On each of the last few mornings, I've logged onto OS and found a lot of spam that was posted in the early morning hours. I flagged a lot. I suspect that some other folks did, too.

I also sent Kerry a message thanking him for taking more and faster action on spammers and suggesting that they add a feature allowing us to flag individuals whose only activity is making spam comments on people's blog posts. I named a few of them and expressed a wish that they be deleted.

Just doing my small part to help clean up OS...

I'll avoid suggesting Kool & the Gang's musical cliche in celebration. How about this instead? And this. TGIF!

Deleting spam is still a manual task. Mon-Fri 9-5, the editors delete it. 24x7 a small group of volunteers delete it when they are around and when they want to spend their time on it.

You blogged too soon. They're back! R

Yeah, they're back...but it's only a LITTLE bit of spam. Fried and with a bit of mustard it can be a tasty snack.

Spam is back! When we migrate to WordPress, its over. I do appreciate the folks who fight it. But the low turnout here is not helping. Read and write me hearties!

I'm just done today. It was pool therapy day!

99.9 percent of the time, when I see it, I sent the comment spammers to Emily aka Ed I Tor and usually the next day, when she gets in, it goes bye bye, the spammers, not my messages, that's when I suggest a person for EPs!! ~:D

TRYING TO FIGHT THE SPAMMERS!! ARRRRRRRRR!!!!!

ugh, it's all spam all the time right now :/ great, no people on just bots
given my mood that is probably for the best

Julie, time to kill things in vid- game mode? :D

mmm, something perhaps a bit more...
whoa, I wandered off looking for those Japanese sex games to link to, and ended up (somehow) looking at knickers on Etsy
that was so much fun :D
Thanks Tink, you made my night!

It was just waiting for you to go to bed. France vs. Wales - don't miss it!

zuma plenty where I am... zrhsd justed posted the football game...

The spam is so much better!

Oh for the glorious days of yore, when spam was the rage. How will I know what football team is playing in Bulgaria or Uzbekistan without it?

Place is crawling with spam this morning. I've flagged several rows now, but they're back in seconds with the same bullshit. I tag each one with a different adjective, e.g. toxic spam, hideous spam, unhealthy spam, insulting spam, etc. Keeps my adjective muscles exercised and might amuse whoever monitors the flag database. Was wondering this morning if anybody works on weekends. They could pay the maintenance staff a little extra to kill some spam on their lunch breaks, maybe.

It's all about football today. ~r

This is for you, darlin':

Okay, I was trying to post the Monty Python Spam skit (available on YouTube) but, alas, the comment filter must have thought it was spam.

I flagged a bunch the other day at Ann's suggestion. I am glad whoever is handling it appears to be handling it.

The first commenter. Thanks.
I didn't think Kerry could hear.
I thought he speak a`Mandarin.
`
Spam is left-over from WW2.
Maybe they feed Wall Street.
No feed troops Spam. Fish`
Chowder. Give Peace Chance.
Kerry never answers my mail.
He reads it to the FBI. Halibut.
I think Polock fish is so nasty.
It's salty. Awful. Ugh.
Kerry put down pants.
He boil halibut with a`
orange carrot. Kale?

It back!!!

I am not prone to envy, but do feel considerably envious that you got to visit OS and find it spam free, if even for a moment. I can only imagine how lovely that must have been.

Oh yes, it was like a bloggers dream...it was like WordPress! I floated in a haze of wonderment through the beautiful articles and stunning photos...

sigh....

The bad cartoon above... why on earth does the Satyr have pubic hair? Not just a few hairs, but a ferocious mound of it. Very troubling.

I checked out the piece about Bad Titles. Good stuff. The bad title examples, ha, what a horror show.

Titling, ugh, it's a trial and error process, I guess. Sometimes even a good title which perfectly explains what one is about to read, can be a bad title in getting a reader to click or pick up a book, even if they are certain to love the piece.

One of my friend's parody books had a perfect title for the contents within, but apparently it was too perfect and many of the bookstores put it in the wrong section. Cost him sales. But there truly was no better title for his book than the one he chose.

I fully agree that Bait&Switch is bad form. Then comes the tricky titling of Satire. If the article is a satirical one, an aura of bait&switch can be hard to avoid. Unless a title is leading you to the Onion or Satire Wire where you already know it's going to be a comedic/faux story.

As you know, I KNOW you know, the writers who learn by trial and error still make error, just less frequently. Same with the editors. I for one try to avoid editing jobs and only take them when writing jobs are scarce. I hate having to re-title someone's work as I know it could make or break the piece. The potential "break" part is what I hate, of course. But so often writer's are too close to their own material and lose sight when it comes to tight titling. Damn titles!

Good piece and I hope it helps those struggling with titles. Personally, no matter how long I've been titling, it's still a struggle, a private one though, and I imagine it always will be. DAMN TITLES!

If I can find the footage of Sting explaining the absurd titles of all the Police albums, I'll send it to you. You will get a good laugh! And maybe be appalled too ;)

NOTE: spam sucks here, but so does the fact that OS won't let us use "target - blank" code for links. It makes me not want to link, no one wants to lose a reader. Sure wish they'd allow that simple code here. It benefits them as well as all the writers. Boo Hoo

Just got back after being gone most of the day. Noticed Joan's FB comment about the feed being jammed with college football spam posts. Wow, she really wasn't kidding. I flagged several, but they're coming so fast right now that, by the time I flag one and go back to the feed, at least 5 more have popped up after it. Yikes!