Spamming StumbleUpon not Profitable

News Type: Other — Sun Dec 23, 2007 5:24 PM EST

Spamming on StumbleUpon is not Profitable

Being a StumbleUpon member for four years and three months as of this posting, I have certainly seen the evolution of spam proliferation on this ever-increasingly-popular social bookmarking/ reviewing/ networking site.

Spam in our SU account inboxes.

Spam in the SU forums.

Spamming the actual SU database to try to get some s*p*a*m*m*y*s*i*t*e*.com seen.

Making fraudulent alter accounts in order to thumb up said spammy site's to look as if it's *really* more popular than it is.

All of these violations are considered straight up spam or spamming tactics.

Now for the caveat: True. Some or all of these sneaky under-handed techniques may, indeed, get you bucketloads of traffic from StumbleUpon; Every internet marketing blog is beginning to pay attention to StumbleUpon and the value it can bring to them in terms of traffic. These reputable blogs and websites are not spamming the system and yet they still have StumbleUpon accounts and famous blogs. Just a couple:

ProBlogger: Darren has a StumbleUpon account. Doesn't spam. About 36K readership.

Copyblogger: Has a Stumble account. Readership of about 28K people.

Now, what both of these bloggers/blogs, if I am not mistaken in my memory, have written about is the phenomenon of bucketloads of traffic from StumbleUpon but no money was made. I can vouch for this strangeness, myself , with my own websites. I check my statistics and will have copious amounts of StumbleUpon traffic! They will have arrived through non-spamming means - because I do not spam - but upon following these Stumblers I see they purchase nothing, and click no ads.

This means I can verify the "almost fact" that StumbleUpon can bring loads of traffic but to make money from them is a different story. Spammers - or potential spammers - of the StumbleUpon system take note: Spam is not tolerated on StumbleUpon and now you have another reason to not bother spamming it; It's just not profitable.

This is How the Spammers End up Paying: In fact, to spam on StumbleUpon, will not only get your fraudulent accounts deleted but will also result in the website you spammed getting banned from the system. Another item to note is that some people [anti-spammers or the StumbleUpon Spam Fighters - of which there are many ] will go so far as to inform Google -via your AdSense ad- that you employed spammalicious practices in driving traffic to your site. They will also contact the people you got your referral ID from and inform them of the same thing. Some people will go so far as to find out who you really are and ...well... I guess it can get complicated from there.

In case you haven't guessed it by now, I enjoy my StumbleUpon and I dislike the spam I see infiltrating and evolving. Spambots are now being employed thanks to the script-writing efforts of someone who wanted to put their commercial interests over the overall quality of StumbleUpon. This makes me sad and mad at the same time. Many people count on StumbleUpon as being the one place they can find respite from looking at sites trying to sell Viagra and Vicodin.

An Anti-Spamming-on-StumbleUpon Request: So if you're considering spamming StumbleUpon, please don't. Please learn about SEO and/or concentrate on building, slowly, your base of readers or customers like the successful ones have done. A spammer has never gotten famous in his trade by spamming; He's only famous for spamming and at that, sometimes arrested, fined, or jailed.

If you are currently spamming the SU database, or inboxes, or forums, please stop. Please do the honorable thing, and also delete your fraudulent accounts so someone else, worthy, can adopt the name. Then, become a part of the Stumble community and people will flock to your quality content. There are even forums on SU that deal with SEO, internet development, and marketing; and people more than happy to help you!

...Provided, of course, you're not a spammer....

Links of Interest:

StumbleUpon: How to Deal with Spam
StumbleUpon: Sp@m-Free Group on Stumble
StumbleUpon: "Anti-Spam" tagged sites on Stumble
StumbleUpon: Frequently Asked Questions
Newsvine: Latest News on Spam - Arrests, laws, trends etc.

19 Votes
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Public Discussion (14)

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5.0

2.4

{"commentId":1298523,"authorDomain":"scientificblog"}

Cash

Does anyone actually click ads? I have heard legendary tales of people who supposedly made money on click ads but I generally think if someone relies on click ads they don't have much traffic in the first place. Real sites have CPM ads.

Does stumbleupon generate enough traffic that anyone cares about spamming it? I tell spammers here (and more active spam finders probably do also) that it's mostly a waste of time because the traffic from a popular article isn't much. I assumed stumbleupon was a similar community. I have an account there but don't do enough to know how it works.

{"commentId":1298523,"threadId":"193603","contentId":"1182485","authorDomain":"scientificblog"}

3 votes

#1 - Mon Dec 24, 2007 3:25 AM EST

{"commentId":1298789,"authorDomain":"digits"}

Digits

Oh yeah. They spam Stumble...LoL...It ebbs and flows and right now we're in a flow. ;) CPC works better for some sites than others. In my experience sites lacking content - substantial content - do better in click ads; this is not scientific - just my own pseudo-tests. The money "where it's at" is not CPC as it used to be in my opinion, also; people have become desensitized to the ads for the most part. BUT ...for whatever reason spammers still employ spam to gain the clicks - one way to tell is the spam leads you to adsense-riddled pages.

{"commentId":1298789,"threadId":"193603","contentId":"1182485","authorDomain":"digits"}

3 votes

#2 - Mon Dec 24, 2007 9:09 AM EST

{"commentId":1300003,"authorDomain":"pixiequix"}

pixiequix

Hooray Digits!

Thank you for putting together an article on this topic. The proliferation of SU spam is truly getting out of hand, and the people who are doing it really oughtta know that their efforts will not be rewarded. The people who use Stumbleupon are not looking to spend money, they're looking for information and entertainment, and they're sure as hell not going to come back later with their credit cards handy after being baited by spam.

{"commentId":1300003,"threadId":"193603","contentId":"1182485","authorDomain":"pixiequix"}

2 votes

#3 - Mon Dec 24, 2007 6:20 PM EST

{"commentId":1300098,"authorDomain":"digits"}

Digits

Welcome dear Pixie. I remember knowing the phenomenon. And spam on Stumble, since it's been bought by Ebay and the increasing popularity of it and the mainstreaming of it...well, like email, if unchecked it'll grow into a billion headed monster. No social network is safe from spam unless stringent rules and infrastructure is in place.

BUT I figure if the truth were known to spammers or "would be" spammers or black-hatters who employ spamming techniques on StumbleUpon that it just doesn't pay...that *that* truth would be enough to not even start. If it does more harm for the SU community than it profits them then common sense then seems to warrant not spamming.

Sometimes it seems the truth of the matter is enough to deter a situation. If this is broadcasted enough and enough people read it, know it, tell it, internalize it... well then...maybe it can do some good for both sides of the fence.

Thanks for the kudos Pixie!

Merry Holidays,
Digits

{"commentId":1300098,"threadId":"193603","contentId":"1182485","authorDomain":"digits"}

2 votes

#3.1 - Mon Dec 24, 2007 7:08 PM EST

{"commentId":1300256,"authorDomain":"fugitive247"}

fugitive247

Beautiful, my dear Digits! Folks need to beware not only of spam, but of possibly being pimped out by others. This is especially true if one's maintained a singular, active presence here in Cyberia for any significant length of time. Either scenario begs the question of which is the lesser of two evils: 1) being yet another dime-a-dozen sellout (read: spammer); or 2) being an internet pimp (domain name aftermarket)?

Keep it coming, Ms. D. As always, you totally rock, lady!

♥fugi♥

{"commentId":1300256,"threadId":"193603","contentId":"1182485","authorDomain":"fugitive247"}

1 vote

#4 - Mon Dec 24, 2007 8:51 PM EST

{"commentId":1300919,"authorDomain":"digits"}

Digits

Thank you my dear Fugi ♥

Some may say Facebook is a pimp. I don't want to link it but plenty of Googling will yield results after results. AOL was/is a sellout and I just hope they don't sue me for using their trademarked name online without a disclaimer! LoL ....

oh goodness. i'm all crazy!
can i blame it on the eggnog?

oh wait. no. i don't drink alcohol.

Christmas. I'll blame it on my Christmas high. LoL

Merry Holiday Friend!!
Digits

{"commentId":1300919,"threadId":"193603","contentId":"1182485","authorDomain":"digits"}

1 vote

#5 - Tue Dec 25, 2007 10:57 AM EST

{"commentId":1302756,"authorDomain":"digits"}

Digits

Like this article? Digg this

{"commentId":1302756,"threadId":"193603","contentId":"1182485","authorDomain":"digits"}

1 vote

#6 - Wed Dec 26, 2007 12:51 PM EST

{"commentId":1331545,"authorDomain":"TeddRi"}

Tedd Riggs

Now this makes ad sense :-) Thanks Digits !

{"commentId":1331545,"threadId":"193603","contentId":"1182485","authorDomain":"TeddRi"}

2 votes

#7 - Sat Jan 5, 2008 10:56 AM EST

{"commentId":1331979,"authorDomain":"inghar2004"}

gladbutterfly

Great article, Digits. Very useful info.

{"commentId":1331979,"threadId":"193603","contentId":"1182485","authorDomain":"inghar2004"}

1 vote

#8 - Sat Jan 5, 2008 1:15 PM EST

{"commentId":1333589,"authorDomain":"redwolf"}

Red Wolf

Oh noes, you've upset an SEO loser: Stumbleupon Vigilantes - Friend or Foe of Stumble?

Poor diddums.

{"commentId":1333589,"threadId":"193603","contentId":"1182485","authorDomain":"redwolf"}

3 votes

#9 - Sun Jan 6, 2008 12:43 AM EST

{"commentId":1515197,"authorDomain":"deege"}

deege

How much of this is true spam, and how much is "advertising"? I frequent the beer and alcohol categories, and I find that many of the "stumbles" are just links to a brewery or alcohol related store. You can pay for stumbles in SU and it's very cheap. Are these "spam"? In some cases it may be difficult to tell the difference if if got placed in SU by spamming or paid stumbles.

{"commentId":1515197,"threadId":"193603","contentId":"1182485","authorDomain":"deege"}

1 vote

#10 - Wed Feb 27, 2008 4:45 PM EST

{"commentId":1516133,"authorDomain":"digits"}

Digits

Well, no. BUT...your points are of contention among some *SU spam-fighters.* [Particularly it's been hashed at the Sp@m-Free SU forum.]

Some anti-spam people on SU view "How to make money blogging" articles as spam - even though if it hasn't been introduced spammishly. Other have issues with SEO websites. I *think* most problems could be curtailed with SU's updating their categories. Introducing, for example, categories like "SEO" and "Internet businesses" or "Online Netreprenuring" or etc.

And no. Absolutely not. The SU sponsored stumbles are in no way spam "legally" speaking. When one signs up for an account at SU, one agrees to the TOS. Well...within their rights, SU sells Stumbles. These sponsored stumbles can be disabled if you are a sponsor.

Which I am [a sponsor]. However, because SU still insists these paid stumbles are up to their standards AND categorized correctly, I never notice when I have a sponsored stumble. [Not kidding.] As a result, I have never felt the need to turn sponsored stumbles off. The other plus is that because we - the Stumbler - see it as just another Stumble [minus the green shirted icon in the toolbar as opposed to the blue shirted icon]- we can still review it as normal. [Thumb down or thumb up and a review.] I think this helps the advertiser also, in giving them a clue what *works* with the SU audience.

Thanks for your thoughtful comments.

{"commentId":1516133,"threadId":"193603","contentId":"1182485","authorDomain":"digits"}

3 votes

#10.1 - Wed Feb 27, 2008 10:15 PM EST

{"commentId":1670444,"authorDomain":"fugitive247"}

fugitive247

I can't help but wonder if the individual who perpetrated this piece of trollery bothered to stalk deep enough to find this discussion? **sheesh**

{"commentId":1670444,"threadId":"193603","contentId":"1182485","authorDomain":"fugitive247"}

3 votes

#10.2 - Tue Apr 8, 2008 10:16 PM EDT

{"commentId":1671261,"authorDomain":"digits"}

Digits

No. He is not. He's a reincarnated SU user of questionable moral character - whose previous account [http://deliguy.stumbleupon.com] is now under review.

What that means in SU parlance is that it may, now, get deleted.

I reviewed his Moshable dot com domain - that i don't want to link from here for obvious reasons - as having been spam-botted into the SU database - which was 100% verifiably true and he proceeded to PM me to try to get me to recant my review because [and his words summarized], "This website had gotten popular because it made *some list...*"

Well. Now he's out to defame and besmirch the good name of Digits. :) LoL That's about the long and short of it.

{"commentId":1671261,"threadId":"193603","contentId":"1182485","authorDomain":"digits"}

2 votes

#10.3 - Wed Apr 9, 2008 8:00 AM EDT

{"canLink":false,"threadId":"193603","isPrivate":false}

DIGITS

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Spamming StumbleUpon not Profitable

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