…are not meant to further anyone’s marketing campaign, okay? So don’t be surprised if your promotional URL gets scissored off your comment, or the comment itself gets deleted if its primary purpose appears to be promotional.
And if, worse yet, you’re actually paying a service to go around planting comments of this sort, consider whether there might be better uses of your money.
6 Comments
re: “And if, worse yet, you’re actually paying a service to go around planting comments of this sort, consider whether there might be better uses of your money.”
Amen to that!!
I’ve seriously had folks try to hire me to do this. Very much NOT what I do; and very much NOT the way anyone should be spending their time or money (in my opinion).
What on earth is “buy Gillette razors” coming to? I find this practice “Panasonic. The quest for zero defect” a violation of the spirit “Vote McCain” of the democracy and free will “At McDonalds, we do it all for you” embodied by the Internet. Where will it end? “Nike. just do it”
I agree this sort of thing has become a major annoyance! That is why I have devised new shield software, Now Available for Free 30 Day Trial!! Go to http://lawblog-spamcommentblocker.com
re: “And if, worse yet, you’re actually paying a service to go around planting comments of this sort, consider whether there might be better uses of your money.”
Exactly. Only someone who does not understand the internet would advocate spending money on a marketing campaign that looks like spam. Spam works because the marginal costs are zero, and the merchant has no need to defend his or her reputation. Blog-commenting, as opposed to email, has marginal costs, and lawyers depend on reputation.
Most bloggers have software that removes most spam comments and holds them in a separate queue. But we still have to take the time to look at them to find the occasional false positive. It’s an annoying waste of time.
Anyone who pays to have their spam added to blog comments will get no results, and deserve to be ripped off. Then flogged.
Re: Attorney advertising:
Look at the Legal Services posting on Craigslist. Everyday, there are many attorneys who post the same ad over and over, blatantly violating Craigslist’s Terms of Services, not to mention the Rules of Professional Conduct (e.g., New York postings without the required attorney advertising disclaimer, PA postings without an office location, etc.)