While we're on the delightful subject of spam...

So in an attempt to raise Redsaid's readership amount from five to say, six maybe (I'm sooo fiercely ambitious, aren't I?), I jumped onto the latest trendy blogwagon and joined BlogExplosion.

For those of you who are still blissfully unaware of BlogExplosion and what it does, let me enlighten you.

You join for free, but they're a bit on the conservative side and actually approve your site first by studying its contents.

They say they allow profanity, but they don't seem to like nudity, be it real or implied or even downright fake. I reached that conclusion after her site was turned down. We suspect it is due to the fact that the pin-up on her current skin is showing a little (and "a little" being the operative term here) skin. Lighten up, folks! It's JUST a drawing!

Anyway, since the most lewd thing I do on here is openly discuss my addiction to coffee and how-to books, my humble little bloggie was selected. Phew!

Once that happens, you get a log-in name and a password to the member's section of the BlogExplosion site and then you earn credits by surfing other member blogs. The idea is that for every member blog you visit, your site will be visited twice in return.

They have their own navigational bar above the blogs you surf, with a 30 second timer and everything. I suppose they did this so that people won't "cheat" by just clicking on blogs and moving on without at least having a look around. Quite noble of them, really, but according to my blog stats, the visits of most of my BlogExplosion referrals last all of 0 seconds. So obviously their plan is working nicely.

If you are one of those people who only hit the site and move on, they'll tell you that you are "surfing too fast." I incurred their "surfing too fast" wrath a few times when my browser acted up and didn't open the site. I'm sure they withheld five mystery credits for that one, and every time it happened, a voice, sounding suspiciously similar to that of Seinfeld's Soup Nazi, roared in my head: "No Credits For You!"

Oh, another thing? You surf other blogs by clicking on a set of numbers. I conducted a little rebellious experiment and purposely clicked on the wrong sequence of numbers (okay, fine... so maybe it wasn't all wreckless rebellion! My "dislecksickness" could've had something to do with the fact that I clicked on 39 instead of on 93). Anyway, if you do that, they actually get very mad again and taunt you with a "you've clicked on the wrong number" and refuse to take you to the next member blog until you behave and click on the correct number. They're a strict bunch, I tell ya!

I've been a member for a few days now, and although I'd be the first to admit that my site traffic definitely has spiked from five hits a day to like eight hits a day (naah, I'm just kidding, it's a little more than that. Maybe at least eleven, ha ha), so has the amount of spam I'm getting. But it's foreign spam (mostly from Germany and Belgium) so it's decidedly more exotic than regular ol' American spam, and I read their carefully crafted words (in which they proceed to slaughter the English language almost as much as I do) out loud in the different accents. It's a lot of fun, really.

All in all though, it's quite addictive to surf the different blogs and to discover some new ones or even to run into some old friends. "Piehorns" from Wetwired found my site on there, and so far I've come across hers (twice, actually) and hers.

Gotta go! More exotic spam has just arrived from Germany!

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Comments

i just signed up as well but i don't want spam. not even german spam.. so i'll watch it carefully and see how that goes. btw - to me it looks like the viagra- and get-a-longer/bigger-***-people have been replaced by the rolex-people. no offers for viagra or the "blowing up" of certain body parts any more. but dude, i don't need a watch either - jeesh.. ;o)

comment by kim at 07:31 AM on 10.22.04 [ link ]

I'd mulled about joining blogexplosion but I definitely don't want extra spam - I've got enough from my one spammer, thank you very much.

comment by martha at 08:15 AM on 10.22.04 [ link ]

i'm so tempted. who doesn't like attention? but i don't like all the "rules." i prefer to be known just for my content, which is why i *try* to write well, although sometimes that fails miserably. ah well. at least you are entertaining and a good writer. and you won your blog from emily, so you already had a kick in the pants going into the game. :)

comment by kellen at 09:23 AM on 10.22.04 [ link ]

I don't know--it just seems weird to me. I moved because I had too much unknown traffic and too many weirdos peeking into my life and gathering a sense of entitlement because they read about me. I've tried to remove myself from all search engines. I don't think I want to join something that will send the masses to me.

I guess I understand the concept. But I also think there's something about it that they're not telling people. Like Blogshares.

comment by Ms. Pants at 09:52 AM on 10.22.04 [ link ]

I joined. But I'm not sure if I've really seen my readership jump.

But! I have found some interesting (as well as some REALLY bad) blogs through it. Which is bad because I should be working when I'm at work not reading blogs...

comment by Caren at 10:09 AM on 10.22.04 [ link ]

Hi Red!
I use blogexplosion, too. My readership has really spiked in the last few days but so far there seems to be only 1 regular reader that posts comments. That's okay with me. I'm glad that she found my site and maybe a few more people will, too. I now visit her site, which I didn't know about before, so I'm happy. I also like surfing the many blogs on BlogExplosion. I've found quite a few that I will be visiting again in the near future. I haven't seen any spam yet but you actually make the "exotic spam" sound good! (It made me laugh, anyway!)

comment by MJ at 10:46 AM on 10.22.04 [ link ]

Blog Explosion isn't so bad. I found this site through it, and I find myself actually coming back. So you must think thats good.

As far as german spam, I've got a lot of major email addys and german websites listed on my blacklist, as well as a lot of other websites that the master mt blacklist has yet to add to theirs:

http://www.modernprincess.com/blacklist.txt

Hope it helps you!

comment by amy at 11:24 AM on 10.22.04 [ link ]

Hey, Amy! Thanks! I went to that list and there were quite a few that I didn't have on my various blacklists!

Red, I updated your blacklist for you. Should be good to go.

Thanks again, Amy!

comment by Ms. Pants at 11:51 AM on 10.22.04 [ link ]

I wish I could that many comments on my blogs! Pretty site, too.

Concerning spam, just use a spam fileter. It eleminates about 80 of the former Viagra sellers that are now trying to fleece ppl with Rolexes.

comment by Michael at 12:49 PM on 10.22.04 [ link ]

hey, thanks for the info... I just signed up... and yes, I even rated your site.... a purrrfect score.

now, since I scratched your back (so to speak) maybe... (wink wink nudge nudge) you can... you know... scratch ummm mine

comment by miked at 04:14 PM on 10.22.04 [ link ]

Hey Red,
This has nothing to do with blog explosion at all, but I know that I would read your blog more often if you had full entries in your rss feed. I read most blogs through a newsreader and currently you're only publishing exerpts. Although I love reading you because I find you hilarious, I very rarely take the extra effort to click on your individual posts and come directly to the site. So that's something to think about. I'm sure the moxie girls can tell you how to change this feature (it's really simple) if you want to do it.

comment by Marsha at 06:43 PM on 10.22.04 [ link ]

No nudity? Hmmm. I suppose that rules my site out then...

comment by TimT at 07:16 PM on 10.22.04 [ link ]

I dunno-my site smacks the "risque" side right upside the head a lot, so I wouldn't be accepted. That, and I would get assed off if someone told me I was surfing too quickly. That's like telling me to chew my food thoroughly or put all for chair legs on the ground.

comment by Helen at 06:11 AM on 10.24.04 [ link ]

LOL I was beginning to wonder if that damn site worked or not, at least you saw my blog!!! ;o)

comment by shaunacat at 05:05 PM on 10.25.04 [ link ]

Hmmm German spam. I'm looking forward to that. Surfed in from Blog Explosion btw.

Nice Blog...

And yeah I've noticed that the enlarge that certain body part spam has turned in favor of Rolex watches too.

Those spams aren't nearly half as amusing though.

comment by Andrea at 02:38 PM on 10.26.04 [ link ]