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How NOT to Comment on Blogs (Dude, you’re busted)

by Dave Doolin on December 8, 2009 · 36 comments

(Reading time: 1 – 2 minutes)

Had any of your blog comments ripped off lately?

A few weeks ago I stumbled across the following little gem, and stashed it away for future use. It was going into a giant missive on blog commenting, but it’s much better enjoying the blog post limelight by itself.

How not to leave a comment on a popular blog

From ProBlogger, October 26 2009:

Jan Geronimo, as usual, provides a nice, informative comment:

Jan Geronimo's comment

Jan Geronimo's comment

Jan’s comment was so inspiring, someone else decided to recycle it:

Unbelievable!  Outright theft!

Unbelievable! Outright theft!

I’m jealous. Nobody recycles my comments!

What do you think? Are you a comment recycler? Have you had your comments recycled?




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{ 36 comments }

Deacon December 8, 2009 at 5:16 pm

WTF?!?
I don’t get it. Strange.
…i wish my comments were good enough so someone would rip them off.
Deacon´s last blog ..Thinking in layers, Part 2: Order Matters My ComLuv Profile

Dr Wordpress! December 8, 2009 at 5:18 pm

@Deacon – I know!

I’m just green with envy.
Dr Wordpress!´s last blog ..Playing The Host: A Quick Intro to Wordpress MU My ComLuv Profile

Rose December 8, 2009 at 5:29 pm

Actually I did find someone commenting on blogs as me. None of the comments were bad, but I found it strange someone was promoting my site as me. lol
Rose´s last blog ..How to add a falling snow effect to your Blogger Blog My ComLuv Profile

Dr Wordpress! December 8, 2009 at 5:32 pm

@Rose – Now I’m really miffed!

I want a piece of this action too!
Dr Wordpress!´s last blog ..Playing The Host: A Quick Intro to Wordpress MU My ComLuv Profile

Mike Crimmins December 8, 2009 at 9:04 pm

I’ve seen something really similar on my blog, except that the person copying the comment would change the url in the website field and add another line like…PS great post. It almost got past me.
Mike Crimmins´s last blog ..2009 Coffee News – Everything From Coffee Wars To Coffee Viagra My ComLuv Profile

Extreme John December 12, 2009 at 2:03 pm

you can add me to that list as well. I have all kinds of funny things that go on in my comments, some of it I play along with and some of it I smash. Just depends how I feel.
Extreme John´s last blog ..14 Ways to Get More Blog Engage Votes My ComLuv Profile

Dr Wordpress! December 8, 2009 at 9:47 pm

@Mike – That’s pretty lazy. You’d think they would at least find a really high traffic blog for demonstrating their devotion.
Dr Wordpress!´s last blog ..Playing The Host: A Quick Intro to Wordpress MU My ComLuv Profile

jan geronimo December 8, 2009 at 11:29 pm

What! Very amusing that even my grammatical errors were copied. Perhaps he was mocking me? LOL.

This happened too in my blog. My friend alerted me to a reader who left a comment that was a mishmash of several comments. Of course, I deleted it.

Jena Isle December 9, 2009 at 2:10 am

This is unbelievable, Dave!
Jan, should I be green with envy or what?!! But for someone copying your comment, it only means one thing- it was brilliant that they wanted the accolade for themselves. Shame on them!
Jena Isle´s last blog ..How to Earn Extra Money This Christmas My ComLuv Profile

Jim Clary December 9, 2009 at 8:47 am

I haven’t had this happen to me that I am aware of but I suppose it would be kind of flattering.
Jim Clary´s last blog ..What You Should Do if Your Application to be an Affiliate is Rejected? How to Get Approved for the Programs You Want to Promote on Your Website My ComLuv Profile

Dr Wordpress! December 9, 2009 at 8:57 am

@Jan – I’m surprised nobody else picked up on it. What does that say about our commenting habits?

@Jena – Some people are shameless. Sometimes, this is a good thing. Other times, not so much.

@Jim – Yeah, the alternative is to get all bent out of shape. I’m a big fan of getting bent of shape, at least once in a while, but in this case poking good natured fun at the perp seems more appropriate.
Dr Wordpress!´s last blog ..Playing The Host: A Quick Intro to Wordpress MU My ComLuv Profile

Ching Ya December 9, 2009 at 9:51 am

Quality comment been copied, wow, I’ll call that a content-theft for microblogging. ^^ I’m not surprised as Jan has always been expressive and well appreciated for his insights. It’s really an eye-opener that even comments can be stolen.

NO way he’s mocking you in anyway, Jan. Impossible. ^^ But I do agree with Jena – (double) shame on them. sigh.. Thanks for Dr. Wordpress for acknowledging us that.

@wchingya
Social/Blogging Tracker
Ching Ya´s last blog ..8 Lessons Derived from Vacation to Boost Your Blogging Experience My ComLuv Profile

Dr Wordpress! December 9, 2009 at 12:27 pm

@Ching Ya – You just have to wonder what in the world he was thinking. Maybe he wasn’t thinking?

BTW, I love your accent! Your voice rings like bell, clear through internets!

Dr Wordpress!´s last blog ..Playing The Host: A Quick Intro to Wordpress MU My ComLuv Profile

Mark December 9, 2009 at 2:41 pm

That’s an outrage lol. Some people just don’t care.
Mark´s last blog ..YouTube’s Countdown of The Most Memorable Videos of 2009 My ComLuv Profile

Holly Jahangiri December 9, 2009 at 3:35 pm

David, it’s a good thing you saw this and made fun of it first, because I’ll admit, it got my dander up just reading it. Little p1$$@^7 b@$7@`9! ;)

Okay, okay – I guess I was the one who suggested the whole “don’t get mad, get even – humiliate them publicly” approach with Ivan Mor Smirnoff, but still. The Mama Tiger in me is ready to punch this creep.
Holly Jahangiri´s last blog ..Win an Autographed Copy of A Puppy, Not a Guppy My ComLuv Profile

Dr Wordpress! December 9, 2009 at 4:39 pm

@Holly – My goodness! I know who I’m calling next time somoeone does me dirty on the Interwebs.

Does hubby know how fluent you are in l337?
Dr Wordpress!´s last blog ..Playing The Host: A Quick Intro to Wordpress MU My ComLuv Profile

Tinh December 9, 2009 at 5:07 pm

I think quality comment are always come from those who really understand the case and read the post carefully not scanning or skinning. However, sharing the idea is also the best way in building up our relationships :-)

(Actually, spammers are now quite smart and they try to deliver the first comment as much legitimate as possible and when it is approved, it will then deliver spam messages. I keep moderating all comments to keep my blog clean.)
Tinh´s last blog ..Top 3 Christmas Templates for Blogger My ComLuv Profile

Dr Wordpress! December 9, 2009 at 5:11 pm

@Tinh – I’ve been finding a lot of “high quality” comments caught by the Cookies for Comments plugin. It looks like the blog is being scraped, then keywords built into the comment.

At some point I hope all these automated things get confined to their own play space. Then they can spam and scrape each other as much as they want, leaving us in peace.

Wonder if this is how it’s going to be when the machines take over?
Dr Wordpress!´s last blog ..Playing The Host: A Quick Intro to Wordpress MU My ComLuv Profile

Heather Kephart December 10, 2009 at 5:03 am

WTH? Only in Janland, only in Janland. Just shaking my head.
Heather Kephart´s last blog ..That goat’ll hunt! My ComLuv Profile

Ms. Freeman December 10, 2009 at 2:25 pm

WTF! is right! That is the oddest thing, why would they do such a thing? Did they add invisible links to the copied comment or something? I’m not sure what the benefit of doing such a thing is.
Ms. Freeman´s last blog ..Don’t Get Stuck In the Quagmire of Thinking Small My ComLuv Profile

Dr Wordpress! December 10, 2009 at 3:13 pm

@Heather – Jan is one of my favorite folk on the blog circuit.

@Ms F – People are endlessly amusing. I don’t quite get the benefit either, other than he does have a backlink from problogger now… at the cost of public ridicule.
Dr Wordpress!´s last blog ..DIY WordPress: Unraveling Quicktags for WordPress Plugins My ComLuv Profile

Brendan | You're Welcome Cards December 10, 2009 at 10:38 pm

I can’t stand people who throw spam comments up on my websites. I run a few different blogs (all wordpress) and I get a lot of great/useful comments, but it is amazing how many junk comments come through as well. I have to say, if it weren’t for Askimet, I’d probably disable comments altogether on all of my blogs.
You’re Welcome Cards´s last blog ..Cards to Give With Christmas Presents My ComLuv Profile

Dr Wordpress! December 10, 2009 at 10:47 pm

@Brendan – Try adding NoSpamNX and Cookies for Comments. You might find your spam almost disappear with these plugins added to Akismet.
Dr Wordpress!´s last blog ..Playing The Host: A Quick Intro to Wordpress MU My ComLuv Profile

geb0i December 11, 2009 at 2:37 am

wtf! it only means one thing, mr. Jan Geronimo is uber popular nowadays. wow! lol. that’s really cool.

Darren Rowse December 11, 2009 at 2:52 am

thanks – have rectified that :-) Great pick up!
Darren Rowse´s last blog ..A Screamingly Effective Blog Disclosure Policy: How (and Why) To Get One My ComLuv Profile

reyjr December 11, 2009 at 3:02 am

Woot! This is so brilliantly funny I was laughing out loud (hehe, i spelled it out because I didn’t want to say “LOL-ing” because that would make it “Laughing-out-loud-ing”… oh geez! cue rolling eyes.)

Lolo Jan, that’s what you get for leaving a great comment on a popular blog. Hehe. Good thing Dr. Wordpress has very good eyes. woot!
reyjr´s last blog ..Reyjr Travel Blog Log My ComLuv Profile

fjordz December 11, 2009 at 3:09 am

woah! I thought only blog posts are being copied but now, even comments? tsk tsk

DiTesco December 11, 2009 at 5:21 am

Wow, and thinking about protecting our content, now comes this! I am not sure that someone ever copied a comment I posted, but will definitely keep an eye for it, just in case. Then again, I am not a quality commenter like our friend Jan:)
DiTesco´s last blog ..Make Money Using Google’s Analytics Data My ComLuv Profile

Dr Wordpress! December 11, 2009 at 7:02 am

@Geb0i – Jan is the man!

@Darren – We’ve been having a lot of fun with this, almost sorry to see it go.

@reyr – I actually read the comments as well as the blog posts. Sometimes. =)

@fjordz – It’s a Brave New World out there.

@DiTesco – Right. This has got me thinking how I can increase my coolioness so I can have my comments copied as well.
Dr Wordpress!´s last blog ..Watering Holes and Quid Pro Quo – WIAW Week in Review My ComLuv Profile

reyjr December 12, 2009 at 8:03 pm

On some blogs I find comments really interesting and so I read those – but sometimes commenters just leave nonsensical one liners like “Great post!” so I just skip those haha.
reyjr´s last blog ..Reyjr Travel Blog Log My ComLuv Profile

Eric December 22, 2009 at 1:58 pm

I’ve actually never had this happen to me. I guess I’m missing out on the fun! Lol. Well, I think a real comment whether good or bad is better than someone else commenting but then again life is always changing and people need to adapt, right?! lol :)

Dr Wordpress! December 31, 2009 at 11:55 am

I know. I’m hoping someone will do me the honor in 2010!
Dr Wordpress!´s last blog ..Life is Short. What Do You Have to Show for Yourself? My ComLuv Profile

Jane January 7, 2010 at 11:31 am

Ok, now that is just funny and weird! Why not take 2 seconds and write you own comment.. the time it took him to search it, copy and paste it.. he could have been done.
Jane´s last blog ..Credit Problems? Why Have A Clean Credit Report? My ComLuv Profile

Extreme John January 22, 2010 at 3:37 pm

I have been watching my comments for spam a little closer lately with the new tricks that seem to be coming around, also just checked out Lee’s post. Great stuff.
Extreme John´s last blog ..Salon Touch Tech Support Fail My ComLuv Profile

Bert Padilla April 2, 2010 at 12:53 pm

WTH… this is crazy… just thinking if there’s any software that also look at duplicate contents on Comment Section, not just the main content…
Bert Padilla´s last blog ..iPad Apps in Apple Store Video My ComLuv Profile

Dave Doolin April 2, 2010 at 2:26 pm

Bert, in a sense, it’s a high quality problem!

I watch my comments carefully. Pulling the weeds isn’t that hard, once you know what to look for.
Dave Doolin´s last blog ..Make Friends, Make Money, & Make History: Carlos Velez on “how it’s supposed to be” My ComLuv Profile

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