Spammers Beware
It's a dark side kind of day...
A note to the spammers of Vocal,
Now I haven’t posted in a while so this will be a bit of a blindside to the people that know me on here. But I need to get this off my chest. I have had enough of the spammers… I received this spam.
Now, fine, whatever! You want to be like that? So be it, I will ignore you and move on. But not only did this person post this as a comment on one of my stories but they also copy pasted it - spelling mistake and all - to several other people's comments in that story and then also to a comment I made on someone else’s work… I received all the notifications in order in a matter of minutes and this is what this angry Canadian had to say…
It feels a little harsh because usually I try to spread kindness on Vocal but today I have woken up and thusly so has the bear, known as HKB. Now, Donna is pretty tolerant of this crap but the bear isn’t and my new friend here - who shall remain nameless - has woken the bear.
HKB can be a bit of a jerk but I rarely let her out to play if I can help it. Unfortunately for this individual, they have unleased the caged bear and might regret it, especially now that I’m making a post about it.
Now it is well known by my readers that I actually really love feedback and even welcome criticisms if they have any. I may not like what they have to say initially but am capable of hearing them out and using it as a personal/ professional growth opportunity.
I also have no problem with a half-ass comment like “Nice work.” or “Good one.” Because I get it, sometimes it’s hard to pick out something you liked or you just don’t know what to say. But at least you had the decency to put the lipstick on the pig.
Now that’s not to say that isn’t a good comment, I am grateful for all commentary. Even negative, as I said earlier. To me, it’s all good, but this is just plain disrespectful and I won’t take it anymore.
And if you haven’t figured it out by now, this is a rage/ rant journal entry from a Canadian that needed to let off some steam. Because otherwise, I was probably going to lose it. All I ask for is the minimum of respect that you would want from another human being.
So if you don’t want to read my work that’s fine and understandable but don’t spam the majority of us that take pride in our work. As I said in my note to the spammer, you diminish our work and most of all you piss us off to no end.
I put my heart and soul into everything I publish and ask for a glimmer of respect in return. Which isn’t a lot to ask.
So as the title suggests, Spammers Beware because it won’t be sweet Donna replying. It will be HKB and you have officially been warned.
Tread carefully my friends… today is a dark side kind of day and I may not play nicely with others. 😈
____________________________________________________
A Note From the Author:
Apologies for my less than Donna-like journal entry but this had to be done. I have very few regrets other than the fact that this could be humiliating to the individual whose identity I have chosen to hide in this entry. So for that, I apologize but maybe my new friend will learn his lesson. 😊
Sincerely,
HKB
P.S. I want to assure my avid readers that Donna won’t be gone for long, she is just taking a break and will return to spread sunshine tomorrow! Take care and make good choices!.
About the Creator
Donna Fox (HKB)
Thank you for stopping by!! 💚💙💜🩵
If you are interested in longer works by me, I have two books published on Amazon.
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Comments (47)
I'm relatively new to this platform, so I wasn't familiar with the guidelines. Last night, I copied and pasted a link of my work on one of the top stories, you've seen my comment and replied. That's when you left a comment and shared your own link, which I then read. I now feel remorseful for my actions, as I've come to realize that I, too, engaged in spamming by posting links of my work in the comment section. I sincerely apologize for my previous behavior, especially considering my newcomer status on Vocal. I'd also like to express my gratitude for this article, which has enlightened me about the importance of respecting the efforts of others.
Putting your heart and soul into your writing is key to success. When you take your time and effort with your writings, you feel blessed by those who actually take time to read and comment about it. With regards to spammers, I think we all do not like to be spammed incessantly in general. When I wake up and have to spend a significant amount of time just deleting spam, it kind of brings a mellow atmosphere into my space. Anyways, you may check this story out (stress free article): https://vocal.media/longevity/growing-hibiscus-and-improving-my-health Thanks for sharing your story.
Spammers: this is why we can't have nice things.
Congratulations on your Top Story
Okay. I guess the spammer hit a nerve. I on the other hand can understand the desperation that leads to spamming. Vocal is a wonderful find for anyone out there trying to make money online. Some people depend more than others on the hope of generating income online. Even getting 1000 reads to an article for a payout of just above $3 is quite a feat as I've found out. It is not very easy to get people to read what you have written apparently. You seem to have a way of doing that so I suggest maybe you offer to teach spammers how to do it the right way, therefore extinguishing the desperation that leads to spamming. I'd leave a link to my profile but maybe you'd think I'm spamming so, no.
well said :) read my article https://vocal.media/journal/la-bougie-du-sapeur-the-unique-french-humor-magazine-that-lights-up-every-leap-year
You get 'em Donna! Expertly written as always!
Honest question: how does anyone think someone is actually going to go read their story from them pestering the person like this? 😂 great story 👏🏼
Can't heart this enough! Can it remain pinned to Top Story status? *Spammers annoy me to no end*
Awesome. Spammers, Back Off!! They drive me nuts too, honestly.
Understand the frustration, this is wonderfully written!!!! Loved it!!!❤️❤️💕
Blimey. That was some powerful rant. I agree with everything. People using your comments' space for some self-promotion is infuriating. Very, very well said. I am going to defend the "Nice work"-ers because I am one at times but not because I haven't more to say. Sometimes, I just don't have more time to say more. You can see that was not the case here! Subscribed!
Maybe this is unique to me, but it's the spelling and grammar mistakes that bother me the most out of these spam replies. Like, if you're going to be an unpleasant sort, at least run your spam through spell-check, please. Love the Canadian rage though! Have you considered completing our annual ritual early this year? Put the fury into the geese a few months ahead of time to help reduce stress? Full support to you! I too hate spammers -.-
Perfectly said and I totally agree.
I completely agree. I don't post here often and actually get very few reads which is just fine I mostly write for myself but I also get this kind of spam. I hope your rant has some affect on shameless spammers.
I wholeheartedly support this rant. Spammers and plagiarisers are a plague on Vocal. Rant away, HKB. xx
I wonder why people think that spamming other writers comments will get them engagement. To me it feels like they are overeager teenagers who've been gaslit into believing they'll be successful if they just hustle hard enough. I always feel a bit sorry for the person
I totally agree with you. I understand who you are referring to because he has spammed many articles and also comments, including mine. It's a copy and paste. It is annoying and takes away the concentration not only of the author of the article, but also of those who want to write a decent comment. Because you are right when you say that some comments are simple and it is difficult to write something meaningful especially when the comments are already so many and therefore you don't want to repeat things or you don't want to seem superficial. But then you also see spam under your comment 😒 I've been here for a few days and I thought: "no, not like other social media it can't be!" 😭
Very well said!! I’ve see on the leaderboards as well that people who spam our stories are on there, so now they have an incentive to spam comments. Surely this could be something Vocal can monitor 🤷🏻♀️
I like the idea of the alter-ego known as HKB, she sounds like someone I can relate to occasionally. All jokes aside though, I don't have much patience for spammers because they rarely add anything useful to a conversation (in my experience). I have no problem reading and giving feedback, but throwing the same comment over and over before sending a nasty message? Nope, no thanks. Rant or not, this was a fun piece to read to start my Friday morning.
This happened to me on another Fiction site: Received a comment,"Your story is the best thing I've ever read in my life !" My reaction -> [explosion of joy gif] Checked their comment history and saw they wrote the same thing to twenty other stories. [depths of despair gif]
Maybe this person was truly just looking for a good old fashioned sporting and accidentally stumbled on a brilliant piece your wrote? But really, this was very well-articulated. Your tone found the very elusive balance between being charming and bear-like. If this is how HKB sounds, I have subscribed to read more from her/his/their alter ego, Donna. I heard she's really good at sporting and stuff!
Absolutely agree. I adopt just the same policy, including tolerance to the "Nice job!" and "Loved it!" comments because as you say, these might be genuine and it's kindest to give them the benefit of the doubt. For the actual spammers and link-bombers, however, I'm Richard III (that is, "not in a giving vein!") These I merely report right away, which was the fate of my latest gem only this morning: Great story!! It awesome loved and enjoyed every bit of it. checkout my story too (link) Whoever said there aren't any bears in England may be revising that zoological theory soon...!
Well said!
I put my heart and soul into everything I publish. I hear you! These comments are so frustrating… especially when you click on their pages and see generic articles. This is really well written. Go Donna!!