I got hit again with another pr0n blitz today.
I was out and about, logged in to check the blog and watched comment spam flood in.
Of course I hit high C. It’s a normal sense of rage and helplessness watching it happen. This is the fourth hit.
I phoned a friend who got hold of the number for a friend who is so smart he is scary. He dashed home, logged in and put another filter in place for me.

The flood stopped. For now.
This filter will bring us one step closer to the source.
It could be some person in Asia, Canada, Europe, anywhere, earning 1/10th of a cent per spam. And although Canadian law enforcement can’t help, I hope we can trace them and shut him/her down for a day or two. I’ll be hit again, it’s getting predictable.
It could be a hacker exploiting MT.
I’m writing my MP and since I’m at it, my MPP. I’ve gotten in touch with a national reporter. I’ve notified two levels of law enforcement, my ISP and my hosting company. I may not have the tech smarts or live where laws can be enforced, but I can make some noise.

If it is part of the wierdness I’ve experienced online the past year and a half, so be it. Jeffrey Collins of Joyful Christian made a kind comment:

How bizarre! Someone’s been hacking Bene Diction’s site. It sounds like this has been a long, sustained, yet low level attack. It certainly sounds like the work of someone with an axe to grind. I find that strange in the extreme because while Bene often says or links to things that people don’t like, I’ve never seen anything come out of Bene’s site that would anger someone to this extreme. Very strange indeed.

As nice as that sentiment is, it doesn’t hold water. (sorry!^) The world doesn’t work that way. Shooting the messenger is accepted as normal, not strange. It was one of the first experiences I had as a reporter.
Other bloggers get hit. No one is exempt.
Some people can’t handle diversity of opinion. They see it as moral failure, weakness and a personal assault on them. And that is sad because they only know self.
If this is done to cause me to re-act, it isn’t working. I’ll hit high C for a minute or two, call up smart people and then do what Richard Hall suggested when he notified me today he’d done a bit of cleaning up:

Just so you know - I’ve had another bit of a despamming session at benedictionblogson tonight. You do seem to attract some particularly nasty material. I wish I could understand the motivation of those behind your spam problem - they definitely need our prayers.

I can’t pretend to understand.
It is very nasty - what people in the ‘industry’ call gonzo pr0n.
Another act of autogenerated spam - several acts of kindness.
Two friends got on the phone. One logged in quickly.
A blogger who needs to grab some sleep before crossing the Altantic early tomorrow took time to clean up a bit. Rachel Cunliffe will step in and do what she can.
The MT blacklist was updated. Three more filters are on.
The technical solutions haven’t worked yet, but they have helped slow things a wee bit.
And tonight as I go back and delete and close off comments in the archives, every time I hit that delete button I am going to pray. I am going to pray for the women, men and children expoited by pr0nographers. I am going to pray for the person sending it.
God doesn’t jump because I’ll wind up praying over 250 prayers tonight. He is Holy, this is merely a decision to honour Him and honour those made like Him. The discipline of focusing on His love for me and for others will help me stay pro-active instead of drowning under the flood.