The Vandals are coming! And this time they're after your wallets.
It's a new form of insidious spam and like its inbred email cousin, it's staggeringly stupid.
People are vandalizing "Wikis" in an attempt to get free advertising for their business.
First, what's a wiki?
If you're not familiar with this little web phenomenon, you should immediately dig in and learn. "Wiki" (pronounced "wee kee") is Hawaiian for "quick." And quick it is. The word is used on the web for a page that *anyone* can edit.
When I first heard of this concept I immediately thought "there is no way it will work - it will be utter chaos" but the mass proliferation of wikis and their clear success have proven me wrong.
The medium lends itself to some amazing ideas. For example, the "wikipedia" project is an online encyclopedia that anyone can edit. It's surprisingly accurate and useful.
Alas, as with all great things on the Internet, there are forces out there ready and willing to muck it up for everyone.
A "wiki vandal" is someone who goes to a wiki and posts erroneous information. Sometimes this is for fun (like posting your boss's phone number and sexual habits under a wiki entry about "bondage" - hehe), sometimes it's for damage (like totally erasing an entry just because you are bitter about life), and sometimes it's for advertising (like editing an entry with links to your bazillion dollar business "op*ortunity").
Luckily, there are people out there watching the wikis who will change erroneous information quickly. However, sometimes the vandalism is hard to catch and it sticks.
Now, if the wiki vandals were smart, they'd create a relevant encyclopedia entry about themselves and link to it from other wiki entries.
Do it relevantly and intelligently enough and it may just stick and bring you some appropriate attention.
But, of course, we're talking about spammers here, and there is already an encyclopedia entry for "Down's Syndrome."
Copyright 2004 Val Halla
About The Author
Val Halla researches Internet Marketing Oddities. You can be alerted when she discovers something odd enough and important enough to merit your attention when you visit her site: http://www.webgodessvalhalla.com. She may be reached at: http://www.webgodessvalhalla.com
Chicago limo Skokie ..What comes to your mind when you think about your... Read More
You are familiar with the software applications that you run... Read More
A friend asked me: I don't get it. Why do... Read More
Spam is out of control! I guess that would be... Read More
Effectively stopping spam over the long-term requires much more than... Read More
It seems like the volume of email spam has doubled... Read More
Are you tired of spam stealing your time, your money,... Read More
About a month ago I had the privilege of giving... Read More
Until recently, spam has been an annoyance, a definite load... Read More
RSS is the answer to the Spam epidemic of the... Read More
This review is taken DIRECTLY from a piece of "junk... Read More
Do you get bounced, or rejected emails sent by someone... Read More
With the number of spam filtering solutions increasing each week... Read More
A blacklist, as the name implies, is a list of... Read More
Spam. Those annoying, time-consuming emails that clog your Inbox and... Read More
Stop intrusive pop-up ads and regain control of your online... Read More
If you're anything like me, you're pretty sick of it,... Read More
A friend of mine received a chilling email message from... Read More
Junk e-mail or spam has become the scourge of the... Read More
Before we start getting deep into the meat of this... Read More
There are hundreds of thousands of people who are trying... Read More
Email is rapidly becoming the standard means of communication among... Read More
2004 was really a year when the whole subject of... Read More
Your message is not being delivered.If you send emails to... Read More
Spam can bring down your website faster than a speeding... Read More
limo O'Hare Bonfield ..Junk mail works. Why does it work? How does it... Read More
Death by spam is now possible with a new device... Read More
Effectively stopping spam over the long-term requires much more than... Read More
5 Ways Spam Is Affecting Your Business And what we... Read More
Email is the quintessential business communication tool, so when it... Read More
Are you tired of spam stealing your time, your money,... Read More
How would you feel if you found a link on... Read More
E-mails now have a connection back to their servers. I... Read More
A hearty welcome to all the spam fighting filters and... Read More
Email is rapidly becoming the standard means of communication among... Read More
Until recently, spam has been an annoyance, a definite load... Read More
What's the big deal? All you read on the internet... Read More
Even being as careful as possible with my email address,... Read More
My friends in the web hosting business have recently informed... Read More
It's no secret that the US economy has slowed down,... Read More
In a word Bayesian spam filters are "intelligent". Bayesian spam... Read More
I'm sure you find spam just as frustrating and annoying... Read More
If you've been around the interenet any length of time... Read More
I. BACKGROUNDThe CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (Controlling the Assault of... Read More
Each day we all face the same challenge. Spam. It... Read More
The lifeblood of the spammer is email. They need to... Read More
You all tear your hair out in frustration every time... Read More
While the Federal Trade Commission is busy fighting over definitions... Read More
Spam can be a lot more damaging than you might... Read More
For years I didn't worry much about spam.But lately it's... Read More
Spam Blocking |