I get a fair amount of spam posted to theAdhocracy. For the most part, it's easy to spot and formulaic (though admittedly increasingly intelligent). Spam comments either thank me for helping solve a problem or just compliment my writing style/ability/content, then state a place, person or website that will help me "grow my website" (or some-such similar phrase). Occasionally, I get the old-school type of copy-pasta spam that just jumbles together a group of phrases ("Please to be meeting your face in the hot jungle with spider cannons"), but most of the time modern spam is eloquent enough and passable for actual human writing.
I've had a few posts that I was 99% sure were spam but which actively addressed something unique to the article or the website in general. A few months ago two comments, on widely disparate posts, both made reference to an error in Internet Explorer when viewing the website. Neither post linked out to or referenced a third party, both used acceptably human names and email addresses, and both were entirely different in phrasing and style, yet addressed the same issue. I'm now certain both are spam (I've seen the same comments on other blogs which don't filter comments) but, weirdly, the problem they were referencing was real. Perhaps it was an issue common to a large number of WordPress websites, which made the message viable, but if the comments contain nothing but a warning... why bother posting them?
Occasionally, though, I get something pretty special. Spam comments which are so clearly not human, yet so weirdly unique, I'm left desperately wanting to know more. One such comment greeted me when I logged in today:
Paige nodded as he handed her Sasha’s tennis ball.
Wait, what? My spam panel showed me that this wasn't even a one-off. I have 17 comments, all from completely different email addresses, all pointing at different products on the same popular clothing website (weirdly, each link was a different search result page for "funny nurse" t-shirts). No two comments are the same, but when strung together in order of posting, they almost make a story. I've Googled a couple of the phrases used and have found them scattered around various other blogs, so this is clearly a spam bot of some kind, but I have no idea what the origin of the text is. Which is a shame, because I'm now actively interested in the world of Paige, Sasha et al. I want to know what "flashing" is; why there appear to be Roman gods knocking about; why Jade is so happy about the catalogues? It reads like excerpts from a 70's sci-fi pulp, and I'd love to know why. Why create a bot that produces this? Was it intentional? Is it picking parts from an actual story or are the phrases completely random, pulling from a set list of names, nouns, verbs etc.? Whatever the reason, the spam will be destroyed, but I felt like preserving the weird little tale it created. So without further ado, here is some Spam Poetry:
Paige walked again to Melody’s station and sat down. Again within the Otherworld Paige and Troy sat in silence. She took Julie’s hand and they flashed to their spot. Monica, don’t worry about getting Paige’s love energy. One after the other they walked by means of, it shut behind Amber. Kelly and Monica appeared with troopers behind them. Amber took Paige into her arms and hugged her tightly. Kelly and Monica appeared with Aphrodite behind them. She locked up and Sasha flashed into the yard. He waved and flashed, Paige turned back to her buddies. She took Julie’s hand and they flashed to their spot. A eating room chair appeared behind her, she sat down. A eating room chair appeared behind her, she sat down. The catalogs landed in Jade’s palms and she smiled. Julie and Zoey dove in and Paige walked over to Wes. Julie and Jake were there to help.” Paige replied. Paige nodded as he handed her Sasha’s tennis ball.
