Zombie Blogs

popesebbo: Fake blogs!
popesebbo: Fake blogs?
kamelatroix: ?
popesebbo: So, I'm looking at my server logs for my vanity site
popesebbo: (it's a vice of mine--one of many)
popesebbo: The best part is the "referrers" list.
popesebbo: You enough of a webgeek to know about what that means?
kamelatroix: nope.
popesebbo: Well, when you click on a link in your browser,
popesebbo: the request your computer sends to the server that has the linked-to file
popesebbo: includes the URL of the page that linked to it.
kamelatroix: ahhh...
popesebbo: Thus, I know, for example, that someone went from my Livejournal profile to Sebbo.org three times yesterday.
kamelatroix: huh.
popesebbo: One of them was me, the other two i don't know anything more about.
kamelatroix: nice.
popesebbo: So far so normal.
popesebbo: Now in referrer log is starting to show these odd soulless Movable Type blogs.
popesebbo: http://www.worldnewslog.com/
popesebbo: http://www.malixya.com/
popesebbo: http://www.mikesspot.com/
popesebbo: http://www.jennifersblog.com/
kamelatroix: so?
popesebbo: http://www.wr18.com/
popesebbo: What they have in common is that they have no original content.
popesebbo: They're all just links to news stories.
popesebbo: All of them!
kamelatroix: weird.
kamelatroix: maybe they spider the blogs looking for shit.
popesebbo: Even though they look completely different, and are fairly well designed.
popesebbo: I suspect that the precipitating factor in my appearing on these lists is the LJ account, if that wasn't obvious

Update:

A look at the sourcecode reveals wheels within wheels. And, of course, sleazy fly-by-night pornsites within those wheels.

Each site ends with the following markup: <a href="http://www.zombieblog.com/adult-webcam/"><img src="/adult-webcam.gif" width="78" height="24" border="0"></a>, with the name of the particular zombie blog in question as the href.

So we've got a transparent gif used as an invisible link to the /adult-webcam/ section of the site. Which, if you type in the URL, is the usual pornsite come-on, offering a FREE MEMBERSHIP!!! as soon as you enter your credit card number, which of course they won't charge.

Why the elaborate charade, though? My first thought was googlebombing, but since each ZB links to a different URL, the effect shouldn't be cumulative.

Puzzling