Spam Trolls

So I didn’t activate #spam protection at all on my #Wordpress site. Although I like to allow comments from friends, allowing comments can be dangerous.

This morning I awoke to find about 90 new comments on a post I created in 2019. Half of them advertising CBD and the other asking for £500 because I used a client photo without permission.

First, if/when I want CBD I can go down the street to a local vendor. I’m not going to buy it from some random vendor on the big bad internet.

Second, I made the mistake of using a protected photo (actually) just part of a photo and Getty images dinged my company for $500 about $15 years ago. Lesson learned. Just because it is on the internet doesn’t mean it is public domain. I now, almost exclusively, use graphics from pixabay.com, unless I take the photo myself. In addition it might have alarmed me if I hadn’t received about 50 of the same warning from 50 different addresses. Volume doesn’t convey authenticity.

So, I’ve corrected my mistake and I’ve activate spam protection. I’ve enabled comments on this post to see how it works. If I learn something new I’ll let you know.