The reason some people spam multiple posts over many usenet groups

Sometimes in sci.astro and related astronomy groups you will see the
same insignificant topic post spread throughout many groups.

Not just the crank theory posts that will appear everywhere multiple
times with often multiple follow ups from themselves.

Others do it too.

The reason is, although some of you will have known why for a long
time, that these groups are archived by Google. Not just Google
either. And not just by one site, you can find many sites, sometimes
several sites in several different languages, will archive the google
groups and usenet postings.

Now consider that when it comes to a web search.

Consider the following example, which will use a google search.

Martin Nicholson has had a long thread about Designed to Fail? for a
long time, on and off. A direct thread. However, that isn't the main
thing

When he has done posts on his ten minute challenges or something about
Cassini at Saturn's satellite images or similar and he posts them to
many groups his posts will carry a signatured link every time to one
of his webpages, sometimes several signatured links.

These will include his "astronomical" blog, which in normal
consideration is reasonable enough, someone's home page is not a rare
signature.

But it will also include links to his Designed to Fail? essay on
variable stars, or his halls of shame, or his updated "research"
pages, or some other specific thing.

And anyone who has taken notice knows he posts the same thing to many
groups and anyone who has ever looked at any of them will have seen
often they are one liners or one sentence pointers to something or
other and a link to something on his webpages or blogs, repeated many
times in many groups, with extra commentary links in his signature
(s). Often with no reply or vote or comment from anyone, but that
doesn't matter, that isn't the point.

You see, if in this example you become interested in double stars and
hear of a yahoo group called binary stars uncensored and go to google
search and type that in, then Nicholson's comments about Binary Stars
Uncensored and his link usually appears before the real one, and the
short summary of text google searches return just below the hit finds
his first few carefully chosen words.

If you use an exact phrase match his url on the results appears even
earlier.

And now you know why some people post small posts to many groups
repeating the same thing.

And that is why whenever he is upset or feels someone has said
something on a real, main, targetted group that may be archived, you
will find sci.astro and many other groups with a post on it from him,
probably also carrying a link to some comment on it on one of his
blogs somewhere, or more.

And he will do it several times, on several days, because hopefully
his blogs and his posts will push the worrying to him posts away from
future searches. Or highlight the links to his work.

And of course you have to use keywords too.

Why do you think he repeats people's names so much in the text and why
does Martin Piers Nicholson put people's names directly into subject
headings so commonly and prominently?

Google is supposed to have some protection against this to stop
businesses biasing the searches (so they have to pay for sponsored
advertising to get first page hits instead).

Now you know why some people do this. Some do it because they are
cranks who want to put their pet theory all over usenet.

But some use it in a calculated way.

Next time you see someone like him do a post about someone, or
generally do a post that contains a link to some blog or other about a
topic, wherein said post or blog he is complaining about something or
someone, if you are a member of many groups see how many times the
same post was reported to different groups. Or check the archives now
to see. How sometimes he replies to himself in those groups with
repeat posts of the same thing with automated response settings, which
is very rude, if a person doesn't want to listen to someone, they can
use filters or delete unread. Of course that's another reason names
have to be in topics and subject headings, for the archived log and
index pages for the group.

That's why sometimes instead of replies new threads on the same topic
have to be started.

Therefore, the next time you see someone post to quite a few groups
using this method, check it out, and a week later do a google search
on something that should sensible pick the topic up.

Also when you wonder why some people regularly, for months, reply to
the cranks and tell them that they are cranks, their name and posts
are getting as much attention by the robots as the cranks are, but if
you only pick one of their posts, they seem to be reasonable people
telling the cranks not to be silly. This one is possible not as
certain, and possibly stretching the concept a little, but there are
those on usenet who wonder why so many people reply with the same
thing to the repeat postings of the cranks instead of ignoring them or
filtering them out.

And then you won't have to ask people anymore why they spam their
stuff all over sci.astro groups.

Designed to Fail? Or Designed to Hijack?