Do you remember Monty Python’s Flying Circus?  Growing up in Scotland in the 70s, we used to watch this outrageous BBC comedy – even although I hadn’t a clue why Dad would laugh so much over such silly stuff; he’d be in tears clutching his stomach from belly laughter. Now that I’m ‘grown up’, I’m doing the same. Except I’m laughing out of sheer frustration.

If you have a website, a blog, or work on the internet, you will understand what it is to be swamped with SPAM – and I’m not referring to the luncheon meat in tins.  Blogging since February, the amount of spam has hit 1500 messages. It might not sound a lot but when you’re dealing with this stuff manually, it’s a pain in the backside (and believe me, I know what that means, too!)

Did you know that the word, “Spam” derives from this Monty Python sketch?  If you have never seen it, you MUST take out a silly minute to watch this.  You’ll get the idea why spam was the chosen word…

We want mimosa macarons without spam!

• get rid of cellulite on thighs
• registry cleaner reviews
• buying digital cameras (Who am I to complain if they at least offer me one to test on the blog ;-))
• grants for single mothers (perhaps a reference to feeling like a desperate housewife on one post?)

Spammers should pick these without gloves

Then with the post, If you go down to the woods today, there have been particular messages asking about gall bladder symptoms and wait for it, “Adultdating: Russian Brides are not just a dream”…

• The latest: Buy friends on Facebook (is that not sad?)
• Buy designer Vuitton or Gucci handbags at a fraction of the price (Attention! Don’t let the French see this.  They are extremely serious when dealing with copies!)

This one is cute: it comes now and again for the recipes posted as part of the egg yolk recipe series:

• kitchen cabinets: a well known finish is eggshell

And one of my favourites:

• “we love Madaboutmacarons.com and have bookmarked it.  Buy electronic cigarettes!” (Update: since posting this, I’ve had another one: I’ve made myself a bargain since mentioning this. Now it’s “Buy Cheap Electronic Cigarettes!)

Rose-cardamom panna cotta with spicy spam cherry macarons without spam

The worst spam are the normal looking addresses and comments which look harmless: at first you read the comment and you could honestly be taken in.  Lovely post, great writing, I must subscribe to your rss feed; Madaboutmacarons.com is the best ever! etc.  When you read that, the obvious reaction is to think, “Cool, somebody thinks it great” and hit “approve comment”.  Oops.  That just opened up the site to even more spam with 14 comments in the space of an hour from the same silly spammer via different email addresses.

My website designer has disappeared and left me in this stuff. HELP! Isn’t it enough I blog, cook, and take all the photos? That’s without the actual life part that goes around it all.  It’s high time for a spam filter – but each time I want to tackle it myself, the confidence just vanishes as fast as the designer. Not much luck that we’ve hit holiday season, either.

Spam Saltimbocca without the spam, please

 

Spam, chocolate & beet macarons without the spam