When you go to someone's social networking site, or blog, and you read something interesting, you may be inclined to post a comment to them about what you read. You'll probably even leave the link to your own website in the signature. That's fine, that's the way commenting is supposed to go.

It's when people comment just for the sake of commenting that bloggers have a problem. Or when they just leave a link, but no text to go with it. Or when they say, "visit my site for my opinion", but they don't write anything in the comment section itself about their opinion. This is when commenting becomes spam.

I'm sure you get tons of spam in your email, we all do. Do you like it? Do you like when people send you emails that have nothing to do with you and you really couldn't care less? Most people don't, so don't do it to other people. When you post irrelevant comments to someone's blog or social networking site, you're spamming. Plain and simple.

"When your only comment is a link to your blog, it's not going to make it past the moderation filter." ~debng, debng's blog

Instead, always make sure that what you're posting adds something to the conversation or answers a question. Make it worth reading for the other people who come to the site. When you're finished, you're usually welcome to add a link to your site, but only in your signature, after your name.

Junk mail's no fun to get whether it be in paper form, email form or comment form. Don't create junk, don't be a spammer.