Update: Edmunds didn’t spam me. Automotive.com spammed me, using Edmunds name, and I have the log files to prove it. Also see the comment on this message from Edmunds general counsel.
My web site has recently been plagued recently by spammers trying to scam links to sites offering viagra and baldness cures.
Today, I find that someone calling himself Mark Riley has posted a completely irrelevant and gratuitous comment on my site with a link back to edmunds.com. Here is the comment. You decide if it’s anything other than comment spam.
Edmunds.com is a legitimate site and one that I use and like. Are they now using spam to promote themselves? I can see no other explanation for this message. No one other than Edmunds could possibly benefit from it. I’m awaiting Edmunds’ reply.
I had a comment spam on my site several months ago from some car site. I’m pretty sure it was edmunds.com, but I don’t remember for sure.
I looked at my traffic logs that day and saw that the person had entered my site via a Google search for some car-related term (I don’t remember which — maybe it was “edmunds.com”, for which I’m #8 on Google). I didn’t think much of it at the time, so I just deleted the comment. But the fact that they’ve done it again (assuming the cases are related) is rather infuriating.
Barry, definitely check out your logs and see how the person entered your site.
I am the General Counsel of Edmunds.com, Inc.
This issue was brought to my attention by one of our employees this afternoon. I am traveling through April 4 and thus do not have the ability to address this matter in detail, but you can be sure that Edmunds.com is not responsible for these e-mails.
We do not have any greater understanding than you do of why people might chose to spoof us. However, we are a high-profile website, and we find all sorts of unexpected misuses of our name and other intellectual property rights, and have seen other attempts by third parties to injure us.
Please get in touch with me directly if you have any further information.
Kenneth Levin
Executive Vice President and General Counsel
Edmunds.com, Inc.