I was previous amused by the effect of keywords on my (temporary) readership, and should not be surprised that such traffic spikes also result in increased spam. I’m particularly irritated by this one (for which I’ve removed the name of the site out of desire to not give them any free publicity):
Hey all,
Thank you for your suggestions they are great! I have been using a site called (beep) to brush-up on my Spanish…I need to become fluent for my career! With (beep), you can learn a language naturally by conversing with native speakers via video chat. It’s a great way to practice a new language and you can also make friends from all over the world. They offer flashcards, videos and the forum for free. The video tutoring does have a small fee but you pick the tutor and the price!
What irritates me?
1) If my suggestions are so great, why I am nothing more than a part of “hey all”?
2) I bet you need to brush up for career using (beep), seeing as how you work for (beep). By misreprenting yourself as a user, when it is clear that you are an employee, you only serve to irritate. Maybe this has worked for others, but not a chance for me.
What’s sad is that the site may even be interesting, and I might potentially be interested, but this sort of contact turns me right off, and in the proliferation of great (free) alternatives, you can bet that I won’t be there to tout your service: free, small fee, or otherwise. Sorry (beep), I believe a little Seth Godin quote is in order: “You can’t fool all the people, not even most of the time. And people, once unfooled, talk about the experience. ” But I promise you this: when I talk about it, you can be sure I will avoid giving you any free publicity.
