Return of the Spam Blogger

Well, the arrival of Google has meant some changes for Blogger, including 'spam-prevention robots'. There are obviously a few bugs to be worked out, as this innocent blogger was captured in an electronic dragnet and unable to post for a few days.

For my fellow bloggers, imagine your surprise at seeing this message as you go to post your latest wine thoughts:

"This blog has been locked by Blogger's spam-prevention robots. You will not be able to publish your posts, but you will be able to save them as drafts. Save your post as a draft or click here for more about what's going on and how to get your blog unlocked."

To save you some time, the link above gives this:

"Your blog is locked
Blogger's spam-prevention robots have detected that your blog has characteristics of a spam blog. (What's a spam blog?) Since you're an actual person reading this, your blog is probably not a spam blog. Automated spam detection is inherently fuzzy, and we sincerely apologize for this false positive. We received your unlock request on March 3, 2007. On behalf of the robots, we apologize for locking your non-spam blog. Please be patient while we take a look at your blog and verify that it is not spam."

I had never heard of a Spam Blog before - apparently they "can be recognized by their irrelevant, repetitive, or nonsensical text, along with a large number of links, usually all pointing to a single site." While an electronic being may find my posts irrelevant and nonsensical, they most certainly are not repetitive, and they are not filled with links all pointing to the same site.

I am glad that Blogger is apologizing for the robots, and I hope the 'bots (beer drinkers, I presume) do not capture any more innocent wine bloggers.

NOTE: While under detention, Blogger was kind enough to let me keep writing. Please check the site below for some new posts - Cheers!