MediaVision Blog : Search Engine Marketing

No one likes to see his or her neighbourhood decline as bad influences move in and disrupt established living conditions. No one likes to see the rules of social etiquette breached to such a degree that those of good standing feel compelled to relocate to a more civil and welcoming environment. We don’t tolerate malicious and inconsiderate behaviour in the real world; it then stands to reason that we won’t tolerate it in the virtual world either.

The term “virtual blight” has been coined as a reference to online behaviour that repels respectable, legitimate traffic and wilfully aims to tarnish the contributions and reputations of established community members. Jonah Stein, creator of the site VirtualBlight , identifies three types of virtual blight, bot blight, human blight and entropy blight.

Bot blight refers to a tactic used by unscrupulous marketers and scammers that find and attack vulnerabilities in online systems. They bias polls, defraud customers, steal identities and inflict untold damage on brands. As automated traffic, such as bots, significantly outnumbers human traffic on the Internet, overcoming the problem seems insurmountable. It’s vital that programme developers and writers do their best to come up with innovative solutions or the battleground will be lost and we’ll be one step closer to the world envisioned in the Matrix.

Human blight is driven by people intent on using the net for selfish reasons. They’re usually motivated by greed and the prospect of financial gain. Some, however, are purely antisocial and want only to destroy that which isn’t theirs. Blighters can be divided into six categories:

Parasitic marketers: scammers, spammers and sploggers, and all those who seek to use the Internet to further their own interests. Their actions can include financial scams, pirate software, marketing pills, pornography and gambling.

Elitists are those established members of an online community who overreact to perceived transgressions with blatant hostility and offensive comments. They have no patience for new members still learning the ropes and often form snobby cliques that refuse access to new members or anyone with an opinion contrary to theirs.

Griefers engage in socially unacceptable behaviour to intentionally harm others, while at the same time inflating their already out of proportion egos. They generally cause so much damage and frustration that community members simply cut their losses and move on.

Trolls are especially sadistic individuals who purposely upset others so that they can sit back and enjoy the reactions. They systematically go about disrupting usability and getting sites banned for entertainment. Some have even turned their behaviour into something resembling competitive sport, as they try to outdo each other and see who can cause the most damage.

Sock puppets and predators form the last two categories of blighters. Of the two, predators are the most dangerous as they use the web for criminal purposes. Paedophiles using the net to lure children fall into this category.

Entropy blight, the last form of recognised blight, entails blight through inaction. Sites that have been unceremoniously abandoned and neglected contribute to entropy, as do sites with outdated links.

One way that legitimate and respected Internet users can oppose blight is to establish a strict code of conduct that can be regulated and monitored. Occurrences of blight should be reported, investigated and, if found to be wilful and malicious, publicised as widely as possible to act as a deterrent. Transgressors should be blacklisted. Turning a blind eye to virtual blight is no longer an option. Community members have to be proactive in keeping their neighbourhoods clean and blight free.