Verbal Spam Filter

So my posting to my friendly neighborhood spammers (located here) three weeks ago was not as successful as I might have been hoping for.  Sure, I was not anticipating a sudden cessation of all spamming activity, but at least a lessening of it.  I was disappointed to learn that was not the case.

So I went the next step up to moderating comments.  This was not an improvement either, as it continued to keep the spam comments out the regular stream - but I had to continue to delete them on a daily basis.

Then, out of desperation, I did the one thing I typically hate doing on other sites:  I required typing in a character recognition to make sure that an individual was entering them.  Suddenly, all the spam went away.

This has been quite a relief.  Yes, I know it's a minor annoyance, but it's the principle of the thing that makes the absence of it all the better.

Why do I write about this?  Because I realized yesterday that I am exposed to a lot of verbal spam as well - and I sure wish I could block it.

Verbal spam?  The things people say that are not at all related to anything.  The things said to shock, or occasionally hurt.  And certainly, the things said to remind one that you are lesser than others.

Wouldn't it be convenient to have the equivalent of a verbal spam filter - something you could simply throw up around your ears and verify the nature of the communication before it comes through?  Would it change the situation - no, possibly not at all.

But at least, like with my visual spam, it would give simple sigh of relief - and unburden our spirits from a great deal of verbal information that we're better without.