There are so many types of spam I’m starting to loose track… I check the logs for my web site occasionally. I don’t typically have time to look more than once a week and I don’t have any time to correlate the logs against the articles or do any kind of statistical analysis. I just post what I am thinking about or working on and that’s basically what I have always felt a site like this should be. I guess looking at the logs is just looking for a little external validation…
When I check the logs the number one thing I’m looking for is what sites are referrals coming from. I’m noticing a rising trend: web log spam. Basically, the referrer is a site and that site does not actually refer traffic to my site, but it does oddly enough show up in the logs. There is no trace of my site on the referrer’s site and no malicious attempt on my site is made. Additionally, the referrer doesn’t link to an image specifically but the root of the site, so I know it isn’t funny erroneous use of images from my site (which I also see from time to time). Instead it’s completely illegitimate traffic that seems to have roots in a weird advertising campaign: namely to get me to go to their site.
At first I was rather annoyed. Then I felt like King Midas and thought maybe I should just stay away from my logs. But at the end of the day, I am actually amused and maybe just a little impressed with the originality. It seems there is no shortage of advertising vehicles for those who want me to look at their site badly enough. My own strategy for advertising, in case you hadn’t noticed, is to write bad articles and hope people come back anyways – so they’ve clearly got one up on me!