Housepets!

I may be showing my ignorance here, but ... just what is "Pings & Trackbacks", and what is it doing on The Weekly Of Spot?

Trackback is a function of WordPress and other blogging software. If a site links to your site, it sends a networking signal - the ping - via the Internet to inform you of that. This mechanism has become a new favorite tool of spammers since most web platforms lack a filter function as exists for comments and mail.

Why this particular spambot advertising dodgy gold-selling services chose this strip in particular I can't say. Maybe it got triggered by a specific combination of words in the text or it's just randomized. What's important is better not to follow the links.

Seen those around, but never bothered to look up what they were. I'll agree, though, usually they have something to do with the strip in question, such as pet care stuff for this comic. Gold is a new one.

It seems to only be on that strip though. Very odd.

Since this is a question about the website, I'll move it across to the Announcements and Feedback section which is where we recommend questions and feedback about the site as well as reports of suspicious activity on the site are shared. Alternatively, suspicious activity on the Housepets site can be reported via email to [email protected] or [email protected]. Please note that suspicious activity on the forums should still be reported using the "report" button found on every post.

Can anything be done about the spambot on that particular strip or do we just have to ignore it?