Sama Zama

Forgive me this one little digression.

Now that people have been “cut,” I feel like this is becoming the American Idol of anime blogging. Consoling the losers, and possibly creating an elitist blogging community of the “best…” which is measured by pageview stats. I am not trying to criticize Jason or Blogsuki or the community in particular. I think he has his own rationale for doing what he’s done, and I love his blog and the most popular blogs on the feed; I don’t hold anything against them. I can’t even propose a good solution to the convolution of blogs. I am just expressing my fears for the future.

I feel like I have been taking my spot on Blogsuki for granted this whole time. From the very beginning, I was included. But now, like Hung, I also feel paranoid. “Will I be cut?” I think writers need to remember that our blogs existed before Blogsuki. And they will continue to exist, until we decide to shut them down (or until we exceed bandwidth after a 500 screeny post!) But it is still a scary concept, since most of my readers only became aware of me since Blogsuki.

And, as narcissistic as it may be…yes, I do want readers. Yes, I want my writing to be read. Yes, I love attracting wonderful regulars like eurys and Wyk72. Bloggers are only human. To have a blog or book or any published work is to be read. This is a natural desire. One could say the entire blogging hobby is a selfish one. Why do you blog? To post YOUR opinions up. So others can read them. Is that not egocentric in itself?

I think the readers and the bloggers are equally important and are in equal standing. Not just readers. Not just bloggers. Without readers, would bloggers blog? Without blogs, would readers read? It’s a very mutual relationship. Thus, I think it’s important that readers are kept aware of old and new blogs, budding or lasting.

I have held my tongue about this issue except for my own comments on the various Blogsuki posts, but I want to say something now, especially since people like tjhan have been cut. I refrain from posts that include a lot of personal information , mass duplication, or very narrowed interests (i.e. this one since it is tailored to the Blogsuki community, mainly bloggers). In fact, this post seems sillier the more I type. But I think some discussion should be opened up once more (what’s new?), just for discussion’s sake. (Or maybe solutions?)

We should hear from some readers this time. This mini Blogsuki-crisis, (which is probably blown way of out proportion, right?) is much more devastating to bloggers than it is readers. But you never know. How do you feel about the situation? Vent and forget.

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From Today Onward, You’re a Host
今日から君はホスト

Shounen-ai, comedy, romance, gender confusion? Hell. Yes. So what is Saria’s favorite new series? That’s right, you guessed it.

• Synopsis

“Haruhi is a poor girl in a rich kids’ school. She only got to go there because of a scholarship. She happens upon the Host Club when she is looking for a place to study quietly. After getting there, she breaks an $80,000 vase. After which, she is forced to work at the club to pay off the debt. The only problem is that the members don’t realize she’s a girl…” (ANN).

Read the rest . . .

There has been a little poking around in the blog好き forums about comment and trackback spam, but nothing terribly in-depth about the personality of their spam. Most discussions about spam begin with, “Hey my site is totally spammed, what do I do?” and end with, “Askimet. Now.”

The majority of bloggers are aware that Askimet is one of the best antispam plugins or doohickies out there. (If this is your first hearing of it, I suggest an install). But even Askimet makes mistakes, and so I review all the comments “caught” as spam before actually deleting them. If I see anything other than a bolded phrase that usually makes no sense, I double-check the comment. While perusing the other day, I found some interesting attempts by the bot of a Russian air conditioner distributor. His name is Tom.

“Don’t walk behind me, I may not lead. Don’t walk in front of me, I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.” The URL was questionable, but for a moment, I thought that perhaps this was an abstract post expressing some opinion about either the writing or the blog itself. Then I visited the Russian site demanding in angry, forceful tones that I purchase their expensive cooling equipment.

In the past few days, I have come upon other bizarre spam comments that have nothing to do with blogging or air conditioners. The majority of the disguised spam, however, involves a lot of flattery. That is, bots telling me how awesome my site is. “Perfect site! Anything superfluous, all is laconic and beautiful. Thanks!” Now, I like my ass kissed as much as the next person, but having a robot do it kind of creeps me out. And it lowers my self-esteem. I read the comments before I realized they were spam, raising my hopes that someone had decided to compliment my mad blogging skrillz, my smile beaming and my cursor anticipating a “Not Spam” check. Alas, it was just Panasonic and the viagra dealer.

Though I shouldn’t complain too much. Brown-nosing spammers are a lot more pleasant than the 500 or so short-phrased advertisements followed by an ellipsis. See: creampie cuckold… and laser quit smoking…. Not only do their daily 20 comments become annoying, but creampie cuckold sounds like possibly the most vile dessert one could fathom, and quitting smoking using lasers sounds more harmful than lung cancer.

• Discussion Time!

Most of the spam sounds like completely made up advertisements, so what are the logistics behind those kind of bots? Does anyone know how spam comments function other than the obvious putting out URLs? What about those fake blogs that contain condensed, incomprehensible information about one subject? How do people make money like that? And who writes these bots, anyway? Any interesting spam of your own to share?

• And the Prestigious Bizzaro Award goes to…

“Hey, this is a great episode. Really great music and the talk is funny and helped me get through a really boring hour in the airport. Keep up the great work and try to have some more shows with Jasper, they are really rockin’ and very funny.”

This bot may have something going for it. If only I knew anything about Jasper…