Spam and Scam

Several times a week the site receives comment postings which follow a predictable pattern. There's a generic compliment and then a link to a site that usually has noting to do with the topic. Unless I can see that the link is directly relevant such comments get promptly dumped in the spam bin. They constitute a waste of the sender's time, for which they likely get paid. They waste my time too, but I don't want them to waste your's - you probably get enough spam of your own.

To minimize my effort I'm keeping the CAPTCHA type of challenge-response test on all comment submissions. I appreciate these can be frustrating when your interpretation of the mangled characters doesn't correspond with the computer's but ask your understanding.