8 Ways to Sunday

As a result of the growing comment spam problem, I’ve had to start taking a hard line against commercial content in my comments. So far I’ve been doing this according to a set of rules that I hadn’t bothered to write down anywhere, but that’s changing as of today. I’m going to supply a link to this post at the top of the comment form, so everyone should be clear on what the rules are.

This action was prompted by a comment posted today, which was on-topic and friendly in tone but clearly advertised a piece of software that the commenter was selling. I realize that this is a real gray area, so I e-mailed the commenter to tell him why I was deleting his remarks.

Here is my message to that commenter, which will serve as a statement of policy and case-in-point for future comments:

[name withheld],

Since your comment was advertising a product of yours, I’ve deleted it from my weblog as excessively spammy. Your intention may have been merely to be helpful, but the unending flood of comment spam has forced me to take a hard line against commercial messages in my comments.

My informal comment policy — which I’ll be posting someplace obvious on my weblog as soon as I get the time — has been as follows:

1. Comments obviously advertising a product to which the commenter is linked will likely be considered spam.
2. Commenters who enter a commercial or sales-oriented web site as their URL in the comment form will are likely to be considered spammers.
3. I use the word “likely” in these rules because the decision is ultimately up to me, and that decision is final.
4. Any off-topic, hostile, overly vulgar, or trolling comments are fodder for immediate deletion.

I do appreciate you stopping by my blog. I want you to know that you are welcome to return and make additional comments, provided that they are in keeping with the policy described above. Additional comments in violation of the policy will result in your domain name and / or IP address being added to my blacklist.

Regards,
Adam Messinger

I ask that all my visitors please keep these simple guidelines in mind as they compose their comments. Thanks.

"ashton_kutcher.jpg" — one of the many images allegedly stolen

Om Malik — ever a source of juicy gossip and inside scoopage — has reported that Paris Hilton’s voice mail and T-Mobile Sidekick data has been cracked and publicly released on the Web.

Her address book, text messages, notes, and dozens of camera-phone pictures — including some apparent naked lesbian action — have been making the rounds since early this week. Word has it that her celebrity buddies are pissed at being forced to change their phone numbers because of the break-in.

How did this happen? T-Mobile makes the information users collect on their Sidekicks available to them on the Web, protected only by a password. Users are allowed to set a security question so that they can change the password if they’ve forgotten it. Chances are you’re familiar with such questions yourself — “Where did you go to school?”; “What is your mother’s maiden name?”; “What is your favorite pet’s name?”; etc. Paris chose the pet-related question, and everyone knows how strongly she feels about her Chihuahua, Tinkerbell. Poor, dim Paris. Don’t you know you have to be careful with such things when you’re (in)famous?

The story doesn’t end yet, however. While polishing off this entry I checked back at Om’s blog, only to discover that Ms. Hilton is now the subject of mobile phone virus that’s making the rounds. The virus promises naked pictures of Hilton, but deletes all the data on your phone instead.

You have to feel a little bit bad for someone who’s gone through so much, but then again she brought so much of this on herself by failing to protect her information that it’s hard not to laugh. And how sorry can you feel for a millionaire heiress and television starlet, really?

Schadenfreude, thy name is Paris Hilton.

(Props: Photo Matt)

Updates:

• 3/1/2005 at 11:52 AM — MSNBC technology correspondent Bob Sullivan goes into detail about the security flaws that made Paris’s voice mail easy to crack. You could be at risk yourself, particularly if you are a Sprint, T-Mobile, or Cingular customer.

It’s a blog. About free fonts. As if the eleven hundred I already have wasn’t enough.

Don’t they have support groups for people like me?

(Props: Geek Grrl. Damned enabler. )

In a review that surprised the hell out of me (no pun intended), evangelical Christian magazine Relevant has given the new Keanu Reeves flick Constantine a big thumbs-up. Recognizing the movie’s similarities to the Biblical books of Job and Revelation, author Kevin Miller praises the film for presenting highly relevant spiritual questions in an entertaining context:

While the theology of this film is far from orthodox, the themes and questions it raises are a different story. Few Christian films have done a better job of depicting the difference between works and grace. And few mainstream films offer such a strong affirmation of the spiritual dimension of life, showing it to be every bit as real and consequential as the physical. Constantine also addresses a number of spiritual questions that seem particularly pressing at this point in time, questions like “Is God good?” “Does He have a plan for me?” “Is He out to get me?” “Is He even there?” and “What must I do to be saved?”

An image from the film “Constantine”

It’s an interesting perspective on the film, coming from an interesting publication. Relevant represents the crystallization of what I’ve seen as a growing trend in the the last few years: evangelical Christians of my generation and a little older who’ve opened themselves and their faith up to all aspects of politics and pop culture, rather than walling themselves off from the world.

While I’m not an evangelical Christian myself, this is a refreshing change that I hope to see more of. Such an outlook can only be beneficial to relations between those of all faiths.

As for Constantine, I thought it was a lot of fun and definitely more thoughtful than your typical Hollywood religio-action thriller. I’ll try to get a full review up sometime soon.

(Props: The Revealer)

Updates:

• 3/1/2005 at 2:45 PM — This is also a guest post on Stupid Evil Bastard.

I was just sifting through my “suspected spam” folder (helpfully classified by SpamBayes), when I ran across one of those rare spams that make you chuckle. I’d received a message from “Adult Dating Network” with the subject “Re: About our hook-up deathwand.”

I know spammers are in the habit of using random text and nonsense words to evade filters, but deathwand? That’s the last word that would make me want to click on a sexually explicit message. Sounds dirty and psychotic all at once.