I am as well cheerful to share my familiarity.

That’s what the message says.

When I created my blog the designer—Melissa Shavlik—set up the communication so I would hear from readers.

I get quite a few responses following each post.

Most readers are sweet and thoughtful.

But I also receive a pile of mail you’d call junk mail or spam. A lot is about sex.

For sexample, a cheery response to my blog, “Defining Race,” is quite enthusiastic:

Hello you have a great blog over here! Thanks for sharing this interesting stuff for us! If you keep up the great work I’ll visit your website again. Thanks!

The series of exclamation points raises the first red flag and when I hover over the sender’s email I find a website for Viagra.

Then there’s a message from someone named “Sexdating” that compliments me on “a great site” and “interesting articles.”

It ends in broken English: Keep up good job! The note emerges from a naughty website in The Netherlands.

Lack of correct grammar is a telltale sign:

Hi there, after reading this amazing post I am as well cheerful to share my familiarity here with mates.

Wikipedia calls this practice spamdexing. Someone posts messages—quite randomly it seems—on blogs and discussion boards. The message contains a hyperlink that gets displayed and bingo: the sender’s hyperlink now enters the ranking scheme, artificially inflated as a well-used site.

I preserve the bona fide responses and post them, even if I disagree, and without editing.

I promised readers when I began the blog that my objective was to be authentic and truthful. I steer clear of hyperbole and fibs.

And I delete the spam.

Use of the word spam as internet clutter is taken—allegedly—from the
Monty Python skit about the meat product called Spam. See:

Photo of the official Monty Python Spam from http://www.dailyllama.com/news/2004/llama258.html