I know this blog is gaining in popularity. No, not because I have a growing readership, although I'm extremely pleased with the number of regular readers. Not because I get loads of relevant comments and trackbacks, though I get my fair share, to be sure. I know my blog is growing in popularity because I'm getting more and more comment spam!

For Movable Type users, there is some help in the form of a plugin that eradicates trackback and comment spam. There is also the TypeKey system that requires anyone posting a comment to register. This, too, is for MT users. (It will be available for TypePad users soon.)

Some popular blogs have resorted to monitored comments, while others have done away with comments altogether. The latter is an atrocity in my estimation. While I don't begrudge the blog owner's need to keep spammers from using their blogs as tools, to discontinue comments flies in the face of what makes blogging such a powerful force. A blogs only purpose is not to serve the viewpoint of the blog writer, but as a clearinghouse or townhall of varying viewpoints. To make opinions the sole propriety of the blog's owner is to limit its reason for existence, in my opinion.

That does not mean we should allow comment spam. Adam Kalsey has written the Comment Spam Manifesto that says,

"Spammers are hereby put on notice. Your comments are not welcome. If the purpose behind your comment is to advertise yourself, your Web site, or a product that you are affiliated with, that comment is spam and will not be tolerated."

You may be asking, "What the heck is comment spam?" (Wikipedia calls it Link Spam) Believe me, you'll know it when you see it. Basically, spammers use the comments and trackback sections of blogs to help boost their standings in Google searches.

They do this by posting massive numbers of comments that include links to their pornography sites, scams and get-rich-quick sites. If your site is linked by a top-ranked site or blog, then Google will often raise your site's ranking -- at least that's the thinking of spammers.

So, you'll know you've hit the big time when you get a notification that someone has commented on a particular blogpost, only to find out the post was an advertisement for Cialis. You've just been comment spammed! Welcome to the club!