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| | The ABHP - A Bit of Humble Pie Network is not currently active and cannot accept new posts | | Flattery Spam | Views: 3773 | | Jan 01, 2010 2:27 am | | Flattery Spam | # | 
Kurt Schweitzer | | I started blogging seven or eight years ago, but after the first year or so my rate of posting went way down, partly because nearly all of the comments I received were clearly spam.
I started a new blog when I opened my scooter shop, which received very few comments of any sort.
I recently rebuilt the blog on my personal website and resumed posting. I'm happy to say that this newest attempt has been receiving better responses that any earlier effort. I still receive spam, but there's more actual commentary coming in.
In the last couple days I've received two rather interesting comments. They are along the lines of "I really like your blog", but something about the wording makes me suspicious of them. The obvious signs of comment spam - multiple links in the text, lots of search terms, blatant advertising - aren't there, but the word choice suggests a non-native English speaker and nothing in the comment is specific to my blog.
If you have a blog do you often get comments like this? What do you do about them? My guess is that these comments are "tests" of the blog. It's currently set to moderate initial comments, but once a comment has been approved subsequent comments by the same person go live without moderation.
What do you think?Private Reply to Kurt Schweitzer | | Jan 01, 2010 2:35 am | | re: Flattery Spam | # | 
Michael Lemm | | I get exactly the same comment submitted frequently on my 3 blogs .... except they usually have a text link on 1 or more of their "key words". The comment itself is never specific to the subject of the blog post .... just very generic.
I've all of my blogs set for moderating all comments. I just delete these .... they add nothing to my content and are only beneficial to the submitter.
God Bless,
Michael Lemm
"Helping YOUR Business....DO Business"
Broadband Nation
FreedomFire
Communications
Small Business Resources Cafe Private Reply to Michael Lemm | | Jan 01, 2010 2:39 am | | re: Flattery Spam | # | 
Heidi Caswell | | I set mine up much the same way. Akismet filters out much of the spam. I've added a layer or two of other spam filters on occasion.
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/blogging/geeks-spam-filter/ is a fun one, you can specify words which block comments or disallow more than a certain number of links.
Doesn't get them all. Non-specific comments from people whose name are keywords linking to a non-blog I always delete. In fact their comment better add value to the conversation or will never be approved.
Made it much easier to check the spam for real comments as many never made it that far.
Heidi Caswell
http://connectsimply.com/blogPrivate Reply to Heidi Caswell | | Jan 01, 2010 9:11 am | | Most effecitve plugin to combat WordPress comment Spam | # | 
Bobbi Jo Woods | | This is what I've used and recommended, for years, to combat WordPress spam - easy to set up, then it just does its job. No fuss, no muss.
Spam Karma 2.3
http://unknowngenius.com/blog/wordpress/spam-karma/Private Reply to Bobbi Jo Woods | | Jan 01, 2010 7:25 pm | | re: Most effecitve plugin to combat WordPress comment Spam | # | 
Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901 | | Kurt,
If you are getting comments on your blog that seem a little ackward, it is probably someone trying to receive an SEO benefit from your blog.
When I post to one of the Ning.com networks I created, I often receive a warning that some words I actually typed in my post are SPAM KEYWORDS. Yes, Ning.com has an automated means to warn their own Network Creators of inappropriate phrasing.
It is truly amazing to me the way in which we use words online can help or hurt us.
Lamar Morgan
CDMM - Synergistic Business Marketing
"Need PR? Contact Lamar"
www.squidoo.com/LamarMorgan Private Reply to Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901 | | Jan 02, 2010 4:22 pm | | re: re: Most effecitve plugin to combat WordPress comment Spam | # |
Kurt Schweitzer | | I guess I'm just resentful that I even have to deal with comment spam. Oh well!
I've started to get a significant amount of spam the past several days, so I'm activating the tools that come with WordPress. I've turned on Akismet ... again. I had it active a couple years ago on an earlier blog, but was getting too many server errors so I turned it off. The current version looks to be more sophisticated - more servers - so perhaps that earlier problem is gone.
I've also adjusted my comment moderation. Comments with more than two links are held. I've started building a list of spam words to filter out stuff as well.
The latest crop of spam has been random links to sites like emqtrxfnpetc.com. I haven't checked, but I suspect that those domains are "throw-aways" that redirect to the actual domains used by the spammers.
Lamar suggested that they might be trying to build page ranks through the use of links in the comments, but WordPress tells me that all comment links are tagged with "nofollow" tags. Google says it ignores links with "nofollow" tags, so comments don't help build page rank.
All of this is built into WordPress. I'm going to try it for a while and see what happens.Private Reply to Kurt Schweitzer | | Jan 02, 2010 4:40 pm | | re: re: re: Most effecitve plugin to combat WordPress comment Spam | # |
Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901 | | Kurt,
The folks who are commenting on your blog with irrelevant statements must be doing it for a reason. They are not doing it to hurt you. More likely than not, they don't even know you. So, they must be doing it in an attempt to help themselves. Of course, as you pointed out in a prior post, the attempt is fruitless. It simply will not work. But, do the people making the attempt know that? I doubt it. And, that is why it continues. I suggest you post to your blog somewhere a statement that irrelevant comments serve no useful purpose. Be sure to explain why. Maybe that will reduce the amount of SPAM you are receiving.
Lamar Morgan
CDMM - Synergistic Business Marketing
"Need PR? Contact Lamar"
www.squidoo.com/LamarMorgan Private Reply to Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901 | | |
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