Spam Bots and CAPTCHAs

Here’s a not-so-funny joke that actually has a whole lot more to do with protecting your blog from spam than you might think. The joke is from the article discussed in my last blog entry. If you recall I said I’d speculate on the meaning of this joke next time around. So here’s the joke for all you who’ve not taken time to read Ned’s article about a simple way to protect your site:

Jim and Joe are out hiking in the forest, when in the distance, they see a huge bear. The bear notices them, and begins angrily running toward them. Jim calmly checks the knots of his shoes and stretches his legs. Joe asks incredulously, “What are you doing? Do you think you can outrun that bear!?” Jim replies, “I don’t have to outrun the bear, I just have to outrun you.”

When it comes to locking your blog down from SPAM attacks, you don’t have to own the most secure blog in town; it just has to be more secure than the other blogs being chased by the same bear.

Volume cures a multitude of sins or, in the case of spammers, volume causes a multitude of sins. Spammers depend on being able to get their crappy messages posted to as many blogs as possible in the shortest amount of time. Like the bear, they’re going to catch the slowest “runners.” They don’t have the time or the patience to go after the quicker guys.

It’s the same for your average house burglar. It’s pretty near impossible to fully burglar-proof a home against someone who is determined to break into it. However, unless your home is specifically targeted by a thief who knows exactly what’s inside and is determined to get at it, decent locks and an alarm system are going to send the burglar scurrying off to another house down the street that’s less protected.

So I ask you: Are your sneaker’s tied? I hope so because for a spammer, it’s much more profitable to skip the sites protected by ATC; it’s much cheaper and easier to spam the unprotected ones!