Would you approve these comments?

15 replies
Hi folks,

So I've gotten an awful lot of spam comments on my blog (many more than actual comments). I have two that are pending that I'm debating about. They are clearly just drive by comments, but they are at least kind of sort of on topic instead of being pure spam.

So for example, in the blog post "what if gas gets significantly more expensive," there is a comment from someone who is promoting exercise dvds and the comment is "I am pretty sure this subject was dealt with on Sixty Minutes" It's kind of, sort of on topic for the post, but it's clearly just a drive by from someone looking for a link from an unrelated blog.

Then there is a stranger one under 5 secrets your credit repair specialist won't tell you. It says "only so many options for quick credit repair" and the comment was left by someone with a Weebly blog which is about debt consolidation (a subject I generally frown upon because the majority of people in that industry are slimy at best and outright scammers at worst).

Anyway, so what do you guys say? The comments where they obviously aren't even trying to make a point which is worthwhile, I just list as spam automatically. So for example, "Finality is not the language of politics." which was published under "stupid Facebook faux pas you should avoid" I labeled it as spam.

Thanks for any advice.

Eric
#approve #comments
  • Profile picture of the author Rachel Incoll
    Hi Eric,

    I probably wouldn't approve them myself, as from what you've said, it doesn't really sound like they've contributed much. If someone can write more than one sentence and say something that sounds reasonably 'normal'...to me at least ...then I'm happy to approve it and give them a link back.

    Cheers

    Rach
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  • Profile picture of the author chilidawg
    I'd say the second one for sure is looking for some hits. "Hey, there's lots of solutions...just come to my sight and I'll help you out"

    The first...hard to tell. Pretty generic comment, but would they really think they'd get hits for excercise dvd's on an article about gas? :confused:

    Hard to figure people. I guess I'd allow the first and spam the second.
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  • Profile picture of the author erichammer
    Thanks for the opinions folks.

    Chilidawg, I imagine he was looking for link juice, though I'm not sure how much value he (she?) would get from me since my blog is only a few months old and still ranks at PR0.

    Lionking654, there are two ways to do it. One, there are programs which will search Google for blogs which have do follow comments and then automatically spam every one of them with meaningless drivel (the ones that are designed with a bit more intellgience will either use current events, so they put in a comment like "support the people of Japan after the earthquake" or they put in something that sounds like a fortune cookie but which has no direct bearing on the subject of your blog).

    Then, you can also manually search for blogs with do follow comments and leave comments on them (personally, when I leave comments, I write at least a paragraph sometimes more).

    I'm also familiar with Akismet but have avoided it because I didn't want to spend the money for it yet (yes, I know it's just $5 per month, but it's $5 per month which to date I haven't needed to bother spending. I I imagine however that as my blog gains in popularity I'll have more and more reason to need to activate and spend the money for it).

    Eric
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    • Profile picture of the author lionking654
      Banned
      Originally Posted by erichammer View Post


      I'm also familiar with Akismet but have avoided it because I didn't want to spend the money for it yet (yes, I know it's just $5 per month, but it's $5 per month which to date I haven't needed to bother spending. I I imagine however that as my blog gains in popularity I'll have more and more reason to need to activate and spend the money for it).

      Eric
      Hey Eric,

      who said its $5 per month.. Im using it freely now. I dint pay even a single penny for it.. Does it asking for any "API key". Then U can get that just create one sample wordpress blog with some name and as soon as U get registered , then it sends that API key and U can use that same key for all the Wordpress blogs..

      Pls correct me if Im wrong..
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  • Profile picture of the author Cesar Sampaio
    Comments like the ones you posted are clearly spam. Very generic one liners that sounds like they "could" have been connected to the post subject and a link to a site selling something.

    They could at least skim the text and post a comment actually connected to it and consisting of more than five words. But I guess that when you are trying to post five thousands comments in 24 hours quality goes out the window.

    Akismet is very good. If the site is profitable already it is worth the cost.
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    • Profile picture of the author PatriciaJ
      You can always accept them but take the links out if you believe they are just spam. Some of the crazier ones I reply to and add some fun to my blogs
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  • Profile picture of the author iamsuneel
    I would not even blink my eye to decide whether they should be flagged as spam. They are spam.

    And definitely I would not come around and start a thread for that.
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  • Profile picture of the author wahsupermom
    Hi Eric,

    I've gotten those types of comments as well...Personally, I don't approve them as they don't provide any value. But it's entirely up to you as the webmaster. If you don't feel like you should be approving them, then don't...

    And yes, as far as I know, Akismet is free...
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    • Profile picture of the author erichammer
      Originally Posted by wahsupermom View Post

      Hi Eric,

      And yes, as far as I know, Akismet is free...
      It's $5 per month for non personal blogs. While my blog has not yet turned a profit for me, it is definitely not a personal blog either so there is a price, however minimal. Right now it's not too bad to do things manually though, as I said. It's no more than around 20-30 spam comments per month. If it gets to be in the hundreds then I'll need to switch to using Akismet.

      Thanks again for everyone's suggestions. The first one especially, my initial reaction was to approve it and mention that the same subject had been covered by a number of personal finance blogs, not just 60 minutes, but as far as I know, I'm the only one who covered it from the POV of a foreign country.

      Anyway, I ultimately went and listed both as spam...
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  • Profile picture of the author developyourlife
    I usually automatically delete the comments if they leave keywords in their name. It just means they are trying to get quick backlinks and they don't really care what you have to say. They read the first few sentences (if that) and just BS a comment.
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  • Profile picture of the author SmartHealthShop
    If there's absolutely no contribution, whether its on topic or not, you might as well mark it as Spam as it makes the entire conversation stale and really contributes to lesser interaction between your real loyal followers.
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  • Profile picture of the author AnneE
    I will let some amount of SPAM go. Those who wished me Merry Christmas and Happy New Year at the appropriate time of year, I let slide if they weren't linking to men's erectile dysfunction products or the equivalent. On the other hand, I've had particular SPAMMERS post a generic comment on every post on my blog -- those are trashed.

    I would agree that Akismet is the best solution. But I have one older blog on Typepad that doesn't have it.
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