Rant: Blog comment spam - naming and shaming

I've resisted having moderated comments on this blog for a while - it would add both extra work for me, and latency for people who want to make useful contributions. I don't mind forthright argument & criticism - I dish it out enough, so it would be hypocritical of me to censor opposing views.

But comment spam is another matter entirely. Like other forms of spam & unwanted direct marketing, I detest the nasty little parasites who seem to think I should provide them with a platform for free advertising.

One repeated culprit is a website called broadband.co.uk . Despite my giving them several warnings, I'm still getting their rubbish on my posts. As well as emailing their website owner saying how much I disliked their marketing/spam practices, I also spoke to an odious character who calls himself "gary the scuba guy" - aka Gary Beal - actually the boss of a so-called search engine optimisation provider (ie web spam specialist) called Sticky Eyes. He blamed some of the automated spam on a long-forgotten scripting tool, and was almost totally unapologetic.

Enough is enough. I'm still not being forced into moderating comments - but I will name & shame these useless Internet bottom-feeders. I suggest you avoid both companies like the plague.