BUMMED-OUT SPAM BOTS

What happened to comment spam? The usual adverts for Viagra and Vicodin are being blocked by anti-spam software and so robots that send out spam are trying another tactic. They're now leaving gloomy, grumbling statements that have nothing to do with the product they're spamming about. They range from specific gripes about the state of the world to more random melancholia...

What we don't understand is the psychology behind these messages. It's as if the spam bots tried striking up a conversation about sex and money to get us to click, but we rejected them. Are they now trying to draw us in by relating to our collective ennui instead? Or maybe spam has evolved a social conscience? Who knows?

Here are a few samples...

These link to debt reduction advice

I just don't have much to say right now, but I guess it doesn't bother me. Basically nothing seems worth thinking about. Nothing notable happening these days. Shrug. Not that it matters. My mind is like a void. I've basically been doing nothing , not that it matters. More or less nothing going on. I guess it doesn't bother me. Not much on my mind.

The school paddle is, is not an effective instrument to deal with bad students

This one links to a site about roads:

I feel like a fog, not that it matters. I've pretty much been doing
nothing , but eh. Today was a loss. I haven't gotten much done for a while.

This one links to info about loans:

I haven't been up to much today. What can I say? I can't be bothered with anything lately. I just don't have anything to say these days, but eh. I don't care. 

We are killing the rainforest 

animals don't belong in zoos

This one links to employment tips

The Aging Population Hurts The Economy

This links to ringtones:

There are too many, not enough handicapped parking spaces in our city

These link to art supplies:

Buyers of guns must take gun-safety courses

The quality of education is, is not lower than 15 years ago

Comments

[JOCKO]

I don't have much of an opinion on these robots...
Or much of an opinion on anything lately, just an endless void... nothingness...

YOU WANNA BUY SOME DILDOS?

http://www.dear-lady.com/dildos.cgi?WORD=GD_G2_dildos

[shocked middle class westerner]

JOCKO deserves a medal

[patrickteque]

these nihilistic spam bots remind me of 89% of those livejournal things.

[mrhepburn]

sounds like Thom Yorke.

[Jason Barnes]

It's funny, I just wrote a blog post about this stuff, too. http://jayandsilentrob.com/2007/09/27/covert-comment-spam/

I link to another post, and people give a whole range of suggestions as to why comment spam has gone in this direction, but I think it's a pretty clever attempt to get inbound links.

[noyes]

its fucking awesome. and about time they were honest about this sort of thing. good on em.

[N]

All of that apathetic text is from an old internet meme from brunching.com. It's called "the apathetic journal entry generator". I can't believe no one remembers it!

[penis]

my favorite was when I got this spam email that read "KNOCK DOWN TREES WITH YOUR HUGE COCK" in the subject... I couldn't stop laughing. Glad that one got through the filter.

[my love for you.]

shrug.