FriendFeed is different, because even if you didn't subscribe to them, people can spam in the comments. I just saw someone linking to his blog in several entries. - Alejandro

I'd differentiate that kind of spam from the heinous marketing spammers. Those are the ones that vex email and blog posts. They'd have a hard time making any headway in services like FriendFeed or Twitter. As for seeing the same link multiple times, that's something that is common here. The FriendFeed guys sound like they're thinking about addressing that. But that's not really the same thing. Unless someone's posting about v1agra all over the place... - Hutch Carpenter

Comment-SPAM could be similar to review-SPAM in Amazon, which is quite bad. At WDSM 2008 http://wsdm2008.org, Nitin Jindal and Bing Liu presented "Opinion Spam and Analysis" on Amazon (1) The biggest reviewers were SPAM-like, not more reputable (2) Most reviews on unpopular items were SPAM-like, probably shills (3) Some people negatively-SPAM everything else in their category. Others positively-SPAM for friends. - Mitchell Tsai

Off Topic: Nitin Agarwal, Huan Liu, Lei Tang and Philip Yu at WDSM 2008 presented "Identifying the Influential Bloggers" <--- *** This is Comment-SPAM *** - Mitchell Tsai

FriendFeed: Would it be worth attaching 1-5 star ratings on comments ala Slashdot? - Mitchell Tsai

Now there's an interesting take Mitchell. Comment spam. I CAN see that as a problem. - Hutch Carpenter

@ Mitchell - I just added your thought and a link to this discussion on the blog post. - Hutch Carpenter

Hutch: Yeah. I could fall in many people's buckets as Like-SPAM and Comment-SPAM. What about that old "kill file" we used in 1982 Unix to block all of my LIke-Comment-SPAM? :-) One of my Harvard profs coined the term "cow", not quite "bullsh*t", since "cow" has lots of data...content..., but you still don't like it. Unfortunately, schools give "B"s and "C"s for "cow", rather than "F"s. - Mitchell Tsai

So, is Mitchell's "Off Topic" comment spam? :) Although I've never had to do so, FriendFeed does allow moderation of comments, so comment spam can be nipped in the bud. - Ontario Emperor

True Ontario - I just played with the 'moderate comments' option. I like that control, but I think Mitchell may be on to something. Probably an easy 'report this member' button next to the delete button. - Hutch Carpenter

Maybe both (1) report member to FriendFeed - which takes a while (2) personal option to temporarily/permanently make all comments/likes by PersonX disappear - which would work immediately. ---- P.S. This feature might not be just for SPAMMERs. Dissappearing Robert Scoble and Louis Gray for 15 min would really change the look of FriendFeed (as opposed to using GreaseMonkey scripts, I'm often on public computers. At Palo Alto Apple Store now.) - Mitchell Tsai

Here's a FriendFeed search on "Comment-SPAM who:everyone" http://tinyurl.com/637oeq - Mitchell Tsai

"Like" for Mitchell's 2-step spam prevention suggestion in comment above. How about blocking the member? Will that work, even in the Everyone feed? - Hutch Carpenter