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jamesray50
08-31-2011, 11:23 PM
I wrote a blog a few weeks ago. I don't usually get very many comments, if any. I got one on this particular blog, approved it and commented back on it. But today I have received three comments on the same blog all from the same person. Each comment is different and doesn't necessarly relate to the content of the blog. They are more on how nice the blog looks, how do you set up a blog, glad they found my blog. I have not approved these comments. What can be going on? I thought Askemet would catch stuff like this.

Thanks.

vangogh
09-01-2011, 01:29 AM
It does sound like spam. Akismet isn't perfect. It catches spam based on a large database of information, but someone can still get away with spamming if their info isn't in that database. If you mark the comments as spam on your blog then this persons info will make it's way into the database and help fight spam.

Just know that no spam fighting tool is going to be perfect. Sometimes spam will get through and you'll have to manually remove it and report it as spam.

Spider
09-01-2011, 09:31 AM
Or, maybe, they are just being nice and trying to strike up a conversation. It doesn't always serve to take a negative view. What harm can a couple of benign comments do? That might be a potential client just trying to make contact and see what kind of person you are.

greenoak
09-01-2011, 10:04 AM
most of my blogs spams are more obvious....as in ...you are so great and look at my site for poker skills......etc etc...

vangogh
09-01-2011, 10:27 AM
Or, maybe, they are just being nice and trying to strike up a conversation.

Probably not. It's a common spam tactic to write generic comments that just say the blogger is wonderful. Usually when the comment is generic to the point where it could apply to any post it's generally spam, especially when you get 3 from the same person on the same post.

KristineS
09-01-2011, 12:24 PM
Or, maybe, they are just being nice and trying to strike up a conversation. It doesn't always serve to take a negative view. What harm can a couple of benign comments do? That might be a potential client just trying to make contact and see what kind of person you are.

It would be lovely to think that Frederick, but it really is a very common spam technique. I delete spam comments like this off my blogs all the time. They try to create a relatively benign comment in hopes it will slip through, but they really don't have any interest in your blog at all. They just want the link. For me, the giveaway is usually the URL or e-mail that is listed with the comment. Lots of times they come from SEO companies.

KristineS
09-01-2011, 12:26 PM
I wrote a blog a few weeks ago. I don't usually get very many comments, if any. I got one on this particular blog, approved it and commented back on it. But today I have received three comments on the same blog all from the same person. Each comment is different and doesn't necessarly relate to the content of the blog. They are more on how nice the blog looks, how do you set up a blog, glad they found my blog. I have not approved these comments. What can be going on? I thought Askemet would catch stuff like this.

Thanks.

Akismet will catch a lot of this stuff, and there are other plug-ins, like WP Spam Free, that are very good as well, but no spam catcher will stop everything. I think that's one of the reasons that spammers are creating comments like the ones that you described. They're harder to stop and harder to identify as spam. I'd just delete the comments and ban the person who left the comment. That should solve the problem.

Spider
09-01-2011, 01:12 PM
I am amazed how micro-businesses (not only here but in the real world, too) are so eager to eliminate people when the whole purpose of being in business is to win as many people as possible. Sure, be clever and delete posts and reject people and be able to say, "I don't tolerate spam - I zap 'em as soon as they appear." Maybe you'll only throw out one good lead in a hundred spams. I really don't care how many or how few. This is the wrong attitude to be imparting to micro-business owners who want to grow their business.

I dislike spam as much as the next person - more, probably - and I'll complain about it to anyone willing to listen, and try to encourage people not to do it. But I will not delete benign posts that do no harm and do not detract from one's own efforts, just for the sake of being intolerant. If you can gain anything from deleting a post then by all means delete it. If you can gain anything from banning someone from your site, then by all means ban them. But this attitude of deleting and banning people where there is nothing to gain and maybe even something to lose, is not good business.

vangogh
09-01-2011, 02:29 PM
No one is turning away people or rejecting potential clients. Some of us simply have more experience with blog comments and have a better understanding of how comment spam works. Naturally we haven't seen the exact comments Jo Ellen received, but it's a very common practice for comment spammers to create a generic "great post" kind of comment. It looks harmless and comes across as a genuine thank you. However the person who left the comment probably never visited Jo Ellen's blog. It's more likely auto spam than a real comment.

Jo Ellen mentioned the comments were sent to moderation. When a real person submits a comment to a WordPress blog like Jo Ellen's and their post goes to moderation the person receives a message saying their comment is in moderation. A real person seeing that doesn't try to then submit two more comments that are reworded but say the same generic great post. Automated programs that leave spam comments do.

KristineS
09-01-2011, 02:38 PM
I think the thing that's being missed is that there aren't, most likely anyway, any people involved with the spam comments, and banning them isn't going to hurt your business in the least. If anything, allowing them to stay on your blog could hurt you more. Put blog comments next to genuine comments and the difference becomes very apparent. If I see a blog with a lot of spam comments appearing on the post, I think one of two things, either the blogger is trying to ramp up the number of comments to make their blog appear more popular, or they simply don't care about the blog and approve anything, and in either case, the value of that blog is lessened, at least in my eyes.

If you are using a blog to build your business, you have to be strategic about how you do it. If you have a reasonable doubt about whether a not a comment is spam, send an e-mail to the address given with the comment and see what sort of response you get. If, however, you're familiar enough with spam to know it when you see it, then why waste any further time. If you approve the comments, you're only giving the spammer a venue and what's the good in that?

Spider
09-01-2011, 02:52 PM
I'd rather have - and I'd prefer to visit - blogs that are active, even if most of that activity is "nice post," in preference to a blog that is getting no comments at all. A blog that has no comments is not one that instills confidence nor wins clients, I would think.

Still, hang on to that attitude, guys. I just want to offer a more positive alternative to SBF visitors. If a spammer is getting some mileage out of a comment on my blog that is not doing me any harm, what's wrong with that? I get mileage out of other peoples' blogs when I comment.

What goes around, comes around.

vangogh
09-01-2011, 03:02 PM
what's wrong with that?

The comments appear harmless. That doesn't mean they are harmless. The comments will link back to a spam site that could potentially affect your search ranking negatively. Worse though is that your audience might click on what could be at best a scam and at worst a phishing attack. When comment spam is left unchecked it just attracts more comment spam.


A blog that has no comments is not one that instills confidence nor wins clients

A blog with comment spam instills less confidence and also leads to genuine commenters staying away.

This isn't about offering a positive alternative. Kristine and I aren't being negative in saying you should remove spam. Please don't try to spin it that way.

jamestl2
09-01-2011, 03:02 PM
Yeah, I get those comments too, they're definitely spam. Some of the posts I've received them on isn't even showing the comments template.

jamesray50
09-01-2011, 03:06 PM
I've had 5 comments on this particular blog. Two were legitimate, the other three didn't have anything to do about the content. The email address from the last three were all different, but the website was the same. There was no website. I marked all three as spam. I find them annoying. Thanks for everyone's comments. It was interesting reading your alls point of view. I would rather have comments relating to my content or no comments at all.

vangogh
09-01-2011, 04:08 PM
Glad we could help Jo Ellen.

kerrylinux
09-01-2011, 04:53 PM
I think the thing that's being missed is that there aren't, most likely anyway, any people involved with the spam comments, and banning them isn't going to hurt your business in the least.

That's exactly the point! If anyone replies to a blog in a way that is entirely unconnected to the content (as reported above) you are defeating the purpose of your blog by letting this comment stay. Your visitors are entitled to find an environment that is not littered by nonsensical praise bare of any useful thought.

KristineS
09-01-2011, 05:08 PM
I'd rather have - and I'd prefer to visit - blogs that are active, even if most of that activity is "nice post," in preference to a blog that is getting no comments at all. A blog that has no comments is not one that instills confidence nor wins clients, I would think.

Still, hang on to that attitude, guys. I just want to offer a more positive alternative to SBF visitors. If a spammer is getting some mileage out of a comment on my blog that is not doing me any harm, what's wrong with that? I get mileage out of other peoples' blogs when I comment.

What goes around, comes around.

I have to disagree, Frederick, I don't think deleting spammers is in any way not being positive. Spammers are doing something that's not positive, trying to hijack content on a blog for their own ends, which are most likely not legitimate. The positive thing to do is to stop them in their tracks and treat your blog like the legitimate business tool it is and save the comment space for people who will help advance the conversation that should happen on your blog in a useful manner. Cluttering up your blog with meaningless "nice post" comments isn't positive, it's actually interfering with what your blog should be doing for your business which is advancing your message and fostering conversation.

And the rationalization that a comment is a comment is not good advice for new bloggers. A comment that advances the conversation and is relevant to the post on which it is made, or which asks a helpful question, is a comment worth keeping. Allowing a lot of spam to seep through so you look like you have a lot of comments won't make your blog look more popular and effective. If anything it will make the blog look less popular and make the blogger look as he or she has no idea how to run a blog.

I'm all for being positive when possible, but spam is never useful, and I don't see how accepting it and abetting those who are spamming something you worked to create is in any way a positive thing.

KristineS
09-01-2011, 05:10 PM
I've had 5 comments on this particular blog. Two were legitimate, the other three didn't have anything to do about the content. The email address from the last three were all different, but the website was the same. There was no website. I marked all three as spam. I find them annoying. Thanks for everyone's comments. It was interesting reading your alls point of view. I would rather have comments relating to my content or no comments at all.

I'm glad we were able to help and not get sidetracked from answering your original question. I'm glad you were able to get rid of the spam and will now understand how to do that in the future. It's a valuable skill for every blogger to have.

jamestl2
09-01-2011, 07:03 PM
If you're unsure whether the comment's genuine or not, try responding to the commenter, if they don't ever respond back and just ignore, then you'll have a pretty good idea of their intentions.

Dan Furman
09-04-2011, 03:51 PM
If a spammer is getting some mileage out of a comment on my blog that is not doing me any harm, what's wrong with that?

reporting it as spam is a good thing.

vangogh
09-05-2011, 07:26 PM
Yep. Helps keep other blogs from getting the same spam. It's similar here with the forum. We can report anyone who spams and their information is sent to a forum spammer database. That same database is checked when people try to register and it's been stopping a lot of spammers from registering.