I’m getting a lot of spam lately from overseas companies selling cheap reproductions of paintings. I’ve deleted five comments in two days.

The comments are usually repetitious (the same comment is often posted to several articles on one blog and you’ll usually find identical comments on other people’s blogs), and have nothing to do with the articles they’re posted to – showing that the person (or robot) posting the comment has no interest in the blog articles but is simply hoping to direct blog readers to their own site via free advertising. They hope to trade off the blogger’s popularity.

If you get these comments on your own blog, can I suggest that you delete them too so as not to encourage the practice?

UPDATE:
Elizabeth Tyler has a bit more to say about these likely art scammers on her blog.