My Letter of Complaint to the Management: it Worked!
I just fired this off to TPM via the e-mail address at the top.
UPDATE: They're GONE! Yea! Cheer! Hat in the Air, and Thank you, kind TPM managers, editors, and the like.
My dander is back down. Now if I only had as much control over my dandruff (sigh).
Greetings, to whomever gets this: I wrote yesterday about two spam posts--advertisements in the form of advertisements. They remained up all day. Nothing was done.Today I sign on and There are Fourteen of them: 12 related to mortgages and one to refinancing automobiles and one to survey software. This means fourteen reader posts have been scrolled off the front page. If you want to kill reader blogging, all you need to do is do nothing. I for one will not post again until these leeches are expunged. Except, perhaps, to post my discontent at TPM inaction in this matter.I'm now off to post this to management blogs as a comment. I don't often get my dander up...but it's up now.
UPDATE: They're GONE! Yea! Cheer! Hat in the Air, and Thank you, kind TPM managers, editors, and the like.
My dander is back down. Now if I only had as much control over my dandruff (sigh).
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I sent them something to the same effect a few minutes ago. I really hope they do something about this.
June 25, 2009 9:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
No wonder my post was up there for only a few hours.
June 25, 2009 5:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Not trying to provoke anything here, Mike, but I think you ought to ask for a full refund. Get back every penny you've paid for the ability to read TPM and blog and comment.
Oh yeah.
I understand your frustration about the ads and the blog posts. But monitoring it takes people and those people have to be paid. Whether management that decides removing ad-related blog posts is up a priority above everything else is up to them. Getting indignant about a free service seems, well, ungrateful for the fact that it exists in the first place.
June 25, 2009 9:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm just curious if there's any way to monitor spam posts without actual people - isn't there some technological method of doing so?
June 25, 2009 10:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
CAPTCHA?
June 25, 2009 11:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
Perhaps I didn't make my self clear enough. The one's I'm referring to as leeches are not the paid advertisements. They help to keep TPM Free. The Spam adds in the blog column provide TPM nothing at all. They compete unfairly with the people who actually pay to advertise here.
Reader content actually supports TPM because folks like myself check in to read it, and this elevates the number of hits and ad revenues.
BTW--I date back to the days when TPM held a fundraiser in order to get this service started. I chipped in my %50.00 bucks then, and if it took subscriptions to remove these leeches I'd be happy to pay again.
aMike.
p.s. I'm not going to ask for my $50.00 back.
June 25, 2009 10:13 AM | Reply | Permalink
I chipped in $25.
Big spender.
June 25, 2009 9:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Some of us have actually donated to TPM, but that's beside the point. 14 spam ads in one day is ridiculous, whether the site is free or not.
June 25, 2009 10:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think Josh Marshall/TPM in general are open to criticism and hearing ways to make the site better. They are the service-providers and we are the consumers of advertisement. They would not take issue with the fact that we are complaining about all of these annoying spam posts.
June 25, 2009 10:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
Um, the best and most reliable way is doing exactly what amike did.
Firing off an email, and blogging to get others to follow suit.
It's hardly ungrateful, it's extremely helpful, good grief! Someone kick your kat this morning?
...and, thanks amike. You rawk
June 25, 2009 9:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
We're trying to track these down. Versha is out of town and Sanford has our staff stretched the last two days, but feel free to email us links to any posts you see.
June 25, 2009 10:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thank You Andrew. I know you guys do the best you can. Sorry I got a little ruffled.
June 25, 2009 12:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Sanford has our staff stretched", who's proofreading? LMAO
June 25, 2009 12:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, I think we just had a blog from Al last week as they were taking steps to try to prevent the type of post in question. Guess it still needs work.
June 25, 2009 11:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
Is it only my computer?
When I read certain postings, particular words are underlined. And then at times they pop up over the text I am reading.
I have tried to clean up my computer, with internet options. I delete all files and all cookies then using LavaSoft Adaware I scan my entire harddrive, I then reboot as directed.
The words in peoples threads are again green in color and double underlined.
Is it my computer only or are others seeing this same phenomenon?
Becoming more prevalent since last Saturday.
I also keep getting this voice over my computer about how to make money on Google.
Does this come from my linking to TPM?
Help me, is this harmless or malicious?
June 25, 2009 1:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
The easiest thing for just anybody is being mean and nasty'
How about being kind and gracefull. That is not easy as being mean.
Lets all pull our gourage together and become kind and gracefull . I feel that if we practise and teach our children right things we could slowly change this our beloved U.S.A to a better place.
Shall we try?
June 25, 2009 6:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Politics ain't beanbag.
The Hello Kitty blog is elsewhere.
June 25, 2009 9:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
They're baaaaack!
Tamadol, Car Loans, Satisfaction Survey, and even a regular poster selling TEA!
June 26, 2009 9:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
THEY'RE BACK!
June 26, 2009 9:16 AM | Reply | Permalink