Over the last few weeks, about a third of my bandwidth here has been eaten by four or five referrer spammers. There may be more bandwidth eaten by a large number of smaller offenders: I haven’t delved into the server logs past the “top 25” list I have on the backend here.
My web host very generously refrains from charging me from running over my allotted bandwidth, which is very nice of him and I wouldn’t be surprised if his accounting team told him to stop sometime soon. I usually run about 150 percent of my allotted bandwidth at a minimum. So I clearly need to do something about the referrer spamming scum.
I’ve just installed the Expression Engine port of Bad Behavior, which is supposed to block suspicious hits rather effectively. The problem is, I’ve read that there’s a minor problem with the software blocking legitimate comments and trackbacks.
So I need your help. Leave a comment here, even a content-free comment saying something like “comment attempt” or “test” or something, and if you’re blocked, send me a note — including any error messages, cutting and pasting is fine — to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). If you’re really ambitious, feel free to trackback to this post and send any error messages to that same email address. And if you can’t see this post at all, do twenty pushups. Thanks!
Update! In the past couple hours, we’ve blocked more than 2500 spam pings from 96 distinct IP addresses. And a lot’s still getting through. I could set the thing to strict filtering, which runs the risk of shutting out a few legitimate corporate and government visitors. Whaddaya think?
Update again! OK, setting it to “strict” now. Everyone try again! What’s your least favorite food?
And again: “Strict” mode off. Three false positives is too many.
Testing!
no comment…
You had a shout out over at Ms Carol’s place yesterday! You’re almost a celebrity.
commenting, commenting, 1, 2, 3
just left comment on zeke’s vocabulary, so it looks like i can comment here.
test test test
Yeah, Thomas: I noticed a significant uptick in traffic yesterday from Avedon’s link.
If you take the “link from Pharyngula” as the basic unit of increased traffic, Avedon’s link brought in about 700 centipeezes. (The Atrios link to the Prufrock remix was about three peezes, and I expect a Slashdotting would be somewhere in the half kilopeez range.)
Test post! NIGERIA VIAGRA ROLEX ENHANCEMENT MORTGAGE REFINANCE MEET HOTTIES (MCNATUREPANTS) IN YOUR AREA!
Just doing my penance for sending you vile timber-industry propaganda (oh excuse me in-depth cutting-edge environmental journalism) for your indigestion…
OK, so it accepts my e-mail address, even though it’s Hotmail, and doesn’t look at content at all…
Yeah, that’s the nice thing about it, Fred. It focuses on the sender rather than the content.
I still have Akismet running for that content filtering: I’ll clearly need to have it add “Levitan” to its list of forbidden pharmaceuticals.
test post, posted by a nobody :-)
I was going to leave a comment but couldn’t think of anything to say.
Posting from work, I’ll try from home later on.
Test comment:
THE TREES are in their autumn beauty,
The woodland paths are dry,
Under the October twilight the water
Mirrors a still sky;
Upon the brimming water among the stones
Are nine and fifty swans.
kittens
What me? Spam!???
Never!
this is not a comment.
just a test
hth
Yo.
Nothing to see here; move along please.
Woo-hoo! A chance to leave a pointless comment on a very pointful blog. Life is, indeed, good. (And thanks for cranking up again, Chris; I missed you while you were hiating.)
<Insert clever comment here.>
If this were an actual comment, content would have been here.
Your blog is always a treat to read. Wishing you and your family the best!
Hi,
Delurking here to finally leave a comment since I’m confident that quality isn’t of a concern here! Two thoughts on my mind:
1.) Do you have any idea just how much money you could make by selling “I Heart Zeke” shirts? Imagine how much you could spoil Zeke with the material possessions that he might desire. :) They would also probably pay for the extra bandwidth, should you need it.
2.) The default avatars on your new design are giving me flashbacks, and I’m too old for those on a regular basis now!
Thank you for your wonderful writing. I’ll head back to my rock and lurk some more now.
Hey there!
It’s actually kind of fun reading all these non-comments!
“Testing, 1-2-3
Can anybody hear me?
If I shed the irony
Would everybody cheer me?
If I acted less like me
Would I be in the clear?”
—“Testing 1, 2, 3”, Barenaked Ladies
Also, “centipeeze” is my new word for the day.
tap, tap, tap, is this thing on?
Do you have any idea just how much money you could make by selling “I Heart Zeke� shirts?
You mean like these?
It’s Friday. And I miss ABF!
Do not read this comment.
back when I had a blog and was doing the daily “clean out the spam” thing, I blocked all comments mentioning “cialis.” As was reasonable and good, I thought. This had the unfortunate side effect of also rejecting all comments that made referrence to “socialism.” Which just goes to show, I suppose, that sex and left wing politics are natural partners.
nothingnothingnothing…
puts me in mind of this, from John Haines:
by the Denali road, facing north
an old man, his rifle rusting in his arms.
and farther on toward evening, a chair
in which nothing but the wind was sitting.
helping…
wait, there are zeke mugs? and stamps? did i miss the roll-out?
how many legitimate government and corp visitors do you expect? is there a workaround if they can prove they are real?
Go Dude, Go!
tasting
toasting
testing
OK, setting it to “strict” now. Everyone try again! What’s your least favorite food?
Sweet potatoes. Nasty stuff, those things. Truest evil of the vegetable world.
Eggplant. Blech.
Darn it! I’m with Kat and Bev W on both of those. Can I append my answer?
*reads jason, Bev, and Kat’s answers*
*shakes head sadly*
*discards big batch of curry he made just for them*
feet! feet is my least favorite food.
I am a lover of any grain that can ferment.
bananas and raw tomatos make my mouth itch. i just cannot get into the idea of eating octopus, or any “game” animals.
Curry? Did someone say curry? Not to be a size queen or anything, but I’m sure I could pick out the offending bits as long as they’re big enough.
huh. actually hard to think of stuff I *don’t* like…
Overcooked fish would make the list. And camel’s foot (which somebody fed me in China)—tastes like dust.
Bell peppers, hands down.
Cima!
Least favorite food:
Golden retriever puppies.
And camel’s foot (which somebody fed me in China)—tastes like dust.
Somewhat predictably, I now have a blogcrush on embee.
Anything pickled.
beets!
Miracle Whip. Ruins everything it touches, and I’ve never understood how people can eat that stuff.
WAIT! I’ll eat the curry!
Yes, I’ll have some curry, too.
And like Roxanne. I miss ABF.
Hey, Chris.
Crow.
I’m emailing you a picture of a Siberian from our canine diabetes board. I’d bet a lot of money that Zeke’s got lots of Sib in him - he’s got the mask - if so, no wonder he thought snow was so cool.
Give Zeke a gentle pat from me.
Braaaaaains.
No, Sarah, and you speak for Becky there too.
And Natalie, that’s a hell of a good-looking dog. Am I allowed to share the photo here?
Kitty litter
JP Stormcrow != a dog.
Gee Chris,
Thanks for wrecking my “Iggy Pop wanna be” fantasy.
Bananas
lalalalala
asparagus
I suppose I should share my least favorite food: natto.
I don’t know - I’ll ask Glenda - that’s one of her two Siberian rescue boys.
Are we clear about centipeeze versus hectopeeze?
Hectopeeze is a hundred times the traffic PZ sends you: Centipeeze is a 1984 song by Rebbie Jackson.
smoked salmon. the kind without the artificial smoke flavoring.
Maraschino cherries. Fried crickets without a chocolate coating.
Natto is easily the worse thing I’ve ever had in my mouth. And that’s saying ALOT.
Ah, the hassles of being incredibly popular. Doesn’t sound like fun, though - hope you get it sorted!
My real least favorite food is probably liver.
Chewy, weird taste.
Liver was what first started me thinking, at about the age of 6, that some things in life were a very elaborate joke, and I was forced to be the straight man.
You mean ... EAT liver??
And yet they got so angry when I didn’t.
Wassa matta you? Liver, onions, boiled taters, gravy, and brussel sprouts. That’s livin’ baby!
jellyfish, it’s like eating garlicky rubberbands
No, Helen; I like all those too. But how do you feel about Vegemite?
Just to answer, stuffed tomatoes with Spanish rice, beans, lots of cumin, cheese topping. Love doesn’t describe it.
But, would 100 centipeeze be a peeze? Help a guy out!
<i>Love’em! Am I weird?<//i>
Meat is grotty, so no liver, but asparagus is the bomb. Eggplant goes good with other things. Baba ghanoush…mmmmmmmmm
Yes, Jack: the basic unit of traffic from a link to your blog is one standard peeze.
FROM GLENDA:
Yes it’s okay to post the picture of Tae (aka Tae Banana Guy) - Zeke definitely looks to have Siberian in him. Please pass onto Chris that his boy is very handsome looking. Also some of the pictures are awesome…. I absolutely love the one of Zeke looking out the window with the roses.
Here’s Tae!
This thread seems to be largely about minding your peeze and queues.
Cauliflower! Yuck, yuck, yuck!!!
spyder, brilliant bread stats in comment number ... um.
Speaking of bread, one of my least favorite foods is croutons.
The best salads fall into three distinct phyla: 1) rabbit, 2) OPEC, and 3) Laurie Anderson. Rabbit salads consist only of greens, greens, greens, greens and herbs. OPEC salads rely heavily on yummy things marinated or sautéd in oil: olives, artichoke hearts, mushrooms, spinach. Laurie Anderson salads are daring and original and contain unexpected things like Granny Smith apple or walnuts or Gorgonzola. I also incude meat-based salads in this latter category (for instance, chef and Cobb), because when you think about it, a meat salad is very Dadaist idea.
It is also possible to have a pretty good salad based on crunchy raw vegetables such as carrot, cucumber, broccoli, and cauliflower (yes, OG, cauliflower) but this belongs to the kingdom of Pretty Good Salads rather than the kingdom of Best Salads, because all those crunchy raw vegetables would be better off as a crudité platter.
Croutons add nothing to any of these. They’re a disgusting deep-fried distraction.
You want numbered comments? You got numbered comments.
It is also possible to have a pretty good salad based on crunchy raw vegetables such as carrot, cucumber, broccoli, and cauliflower (yes, OG, cauliflower)
Amanda’s new nickname: “L’il Crouton”.
Are you trying to suggest that I am the unexpectedly crunchy suspiciously cubic greasy tidbit in the otherwise delicious fresh healthy salad of life, OG? Where’s the justice in that, O Minister?
There will never be justice for anyone who refers to the Minister of Justice as “OG”! For some reason, never did care for that. Any other short-cut of “Oaktown Girl is acceptable*, even the ever-so-slightly blue “O-Girl”, which is Michael’s favored shorthand for me.
Are you trying to suggest that I am the unexpectedly crunchy suspiciously cubic greasy tidbit in the otherwise delicious fresh healthy salad of life
Well, now I was not suggesting that. But yes, I suspect if someone were to submit that accusation as formal charges against you in a WAAGNFNP court of law, I’d allow my original endearing intent to be twisted into that.
And speaking of the WAAGNFNP… and dogs… Party Patriot Adrian has set up and adoption site for the MOOAD hounds that need adopting! Please check it out and adopt a WAAGNFNP Hound!
*Except of course in WAAGNFNP Formal Address when the only other acceptable option is “Madame Minister”.
Oh what to do about my friend Amanda?
(To clarify, I mean Amanda French,
the one who knows about the villanelle.)
She says that she is fond of eating salad,
and yet she can’t abide the thought of croutons.
Oh what are we to do about my friend?
Many a varied person I call friend,
but few so talented as dear Amanda,
and she the first I’ve known to slander croutons.
I wonder if they’re called the same in French?
If not, what did they call stale bread in salad
they ate while they invented villanelle?
The thing, you know, about the villanelle,
that rhyme scheme so beloved by my friend,
is that the form is basically a salad.
(This simile will likely irk Amanda.)
Two lines mixed strictly, in a manner French,
refrains that top each stanza as if croutons.
And yet she still prefers to abjure croutons
despite their symbolizing villanelle
both angular, both stolen from the French
each refrain hard, distinct but like its friend,
so what on Earth’s your problem, sweet Amanda?
You far too blithely complicate your salad.
I’d like, one day, to order up a salad
a rabbit one, or with some meat, no croutons
and no, no rabbit meat. And then Amanda
could share it as she writes a villanelle
though I would likely argue with my friend
about our choice of dressing. I’ll take French.
On Family Affair, old Mr. French
for Buffy and for Jody made a salad,
and Beasley, the imaginary friend
complained about the hard and crusty croutons.
Sebastian Cabot loathed the villanelle.
You see just what I’m getting at, Amanda?
And yet, I have to grant that young Amanda
with her far greater knowledge of the French,
incurred while dissertating villanelle,
has every right to opt for breadless salad.
Despite her prejudice against the croutons,
that will not bar my calling her my friend.
Just take my words to heart, Amanda French
about the villanelle being a salad
and I will eat the croutons for you, friend.
You so crazy.
The refrains are far more important to the villanelle than croutons are to a salad. I’d suggest that refrain A’ is like the spoon and refrain A” is like the fork, and together they form the salad tongs that toss up a perfect villanelle.
A sestina, now, is like a faithful husky-esque canine companion, and the end-words are his snacks, toys, hikes, thrilling chases, snoozes, and ear scratches. You gotta keep em coming every day, in a complex but predictable order.
And someday, Chris, I hope to give you some real croutons off a real salad I will really be eating in your real presence.
Or I guess I could snail-mail em to ya.
Amanda, please never again use the words “snail” and “salad” in adjoining paragraphs.
It’s like using “afterbirth” and “bacon-lettuce-and-tomato” in close proximity to each other.