Is there such a thing as good spam?
No, not ham type spam, but blog spam. Everyone gets email spam but bloggers get spam too in the form of computer generated troll comments. It’s generally what you would expect- porn and sex related links. Wordpress users taking advantage of the Akismet spam filter get most of the sludge filtered out, but a few still show up.
I was going through my comments and removing the spam, most of it being pretty innocuous, advertising such things as Florida Homeowners Insurance and Replica Rolex Watches, but as I was clicking on the delete button, one caught my eye that I had never seen before…
Bob Dylan Ticket Stubs
Now who in the world would want a Bob Dylan Ticket Stub and is there really such a market for them that it would be sent out as bulk spam?
I eBay’d it, and found out that vintage Dylan ticket stubs sell anywhere from 10 to 50 bucks. Who knew?
I googled it, and what do you know … DylanStubs.com - The Bob Dylan Ticket Stub & Concert Poster Archive.
They aren’t for purchase, but viewable are all kinds of vintage ticket stubs, such as Bob Dylan at Wilson High School in Long Beach, 1964 ($3 admission)
… or the infamous 1965 Newport Folk Festival where Dylan shocked his audience to the core when he showed up in a garish Polka Dot suit with an electric guitar backed by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band.
…or the Rolling Thunder Revue’s 4+ hour concert at Astro Stadium in Houston, 1976, dubbed “The Night of the Hurricane” which helped raise funds for the boxer convicted of murder, Rubin “Hurricane” Carter’s defense fund (he was released and cleared of all charges in 1988, after serving nearly 20 years in federal prison).
In the end, I did delete the spam comment, but I enjoyed both looking back at some history and laughing at the fanaticism of some Dylan fans (some might throw me into that category), so I suppose not all spam is bad spam.
May 15th, 2008 at 8:58 am
I always have a hard time with people trying to plug their products. Some of the products are things people would generally want to know about. Many of them are just people trying to make money. Do you get these people emailing and commenting on your site?
May 15th, 2008 at 9:01 am
All the time, but they are automated to drop comments all over the blogosphere, not someone actively searching and typing away.
September 24th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
first time i have read your blog i have RSS bkd you, please post more.
thanks