Every blogger has to deal with the issue of SPAMMY comments – and the spammers are getting more and more creative in what they leave. The challenge, though, is knowing when someone is just not very experienced at leaving real comments and when they’re only after some link love. While I do try to err in favor of those who just aren’t very good at commenting, we are deleting more and more borderline comments.
Are YOUR comments SPAMMY? Do they contribute to the discussion or are they only intended to provide a backlink?
Here are some very recent examples to help you understand when comments are NOT valuable and are VERY LIKELY to be deleted:
- Super-Duper site! I am loving it!! Will come back again – taking you feeds also, Thanks.
- amazing stuff thanx
- Interesting article, i have bookmarked your blog for future referrence [sic]
- I’ve been having a problem with this for a while now. I just can’t seem to figure it out
- Interessante Informationen
While every blogger might appreciate sincere compliments, the above are simply too vague and too generic to be of any value. If your comments are sincere I would love to keep them – but really now – how am I to know when they’re as vague as these?
Over time there have been batches of “I can’t figure out how to subscribe to your feed” and “I’ve bookmarked you” which are obviously SPAM. The way we know this is that they’ve already been reported by other bloggers or the same SPAMMY comment appears more than once in a single blog on multiple posts.
Sometimes the SPAM is very well written:
Hey all, sorry if this is in the wrong place. First time poster, long-time lurker. I’m a big fan of this community and found something I wanted to share. I’m really into vintage guitars, I have a small collection of my own, and this site has been a really cool resource for me.
It is a collection of a bunch of really good deals on some really sweet Vintage Guitars. It updates pretty much daily with a new list of good deals and things that look interesting. Check it out, let me know what you think. RockinMusicDeals.com
The above comment would be better in a blog about music or guitars, but it would STILL be a commercial and likely to be deleted. It starts out with a probable lie and has nothing to do with the post where it was left. Want more proof that it is SPAM? Search on the last line and today those two exact sentences are listed in Google 104 times.
There is nothing wrong with making a comment ABOUT A BLOG POST HERE that LINKS to the Vintage Guitars – or any other site. Those types of comments are welcome. We’re even using KeywordLuv so you can add your own anchor text. You won’t see the comment above HERE because we deleted it.
[Note: We now use CommentLuv Premium that has keywords built in – you can use either free CommentLuv and KeywordLuv OR CommentLuv Premium.]
Here is another:
Hello there… I’ve been hanging out in these forums for a while as a guest and finally got around to registering. Thumbs up to whoever runs this place. Seriously, I love the contribution of this community. I thought I’d do some contributing of my own and pimp a ringtone and free SMS site that my friend just sent me.
The last month I’ve been using TheCellFreak.com. This site allows me to send totally free sms worldwide, which is cool because I like finding these free gifts over the web. Plus I can have free ringtones and graphics via SMS to any cellphone worldwide – for free. No hidden costs, popups or nags.
Hope to contribute more useful links like this one. Cheers, and btw: some of the posts here are really funny: lol!
This one is obviously SPAM for many reasons. That this site is not a forum ad we don’t require registration make it obvious this is not a real comment. The extra link within the text is another. This SPAMMER wasn’t nearly as successful as the first. There are only three listings in Google so far when I searched on “pimp a ringtone and free SMS”.
[TIP: Select the most distinctive phrase to get the most accurate results when searching for SPAM comments.]
Here is a much tougher one. The text is still too generic and the commentator left an extra link. They also submitted this comment twice. There are no listings in Google for this comment so far though. What do you think? Real or SPAM?
I really liked your blog! You have some great content. Check out my blog, I just added my new post about Using Plr articles for fresh content. Let me know what you think
The blogger leaving this last comment has a blog that is related to our content. It would be a good idea for them to take the time to write better comments here and use that link as the URL of the comment instead of including it in the text.
Would you approve this last comment, mark it as SPAM, or simply delete it?
[NOTE: Akismet flags comments that include extra links and many people find links – especially really long links – SPAMMY.]
Here are some tips for quality comments that are far more likely to be approved and lead new readers to your blog:
- Akismet traps short comments so make your comments at least a couple of sentences long.
- Say something specific about the post that you’re leaving the comment in so the person reviewing it knows without a doubt that it is a REAL comment. Comments should NOT be advertisements or only to invite readers to visit you. FIRST they should be comments; THEN you can add a SHORT blurb mentioning your own site.
- In blogs that use KeywordLuv use that feature to create anchor text.
- Consider joining CommentLuv so you can select the most relevant of your last ten posts to link to your comment.
- Whether you have CommentLuv or not, you CAN link to a specific post instead of your home page if you wish by using that link in your comment.
- Those using CommentLuv can leave TWO links by first entering their main page and then changing it AFTER they select their post using CommentLuv.
- If you leave any additional links in the body of your comment it is almost sure to be moderated so do NOT leave your standard links in the text. Only leave links in the body of your comment if you feel an additional link is relevant and will be approved. You might consider leaving one comment that mentions another link and then adding the link in a second comment. That way your first comment will go live and the blog has the option to approve the second link – or not – and you will still have a quality comment there.
Be sure to check comment policies BEFORE you leave comments. There are blogs I avoid commenting in because their policies are overly restrictive. Some don’t provide any links at all. One forbids linking to specific posts and others insist on “real” names (as though they could verify them anyway). Since we all have limited time why not focus our efforts in blogs that appreciate our participation?
And when we do, don’t make the poor blogger think long and hard trying to figure out whether our comments is sincere and real. Even if weak or spammy comments are approved, they affect your reputation so only leave quality comments.
Comments are NOT just links back to your site. They are indicators of the quality of your writing. The better your comments the more likely readers are to visit you!
Trade-Show-Guru has an entertaining comment policy worth reading. Even though officially he requires “real names” I’m hoping he’ll grant me a Friends of the Guru exception and let me call myself Internet Strategist as I do everywhere I travel online – or at least GrowMap which I use in blogs where they consider Internet Strategist too much like a keyword phrase.
Most Bloggers Love Comments But Not THOSE Comments is another humorous comment policy page worth reading. It gives some great ideas on what makes a good comment while being funny too.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
ANCHOR TEXT:
- Anchor Text Explained
USING KEYWORDLUV:
- How Does KeywordLuv Work?
- How WordPress Plugin KeywordLuv Rewards Your Commentators
- Target Your Keywords in Backlinks from KeyWordLuv Using DoFollow Blogs
ATTRACTING QUALITY COMMENTS:
- Like Bees to Honey: Attracting Quality Comments to Your Blog
- Do DoFollow Blogs Need a Stricter Comment Policy?
COMMENTING DON’TS:
Gail Gardner
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I’ve read lots of well written spam comments there. Personally, it’s pretty irritating to see others comments that are not related to the discussion especially if I find the post very useful on my part. I also want to get some ideas from other commentators as well.
Great article. I’m actually laughing as I’m reading through your post. Why can’t people just read the post and make an actual contribution to the conversation instead of just saying a two-liner on every comment that they make. Because those crappy comments will get deleted most of the time, so their effort won’t result to anything good in the future.
There is a site that I love to read the content. It is not about anything serious, so I go to it once in a while just to get a giggle. I read one post that bothered me, though, and I went to comment. There were no links in my comment or anything that should have flagged it as SPAM but I was sent to the blank white page. It was quite silly, since many of the comments were so SPAMMy that even a child could have seen through it. The comments before mine were only commercial like comments. I do not know why they were approved and mine was not. I actually had something to say….on topic.
What gave you a blank white page is Akismet because OTHER bloggers have flagged your comments as spam. When you see the white page your comment was immediately deleted and that blog owner will never see it.
See the information in my post for bloggers Akismet Configuration: How to Turn Off Akismet Automatic Comment Deletion.
Guilty as charged. My commenting policy is lousy says one of my commenters. I can’t be blamed. I just don’t want my blog littered with worthless comments and tons of keywords that just don’t relate to my niche in anyway whatsoever.
BTW you’re definitely getting too many comments that it’s hard to filter those spammy comments. I’ve seen quite a number of them here ;-).
Hi Chuks,
I clean out spammy comments regularly. The challenge is that many bloggers think ANY comment no matter the quality that is left by a business or uses keywords is bad.
What we must do is raise awareness and moderate comments without offending our readers. Because I often “meet” my commentators elsewhere and recognize their Twitter UserNames or sites I now know that many REAL people tend to leave what most bloggers would consider spammy comments.
We can’t just delete them – we must share with our commentators that short comments that do not add to the conversation are likely to get deleted and that they must put something in the comment that relates to the post where it appears.
Don’t be so fast to dismiss keywords that “do not relate to your niche”. What if they are learning from you? Do you not want them as readers?
What if they have a business unrelated to yours but want to buy things you write about? Do you really want to run them off?
Isn’t it likely you may want to know more about something THEY write about? You might even want to buy something from them someday. If they want to know you are you SURE you don’t want to know them?
I hope you’ll read my posts about why supporting small businesses improves the economic conditions for all and these on the benefits of KeywordLuv and CommentLuv posts.
.-= growmap´s featured blog ..Support Small Businesses =-.
I stand corrected. You make a very valid point and I’ve rewritten my comment policy yet again to include the need for something in the comment that relates to the post where their comments appear.
.-= Udegbunam Chukwudi@Make Money Online´s featured blog ..My Lousy Commenting Policy Undergoes Changes Again! =-.
I think akismet is a great plug in to stop spammers from spam comments ,but sometimes due to this plug in non spammers count as a spammers,which is not good.
Hi Jim,
I just saw evidence that Akismet is deleting valid comments so we need an alternative to Akismet unless they change that behavior.
.-= growmap´s featured blog ..Twitter Tools: Managing Multiple Twitter Accounts =-.
I agree with you about the spammy comments. Most of the time, plugins like Akismet fail, so I had to come up with my own list of words to blacklist. Works pretty well, but some russian spam comment leaks every once in a while…
Be very careful with blacklisting words. Many of those types of blocks block any word containing that word so to use an example that is not objectionable, if you wanted to block ning communities and put “ning” in your blacklist you would be blocking every word that contains ning: beginning, planning, etc.
I would rather manually moderate comments than have real comments censored without my ever seeing them.
.-= growmap´s featured blog ..How CommentLuv Grows Businesses and Blogs =-.
Nice one. Many link builders turn commenting into a race and the percentage of links that stick dramatically drops. Attrition is hard to combat when you are leaving junk comments. Build your rep, post links when the time is right. The premise of keywordluv is great, getting bloggers to accept it as normal practice is another story. My website: Masters Tickets
Hi Todd,
Check out my posts about How to Use KeywordLuv and How CommentLuv works.
Sites that use those plugins provide a way for you to get anchor text links more easily. If you use them properly your comments are less likely to be deleted.
I am also working with the developer of CommentLuv to make that even easier. He has already created default links that allow you to select your own anchor text links more easily.
.-= growmap´s last blog ..Social Media Marketing Monday – SMM Overview =-.
I think at the very least you need to make it look like you actually read a post! After that, it really depends upon what the particular blogger requires from you. Some bloggers won’t allow links in general and remove them all, no matter how quality the comment.
.-= Jared@Club Penguin´s last blog ..Free Club Penguin Account =-.
Hello Jared,
I agree with you that many bloggers will delete any link so it makes sense for those who want to leave comments to select specific sites to comment in regularly. Bloggers are less likely to delete comments from commentators they recognize.
Some bloggers who install KeywordLuv only want to allow other bloggers to leave links and delete any business related links. One reason I wrote my post about how KeywordLuv benefits us all and many other recent posts is to change their perspective.
Sites that want to force businesses to buy advertising are anti-link. There needs to be a new paradigm where we support quality products, services and businesses by writing reviews for them, blogging about them and linking to them using their best anchor text.
.-= growmap´s last blog ..KeywordLuv: How Using It Benefits Us All =-.
For me its quite a simple scenario. if you leave a worthwhile comment that isnt all self promotion then youve probably got a good chance of the comment being accepted. i personally moderate all my comments manually and am quite tough on spam – just leave good comments that are on topic and most of the time youll be accepted!
Hello Alsa,
That is absolutely true. Most bloggers are pretty strict about what comments they accept. I am more lenient because this is a teaching blog and I have seen very weak comments from people I know from Social Network sites.
We can not assume that all weak comments are spammers; often they are left by new bloggers or people we actually know who just don’t have a lot of experience commenting yet.
I am glad to see that you approve comments as long as they are relevant. The post I’ve featured in CommentLuv in this reply explains why it is REALLY important for bloggers to support small businesses.
Few realize that the comments they approve and what they write about can greatly improve our economy. My new post about Why Marketing is NOT evil provides more information on why supporting small businesses can improve the economy.
.-= growmap´s last blog ..BizLuv MEME: How to Support Your Fav Businesses =-.
This info on leaving comments a lot of people need to read this. People just are not passionate about what they are writing. Some people don’t even read what people are saying. At least take the time to read the blogs. Do research on item and information you like or know something about the subject. Bad comment hurt us all!! I help you you help me its that simple.
Some commentators are just in a hurry and others struggle with not being able to understand or write English well. Instead of just deleting their comments (which teaches them nothing) I share tips on how they can be improved and what not to do.
My readers may find this annoying at first but these exchanges can make their own commenting and moderating more effective so I believe it is a good thing to do.
Whenever you are promoting golf related tickets you might want to drop by our JV golf blog. It is also dofollow and has CommentLuv and KeywordLuv installed.
.-= growmap´s last blog ..Why Marketing is NOT Evil =-.
What is interesting about comments is we all want to leave them for the supposed benefits of ranking our sites, but few of us want to have these comments placed on our own sites. I leave most of my site open to comments and even suggest people use keywords and not there name. It actually makes more sense. If you have a blog about baby clothes the keyword linking out to a baby site reinforces what your site is about. But if you have a site about golf then it wouldn’t make sense obviously. But then what is the benefit of the name? There seems to be a lot of psychology in commenting that goes beyond the positive or negative benefits of having comments. Comments are a good thing and tell people your site has value. But if the links go to nothing of value then what? The bottom line is we should leave the kind of comments on the blogs we visit that we want to have left on our own blogs.
.-= Internet Marketing´s last blog ..Federal deficit hits all-time high $1.42 trillion =-.
I totally agree and that is why I am a huge fan of the KeywordLuv plugin that allows commentators to use both their name and their keywords and only links the keywords.
Many bloggers and readers want commentators to use a name because it makes comments and replies friendlier. KeywordLuv allows comments to be friendly AND useful for improving organic search results.
I personally like to see the keywords my commentators use because it tells me what is important to them. I get to know them and their blog or business faster and can connect them with others who are interested in the same niche.
I recently wrote a post explaining the benefits, how to use it and where to get it. That post is in CommentLuv featured in this reply.
.-= growmap´s last blog ..KeywordLuv: How Using It Benefits Us All =-.
It is indeed irritating when someone writes something completely different from the subject of the post. I was recently reading a post about a dog behavior and there was a comment about software. It was clearly out of place and didn’t relate to the post at all and I don’t know how it got through. That was obviously a spam, but there were many like : great advice , nice tips and I think they were genuine, so I think each case is individual. In any case I will try to get your advice on board. Thanks.
.-= Maria@natural balance dog food´s last blog .. =-.
thanks for the tips but i think it also depending on the blog owner mood…
Well, as for me i think its the spamming machines who leave these comments… Usually if they are too generic and do not talk about what is on the page, i mark it as spam of course, since it obvious that its been made by a machine and not a person…
I use the commentluv as well and i really like it, but i combat spam on my own since some of the genuine comments are short as well… It is a bit of a hassle to mark out all the artificial comments, but quite rewarding because you approve what you want to be approved.. Perhaps i am speaking like this because my blog is not too big and maybe later i will need akismet the amount of spam becomes huge…
Oh and btw its nice that you are using keywordluv and commentluv, i also am using them and they are the best plugins imo as more comments = more content for the bloggers so it pays off both ways and thanks ^^
Cheers!
Here’s my piece of spam….Great post you have here, very informative, Wish I had seen this earlier….Blah, blah, blah.
One way of overcoming spam comments is to moderating ALL comments as I do on my blog. I’ve had a a few comments that Akismet caught for me, but there are usually a few that get past it.
I turned on moderating all comments and since then I have been a lot more busy at my site. But my site is cleaner and more enjoyable to everyone that come there.
One other thing to look out for: links to sites that has viruses.
Today I moderated 2 comments that has links to adult sites, that have viruses. ( I usually don’t allow links to adult sites on my own site ).
My recommendation : Moderate ALL comments. Do NOT let them autopost even with a captcha.
Oh yea. I did link to this post on my site. 🙂
Abraham van der Linde’s last blog post..CB Quantum Costs too Much for over 30,000 People
Hello Abraham,
I review all comments and delete them after the fact rather than moderating them up front. One reason I do that is because I consider it better for anyone leaving comments and then sharing the posts immediately as I suggest doing in my post Commenting Strategy Increased Our Traffic 54.87% .
I delete any adult content whether it is text or link. Do you have a trick for checking for viruses and ensuring your PC does not get infected?
Thank you for the link. I followed you at Twitter. How is the making momey online coming? If you’re interested in building a large store filled with affiliate products quickly and easily we’ve been testing various methods. Datafeedr and PopShops are well worth checking out.
Internet Strategist’s last blog post..How to Create a Successful Blog Based Business Part 1
I can’t speak for everyone, but I use Avast Antivirus, It’s got an Internet shield. Whenever I go to a site that has a virus, Avast block the site and I can’t get into the site to see the content.
Usually I then just browse away from that site or close my browser.
Abraham van der Linde’s last blog post..Writing Your Own Ebooks
I haven’t been doing it for long and certainly can say that I am quite new to blogging. I have been browsing through quite a few blogs on a regular basis and leave comments; I don’t consider myself a spammer in any way, but sometimes my comments end up in a spam box. It did happen here and you couldn’t see any obvious reasons. Not so long ago I didn’t even know about Akismet, however we have installed Akismet plugin on our news section, but we manually check all comments. Ok if comments have automatically ended up in the wrong place, I can understand, but when someone leaves my comment, but removes my link, I think it is unfair, especially if underneath a comment box, they state that HTML allowed.
Hello Kate,
I don’t consider comments spam as long as they relate to the posts. I don’t intentionally delete real comments; however, it can often be really challenging to tell if the commentator doesn’t include something specific about that particular post in the comment.
I only remove links here if they are invalid or broken. Many blogs use a plugin that makes some comments nofollow and some delete or unlink URLs. I do my best to keep all real comments and delete those that are not. When in doubt I use delete instead of SPAM. I do report any obviously SPAMMY comments.
Internet Strategist’s last blog post..How to Get Your Free Business Listing in Yelp
Hi,
This post show that you receive the lot of spam comment.
You cover the all type of comment.
Thanks for your tips.
Hi Mac,
I often write a post so I can answer future questions and comments with it. That saves time and provides much more thorough answers.
Internet Strategist’s last blog post..How to Add Your Free Business Listing to infoUSA
Thanks, I was leaving comments that look like spam without even know it.
I’m a new blogger (3 months now) who just found you’re site.
I wish I found your website when I started the amount I’ve learned in the hours I’ve know about your site could have saved me months of research. This site is a gold mine, keep up the great work.
I put a link for you in my website’s link list so it will show on every page.
Jeff’s last blog post..Bank scams
Hi Jeff. I’m glad you found us. Most sites are written by experts for other experts. They totally skip the basics that anyone new could really use. Until they finally came around I used to regularly get razed for writing stuff “no one could possibly need” according to my brilliant online friends who think “anyone can write code” or any other geek-required talent.
Your blog is on an excellent topic. You will certainly never run out of things to write about and so many don’t realize how common scams are considered mainstream and normal. I look forward to reading and sharing your posts.
Thank you for the high quality links. I have been hoping others like you would find this blog and recommend it to their friends. I will also check out CodeProject and see what they have to offer.
InternetStrategist’s last blog post..How to Create a Successful Blog Based Business Part 1
@goodtherapy While it would be great if spammers would go away, we are committed to being dofollow and using CommentLuv so we’ll find a way to deal with them. I just found a new WP plugin that catches spambot comments that sounds very promising. We’ll see how well and how long it works before spammers catch on.
@Hanna Yes, they’re pretty good which is what prompted me to write this post. A combination of Akismet and math, Akismet and Captcha, or Akismet and NoSpamNX are the best solutions I’ve come across so far.
InternetStrategist’s last blog post..Do YOUR Blogging Goals Include Monetization: Benefits Our Readers Receive
I think that spammer have become savvy enough to know how to hide behind good comment wording. I don’t believe that it is possible to be completely free of them.
Hanna’s last blog post..Just Who Are You Buying From?
@Peter I often wonder why people would choose to waste their time and talents in these ways instead of doing something productive with their lives. What we need are whitelists and blacklists for Akismet that automatically approve the few and delete the repetitive spammer’s comments.
I’ll be by to check out your Less SEO Tags posts. There are enormous changes coming to search so bloggers would do well to be really proactive at building reach and community. More on that when I have the time to put the research together. For now do a search for Google CEO’s comments about the Internet being a “cesspool” which indicates censorship is probably on the way soon.
InternetStrategist’s last blog post..Why You Can NOT Rely Solely on Organic Search Listings for Traffic and Revenue
@Mark While I did get some SPAM before them, adding those plugins DID multiple it exponentially. Thanks to Akismet though it is worth it as it also created an intelligent, active blogging community.
If you check out the discussions going on in the comments here you’ll see that not only do my posts offer substance – my commentators share great information. Some of our exchanges are true collaborations – something I strongly and recommend.
InternetStrategist’s last blog post..REVIEW: Mastering Google Analytics – Easy to Understand FREE eCourse
I’ve got over 25 blogs going now and can safely say the key to attracting spam is dofollow, keyword luv, and comment luv. Everyone and their mother searches for blogs that use those plugins. How do you think I found this blog?
The secret to attracting good content from your readers in the form of comments is to give them something worth talking about. If your blog is more for sharing information then turn off the comments and save yourself a lot of aggravation.
mark’s last blog post..Medical billing services software
@Kai Lo I suspect most of those “Great post!!” comments and variations on that theme are auto-generated. We all get plenty of those too. At least the SPAM saying we have a great domain name makes for more interesting reading.
InternetStrategist’s last blog post..Making Money with Your Blog – Part 2 – Evaluating Affiliate Programs
Would you believe this SPAM comment “I usually don?t post in Blogs but your blog forced me to, amazing work…” has about 1100! links. See the Zuula Search Results at http://twurl.nl/rqda2n
Internet Strategist’s last blog post..REVIEW: Mastering Google Analytics – Easy to Understand FREE eCourse
@Steve It is always good to communicate with intelligent people who see more than one tree or even more than one forest.
I suspect you’ve seen the reports of people being arrested based on what they bought or read. No doubt what we write will be considered even more dangerous.
And thank you for appreciating the time and effort required to pay it forward. If more understood the value perhaps they would do it too – or at least appreciate those who do.
Internet Strategist’s last blog post..Making Money with Your Blog – Part 2 – Evaluating Affiliate Programs
I rather get spam messages than comments like “Great post!!” Most spams are hilarious, and makes me laugh a bit. Simply saying, “Great post!!” has no originality to it and the person put 0% thought into the comment. All that person wanted to do is leave a link to his or her site.
Kai Lo’s last blog post..Google Pagerank 0
hey IS,
I read your post on “not free” and you raise good points. There is a risk in using a real name. As with so many things, it is a matter of balance. I suppose one could go with a nickname. And maybe my name isn’t really Steve… 🙂
~ the mysterious trade show guru
PS. I have always hated the supermarket “membership” cards required to get the sale price, and that allow the tracking of purchases.
PPS. Thanks for paying it forward!
Steve’s last blog post..Green Trade Show Displays
@Brian I don’t know where the comment that is missing ended up either. I don’t mind apologizing because I truly can NOT always tell when a comment is or isn’t real and with all the SPAM I’m sure I’ve failed to rescue a stray comment here or there.
One thing that concerns me about Akismet is what happens to a comment if it pops in just after I have reviewed the comments and hit delete all. I do go back to page one to make sure nothing new is there before hitting delete but suspect a comment could end up deleted without being reviewed if the timing were just right (or wrong).
I know how much time we all invest in visiting other blogs and leaving thoughtful comments. Perhaps that is why I try to be so careful in reviewing them and usually err on the side of “well it MIGHT be real so I’ll leave it”.
We are all still learning and it is good for everyone to see that there are no perfect bloggers. We can all have moments of frustration when our passion overflows. No harm was done and probably some good comes out of it.
@Steve Glad to stopped by and granted me an exception. I like your blog anyway and your comment reminded me to go share your latest post at cliKball, FriendFeed and Twitter. I’m a big fan of paying it forward.
For anyone who wonders why I no longer use my real name online see the post and comments at https://www.growmap.com/not-free/ for details.
By the way, no blogger really knows if that is your “real” name or not. It would have been easier for me to just pick a “real name” out of the air – but it rubs my honesty streak the wrong way.
hey,
Thanks for the shout out! (you go approved, even without any real name at the end). 😉
I think any blogger should do whatever they want, since it’s their blog. They aren’t obligated to accept any comment whatsoever. The way I look at it, if the comment wouldn’t be of interest to my other readers, I probably wouldn’t approve it. And I do require a real name, though I have been known to make exceptions. 🙂 ~ Steve, the trade show guru
Steve’s last blog post..Green Trade Show Displays
First of all you owe no apologies even if you had intentionally deleted the comment. I don’t believe you did, I’m just saying it’s your site and it’s not for me to tell you how to run it.
I did leave the comment here and what happened to it isn’t important. I handled the situation badly. I was frustrated for sure but I wanted to show you I wasn’t a spammer. Now when I go back and read the comment I can’t believe how bad it sounds. The frustration is all that shows. I apologize for flying off the handle and leaving that comment. It was inappropriate and I knew it the second I hit the submit button.
Here’s a quote from a mutual blogger friend left on my personal blog yesterday (about an unrelated topic), “perhaps it would have been better to have cooled down a bit before letting them have it with both barrels.” lol – That comment is right on the money and applies to more situations than I want to admit. I don’t want to make this post about me so I’ll leave it there. I hope you will accept my apology.
Brian D. Hawkins’s last blog post..If You Are Not Growing You Are Failing
@Dario Yes, the Spammers are really efficient especially if you use dofollow or CommentLuv.
@Brian I never knowingly delete valid comments and apologize if I deleted one of yours. I am familiar with your blog and I have shared it at Twitter, FriendFeed and cliKball.
I honestly don’t remember deleting any comment you would have left. Are you saying it is one mentioned in this post? Even knowing that you think I deleted one of your comments I still can’t guess which one you mean.
If you’re referring to the last comment note that Barbara, Sire and Dennis all thought it was SPAM too. That is 100% of the serious bloggers who commented.
I read and respond to every comment here (although I admit I may miss one now and again) and I do check the links. I spend far more time rescuing comments that Akismet marks as SPAM as most do. It takes a long time to scroll through three pages of junk to pull out one comment here and there.
I certainly won’t delete this comment and I am easily reached at Twitter which is why that link is so prominently displayed.
I have requested the assistance of someone more technical to add a contact page here.
We’re planning a major conversion to the Thesis Theme and will add what is missing then. An extended illness laid me low and my friend has been to busy to assist so it will happen when it can happen.
Please do tell me what comment you mean and know that it was never my intention to delete any valid comment much less yours. Ironically I just recently shared your latest post at Twitter, FriendFeed and probably cliKball too. That was 17 hours ago according to FriendFeed – see http://friendfeed.com/search?required=q&q=failing&from=growmap).
I do appreciate your work and sincerely apologize for not recognizing a valid comment. You just made the point of this post: sometimes it is REALLY difficult to tell the difference between SPAM and a real comment!
Recently i too had some comment in the “don’t know how to subscribe to your feed” vein. I also had a lot of those terrible comments filled with meaningless words and ugly, really ugly links. Those i mark as spam, the others i just delete it. It is strange that i receive those overly spamming comments on blogs that are not yet indexed by the big G. Those spammers are really efficient!
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Wow, was my comment deleted as spam? Really? Over half of your commenters PERSONALLY know I don’t spam. Did you just assume I was spamming because I used LowLifeSpammer.com as the URL? I was just showing you what I do to deter comment spammers without leaving a link within the actual comment because I couldn’t find a comment policy on your site. Did you even check the link? Did you read the comment? I have been attacking comment spam for years. In fact, before there were even any blogs in existence I was using LowLifeSpammer on my forums along with dozens of other forum owners.
Go ahead and delete this comment. You leave no way of contact on your site. I would normally not use this as a contact method. No hard feelings but it’s funny you are giving advice on this very subject and you delete a legitimate comment by one of the most anti-spam people you could find. I left two paragraphs of honest reply after reading your post. An honest mistake I guess. I just wanted you to know I don’t spam and I’m not a newbie that knows no better.
Brian D. Hawkins’s last blog post..If You Are Not Growing You Are Failing
@Sire I did delete it and Barbara and Dennis both indicated they would too. Spammers are bound to have more success with less experienced bloggers.
Yes, leaving the same comment across multiple blogs is foolish. They don’t know it and the blogs that don’t delete the comments are most likely unaware they’ve been spammed.
@tracy If they’re paid workers their comments are usually easier to detect as SPAM. If only the people who employ such tactics had a clue. I bet some businesses are paying SPAMMERs and have no idea why that is not good.
@Mikes Everything in life requires balance. Just as I dofollow links because it is best for the PEOPLE (and not so good for SEO) I would never keep SPAM comments because they are NOT good for my readers. I have a simple philosophy: sites are for humans, not computers. Do what is best for the humans and let the computer issues fall where they may. If you don’t have any SPAMMERs yet your blog must be really new. Believe me you WILL have them. I delete between 100-150 SPAM comments a day.
Well i haven’t encountered any spammers as of yet but i have heard that google likes comments in your site. so possibly even spams can be considered comments and might help your site. whatcha think?
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The problem with the spammers though is many of them now are just paid workers. They really could not care how many of their comments are real and how many are getting through the system to be displayed on the site, they get paid no matter what.
I reckon I would have either deleted the comment or at least removed the link. It all depends whether or not it fit in with the post or not. If the link added to the post then both stays, if not it gets the chop.
As I do a lot of blog hopping I have noticed that there certain people leaving the exact comment of different blogs. They obviously think they have hit on the right formula for a comment and are now capitalizing on it. Fools.
Sire’s last blog post..Chitika The Mark Of A Good Affiliate
@Dennis You’ve reminded me that even intelligent people have different styles and just because many open tabs everyone doesn’t. That could explain why the bounce rate is so high on blogs where I would read far more than one post at a time.
@Tom It isn’t ALWAYS easy. Sometimes the comments are relevant and well written but still SPAM. Other times they’re poor in quality but real. In the end we just have to do the best we can to discern which to keep and which to delete.
Well it’s pretty easy to spot spammy comments. When there’s link to some other site you can be sure that it’s not “computer illiterate” person trying to post their first comment ever – they wouldn’t link to their site. If there’s no link but the comment is generic it’s possibly just some guy commenting for the first time in his life.
Knowing how and doing are two things, and this is what a lot of bloggers are afraid of. Speaking personally, I don’t recall ever right-clicking a link. I know how to back-space afterward; whether I do or not, well….
Dennis Edell’s last blog post..Best “Blog Improvement Review” Contest – 1 Winner – $100 via Paypal
@Rob Your comment got grabbed by Akismet because of the link so I’m just now replying to it. Some comments are a serious challenge. I’ll go check out your list but already know the drawback to your posting it there: you have to create a Squidoo account to use it.
@Bill Masson I’m responding to your comment out of order because Akismet grabbed your comment because it had links in it. Thanks for sharing those links as they could be part of the solution. (The best solution would be for SPAMMERS to get a legitimate life but not much chance of THAT!)
NOTE: For those who aren’t familiar with how Akismet handles comments, when you approve comments that get flagged for moderation or rescued from SPAM they don’t show up at the bottom – they pop in at the location they would have originally appeared. I mention this so you know where to look to reply to them and don’t miss them accidentally.
@tracy Most are really obvious, but some SPAMMERS do a pretty good job writing comments – especially lately. The more comments we get and the longer we use plugins like CommentLuv and KeywordLuv the more we’re going to have to deal with sophisticated SPAMMERs.
I wonder if their time wouldn’t be better spent making REAL comments?
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@Dennis You know we can all use more intelligent communications in our lives! It is so silly to think most Internet users don’t know how to navigate. Some new ones don’t but most regular blog readers know how to open links in a new tab or window.
If they figured out how to find us in the first place surely we can’t be naive enough to think they’ll never leave if we don’t offer them any links to other sites.
@Carla That is the great thing about using Akismet – it knows before we ever would because other bloggers have already reported them. Any that end up there automatically need more scrutiny.
If you accidentally approve a decent comment that turns out to be SPAM there isn’t really any harm done. If you realize it you can delete it later; if you don’t it won’t matter anyway.
InternetStrategist’s last blog post..Tips for Leaving Comments That Don’t Get Deleted – Contributor or SPAMMER?
Aww *blush*.
Most I’d say are paranoid of visitors being taken off site, relevant or not. An easy enough fix if they could simply edit the link to open in a new window.
Dennis Edell’s last blog post..Best “Blog Improvement Review” Contest – 1 Winner – $100 via Paypal
@Barbara As popular as your blog is and with your very active commenting community you probably see as much of this issue as I do. I did delete that last comment and, like you, do my best to preserve genuine comments while eliminating those that subtract from my readers’ experience here. I am still slogging through “rescuing” a comment now and then and can certainly understand why you gave up doing it.
@Dennis That’s the culprit and I let Akismet delete the comment. I agree with your evaluation – it LOOKS legit and so does the comment. Since all three of us came to the same conclusion we can be confident we’re doing a pretty good job of deciding which comments to keep and which to delete.
Requiring “real names” is fairly commonly mentioned in those blogs and Web site that have commenting policies. Yours isn’t the only one and I didn’t intend that as a shot at you. (Why shoot at your most intelligent visitors? That wouldn’t make much sense, would it?)
One blog I visited recently forbids linking to specific posts or pages. Needless to say that is one I won’t be visiting. There are so many others to choose from why support that one? What’s wrong with linking in your most relevant post when commenting on something related?
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I know the writer of the last comment you posted quite well…are the blog initials A.S.?
The sad part is, the blog is relevant and looks legit itself; I was very tempted o contact him about it when I first saw him leaving those comments EVERYWHERE.
He goes straight to Akismet now, so it may be too late.
Btw, did I see a shot over my bow in there? 😉
Dennis Edell’s last blog post..Best “Blog Improvement Review” Contest – 1 Winner – $100 via Paypal
I agree, spammers have gotten more sophisticated lately. More and more spammy comments are not being caught by Askimet. I think I may have even approved some spam comments unknowingly.
First, thank you for the link to my site.
I know what you mean about borderline comments as I currently have two in moderation I’m still trying to decide on. They both link back to “sales sites”, but the wording (of the comments) is fairly decent. On one hand I would hate to delete a legitimate comment, but on the other hand, I’m guessing they may be just looking for link love.
With regard to the last comment you show, I would mark that as spam based on the link they added. It’s obvious which blogs use CommentLuv so they would know CommentLuv would show that post.
I’m finding I’m getting tons of spam and not only are the spammers getting creative, but they are getting “wordy”. Fortunately I have Akismet installed and it catches the majority of them, but it’s still a pain in the event I need to try and fish out a real one. I used to check all spam comments looking for real ones, but have since given up.
Barbara Swafford’s last blog post..In Their Own Words
Hi, i find it difficult to differentiate semi-spam from genuine comments. eg. somebody may make a sensible, rrelevant comment, but are really only after the link. I have started a list of sites that want a dialogue with commentators. so add youreself if this is you.
http://www.squidoo.com/commentluv
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