One of the things I’ve learned quickly since starting the Cooler on the Lake Shore blog is that it doesn’t take long for the spam artists out there to find you.

Most seem to be fairly innocuous attempts to get you to post a comment that also contains a link to something the commenter is promoting or selling. And at least they tend to use flattery, rather than calling you an idiot and saying your site sucks and daring you to post the comment. (I got enough of that from people who disagreed with our election predictions when I edited the CQPolitics.com site.)

Take the one I received this morning. “I’m impressed, I need to say,” the comment started. “Actually not often do I encounter a blog that’s both educative and entertaining, and let me tell you, you’ve hit the nail on the head. Your concept is excellent.”

Well, I’m as ego-equipped as any writer, so this comment (almost certainly computer-generated) might have had me at “I’m impressed.” But then came the laying-it-on-too-thick part. “The issue is one thing that not enough individuals are talking intelligently about. I’m very glad that I stumbled throughout this in my search for one thing regarding this,” the comment concluded.

The problem is that this comment was submitted to a blog post, dated August 4 and titled “Random Photo of Gracie, Our Adorable Cat.” While I would be honored to know that this is an issue that not enough individuals are talking intelligently about, I kind of doubt it.

Then again, if this character really has been searching the Web for the one site providing intelligent discussion of Gracie the Cat, he certainly has come to the right place.