments: To do it one has to have an AOL or AOL-provided account, which AOL can then yank if you're doing something obnoxious. Nevertheless, from time to time someone with initiative might decide to make the effort. When/if this happens, cut and paste the entire spam comment and send it to me at this screenname; I'll notify the AOL TOS folks. This is a stop-gap measure -- comment spam is infrequent enough at this point that I can deal with it personally -- but sometime soon there will no doubt be an official way to deal with comment spam through Keyword: Notify AOL. Until then, let me know about it. That's why I have this gig.
(Remember, however, that someone who is merely being a jerk in your comments is not spamming your comments -- "comment spam" is commercial advertising, usually of a not-very-savory nature. Don't send me examples of people being a jerk in your comment threads, just delete the comments. Speaking of which...)
Next, you'll notice two buttons at the bottom of each comment on your journal: Delete this Message and Block this Screen Name. Use both: first click on Block this Screen Name to make sure you don't receive any more comment spam (or indeed any messages) from that particular screen name, and then delete the message so you don't have to look at it any more. Done and done.
If the comment spam refers you an actual AOL Journal (as the particular comment spam this time around does), then you can officially report the offending Journal to AOL TOS folks. Up in the top right corner of the journal you'll see a Notify AOL link: Click on the link, and you'll be taken to a form that will let you report the Journal and its TOS-violating activities. Fill it out, click the Send button, and then let the AOL TOS Avengers do their thing.
Don't be shy about reporting comment spam or porn ads on AOL Journals; I think we're all in agreement those are two things we pretty much don't want around here. Let's bury it before it gets going.
Update: The same jerk also posted in comments over the weekend linking people to a porn site outside AOL. So the spam comments for now seem localized to one idiot.
Written by johnmscalzi Blog about this entry |
Add to del.icio.us | 
digg this
-
You mean you don't want to hear about "my" jerk? hehe
Sorry couldn't resist!
~ Promise -
Yep... this guy was at my journal over the weekend. I'm sorry John, I didn't think to report him to you. I copied the comment, addressed an e-mail to the TOS people, put a quick note as to what I was sending them and pasted the comment in the e-mail. Quickly followed by deleting the comment from my journal <g>. This is th first time I think I ever saw this on an AOL Journal... hopefully it's just the one guy and it is nipped in the bud!!
http://journals.aol.com/astaryth/AdventuresofanEclecticMind -
Thanks John
*** Coy *** -
I got Porn spam from two different SNs. One is the guy you are talking about here. I blocked that one. If I get any more, I'll forward.
3/14/05 9:45 PM
So, everyone understands about fake spoof email......There is such a thing. I have gotten them from socalled: Suntrust bank, Citibank, Ebay, PayPal, etc.
All you have to do is go to the offical website to the company and forward the fake email to them at their fraud spoof email. It works. Do not GIVE any personal information to these fake spoof emails. If you recieve a bank fake: think about it. I got one from Citibank and I never had an account with their bank. That is your first clue. Suntrust either. eBay I do. But they would never cancel my account by this means. Report these frauds to the appropriate offical company website. Citibank sent me a thank you for doing it.