Sploggers Quick on the Draw

[jmiller]

So I was checking out Blogger and Next Blogging my way around, taking full advantage of the new “Flag As Objectionable” feature like some kind of cyber-sniper, whizzing shots by the ears of every spam blog (splog) I could find, when I came across a stubborn one. The day after Google released the Flag feature, one of these splogs had already out smarted it thanks to Internet Explorer’s relative inability to block pop-ups.

Against my better instincts of promoting a splog by talking about it (and even linking to it), it seems an important distinction to make between IE and Firefox.

As I was a-flagging the zirconia in the rough (and giggling), my gaze fell upon this splog. Much to my surprised as I moused upward the Flag button, the button disappeared and I was unable to flag it.

Whirls of controversy created an eddy of “hacker news scoops” in my head. But cooler heads prevailed when I presented the information to a friend. She suggested that there were certain types of pop-ups that could perform this sort of shady behavior. And then, as a test, she said I should pull up the same blog with Firefox.

Sure enough, Firefox, with its pop-up assassin technology, was able to block the smoke and mirrors. Giddiness returned as took advantage of a new unimpeded flagging.

Now, everyone do me a favor and flag the ever-loving (expletive deleted) out this splog just for being smart.