…spam invasion?

Every now and then my spamblocker goes on the fritz. Actually, what I think is happening is that the people (there still are people involved somewhere, right?) who design spamming programs keep trying and trying to find a way past the firewall, and suddenly they do something that works. Then the people (there still are people involved somewhere, right?) who design spam-blocking programs have to catch up.

Or something like that.

Usually I get about 100 spambot comments a minute. Yes, you heard right—100 a minute, which the spam blocker puts into the spam folder. So when something in the blocker breaks down, a vast number come to the blog itself. You don’t ordinarily see them, because they are cleverly deposited on old threads, the better to escape detection. But I can see them coming in, and I can hand-block them.

It’s a laborious process. Usually something gets fixed after a couple of hours, and then the problem is no more. But in the meantime, the blocker may “unapprove” the occasional real comment from a regular person, which I then have to unblock by hand.

Fun.

Apologies for any inconvenience to you. The problem should end fairly soon.