Google has publically responded to the outcry about splog via their Blogger Buzz blog. One thing they talk about is improving their spam detection algorithm.
A big goal in deploying the filtered NextBlog and Flag as Objectionable was to improve our spam classifiers. As we improve these algorithms, we plan to pass the filtered information along automatically.
That’s certainly a good start. Another thing they have done is published a list of deleted subdomains. Currently there are over 13,000 subdomains listed.
They dismiss using captchas for each post as a solution because it limits accessibility and does not allow posting via API. I agree that captchas do have problems and are not the ultimate solution. I do think, however, that some type of limit will need to be placed on posting, or else the sploggers will keep getting the upper hand. Not indexing new blogs for a few days until they can be determined whether they are splog or not may help a little. Limiting the number of posts up-loadable via the API may help as well.
They also note that this is going to be an ongoing problem. It sure is.
Found via fighting splog.