Just a Quick Note About Blog Comments – Again

Caroline,

Really pleased you have raised this because I’ve been getting a number of one-line comments recently like ‘nice post’ or ‘thanks’ and I simply don’t approve them.

I’d rather have no comments than those types of comments as most are only adding a few words to get a backlink.

I’ve changed my name to include the ‘@’ – hope that’s ok. I shall come back in a few days and see if I’ve been deleted!

Andrew

@Andrew, yeah that kind of comment is absolutely fine :-)

Been seeing an increasing amount of thank you comments that look weird but don’t have any links or keywords in them. Like “Thank you, was really informative post” or “Thank you excellent read”.
Guess not everyone knows how to configure their spambot.
Andreas Nurbo´s last blog ..Keywords 2 links plugin released

I have been seeing a lot of spam bots with thi is informative post in it. That is cool that you are taking a stance on keyword stuffing of comments. Thanks Greg Ellison
Greg Ellison´s last blog ..Google Voice Review

Hi Caroline,

The spam-stopper plugin might help you. It at least ensures that everyone commenting is a real person. I use it in conjunction with Akismet:

wordpress.org/extend/plugins/spam-stopper/

-Erica
Erica Douglass´s last blog ..2009 Goals Update: The Halfway Mark!

I’m honored that you mentioned me ;)

I appreciate that you have taken the time to get rid of all the obvious spam comments. Personally I feel that the most irritating thing is that everyone that has made a comment will potentially receive an email with that spam comment.
Mikael @ Retire Rich´s last blog ..Retire at 55 – Tip #4 – Investing Instead of Spending

I apologize for that Caroline. I don’t know was it you or not, but I remember reading a post on a blog saying that keywords are allowed. I’m sorry.

-Mike
Mike @ Pinky Arcade´s last blog ..Upgrade Complete

@Andreas, yeah I’ve noticed that too – whether or not they remain is largely down to mood when I check my comments heh!

Hi Caroline, it sure doesn’t take long for the spam to begin once a blog is setup. I had the same message from a single person on multiple blogs one day and of course they were removed.

Currently I am testing a new plugin called WP Captcha-Free. After using it for about a week now I have found a significant reduction in the ‘automated’ comments that are left. I will let it run a bit longer before making a final decision on its effectiveness.

Side note: there are still comments that end up marked as spam. For those I check out the website referred to if why they were marked as spam is not obvious. I will let the odd one slip through if the website is for a worthy cause.
Sherryd´s last blog ..Seven Effective Tips For Anxiety And Stress Relief

Yeah, sometimes I find it hard to differentiate a spam comment to a real one. The comments look genuine but because the name are keywords-stuffed, I decided to remove it
Michael Aulia´s last blog ..Take screenshots easily with WinSnap

If it were not for the spam comments, I’d have no comments at all on my blog. ;)

I read on another post of yours about you “getting better.” Were you sick? Hurt? That is disconcerting as I admire your work and consider you a friend.
Greg Cryns´s last blog ..New Wordpress Website, AndreaRedmond.com, Launched! …And there was much rejoicing…

Caroline, I’m a subscriber to your blog and have been a reader for awhile – great stuff! I think your commenting policy is a great idea and I agree with allowing the “Name @Keyword” format. Just the keyword is a bit much in my opinion too. Although I think everyone’s goal should be to provide helpful and insightful comments, I am also aware that blog commenting is also a great way to build links. No one should resort to spamming (*ugh*) but since I’ve used this method (“Name @Keyword” format) to build links on occasion myself I can’t exactly penalize others who use it too.
Epiphany @Copious Cash´s last blog ..Copious Cash Has Been Updated!

@Greg, haha! It can take a little while for the comments to build up on a new blog and in some cases it can be a viable strategy to leave in the slightly borderline ones in order to make it look like the blog has more activity!

Well personally its really tough to scan it one by one. I’ve had some loyal commenters on my blog as well and some of them use keywords. while I don’t oppose it, I just give them reminders as well because the possibility of their comments getting deleted is high…
Melvin´s last blog ..The Real Gold In Entrecard

I agree with you. SPAM make us suffer. And I think they (Spammer) doesn’t appreciate blogger.

I’ve been noticing more comments like that lately, too, Caroline. There must be some newly-released ebook or course or something ‘teaching’ people how to ‘ingeniously’ do this. Drives me crazy, because, the comments are usually pretty decent. But then they’re signed with ‘North Carolina Furniture’ or some crud. Ugh.
Lisa Marie Mary´s last blog ..Whack-A-Kitty And Some Kitty Overload

Surely spam comments for anything other than traffic are a waste of time on a nofollow blog.

I do think however there should be some system of reward for people who contribute useful comments over a period of time.

There must be some sort of plugin for this.

It would not only encourage people to read your blog more consistently but also add useful content.

Shouldn’t be too hard to code something to analyse comments from the WP database and produce a top commenter’s list in the navigation for the month or on a 30 day rolling period.

You could also base it on comment length and some other factors to get a fair ranking system.
Hubtonomy´s last blog ..How To Determine If A Niche Is Profitable

Maybe I should look at the footer once in a while:)
Hubtonomy´s last blog ..How To Determine If A Niche Is Profitable

Caroline,
I have been a reader of your blog for quite some time and this is the first time I have taken a moment to comment (at least I think it is.) While I agree with you in general on the comment spamming, the way you wrote this seems a bit… like you were already grumpy! LOL
I too hate comment spam, but I look at the comment itself more than I ever do the name left in the comment. The way I see it, if they add something real and of value to my page, I am ok with allowing them keywords (as long as the keyword isn’t some adult or gambling site or profanity, ect) as their names. As you said, it is usually very OBVIOUS when they spam.
My favorite spammers are the ones that leave pretty much the same comment on 2 or more pages within my site… it just makes me laugh that they might be that obvious!
Anyway, I applaud your attempts to keep the comments spam free. No matter what anyone else thinks, it’s your site, so you can set the rules. (Don’t you just love the small places in life where you ave ABSOLUTE power? LOL)
Have a wonderful day.
Ed @ Found By Design
Ed @ Found By Design´s last blog ..New Client: BA Eldridge Interiors

Can’t argue with you Caroline. Its frustrating how many blogs have their comments flooded with keywords. It makes actual communication and interaction very difficult.
Mike Fallon´s last blog ..Cost of Having a Baby May Scare You Into Celibacy!

interesting, I have seen a lot of comments it’s just for a SEO contest, so they leave comment with they keyword.
But I just leave a comment, because I like the article like this one.
irvan´s last blog ..Bisnis Online Atau Sulap ?

I think most of us who have been blogging for a year or so tend to get a lot of spammers to our blogs.

I never really like it when people use something other than their name where the name should go but I gave it a try some time ago and felt guilty of keyword stuffing in the name field so I just stopped doing.

I didn’t like it when others did it to me but I did it because I saw so many other doing it.

As for those that just say things like: nice blog or I stopped by and read this article and I like it. Well they just get deleted as they don’t add any value whatsoever to the post.
James Mann´s last blog ..Make Money With Your Computer

I think your stance is fine.

It’s your blog and I fully understand that you want to ensure you have good content and that your site doesn’t get bloated by useless comments.

Spammers will only keep on spamming if people don’t become more proactive in filtering them out.
Sophie @ Buy PSP Go´s last blog ..Sony Considered Second Analog Stick for PSP Go

i agree..good quality comments are very important..

my blog is at wordpress.com and i wanted to shift to wordpress.org ….is it necessary to put my own money or one can get a sponsor for that?

shraddha
shraddha@the self love project´s last blog ..Reinvention

I can’t imagine how many comments you have to check every day, how much time do you spend a day between reading, replying and deleting comments?
and I think I’ll do the same strategy for the keywords, even if I don’t receive that quantity I prefer to start with the right foot.
Luis Lopez´s last blog ..50+ Awesome Photos You Have Never Seen From Bogota – Colombia

@Luis, actually very little time at all – obviously if I’ve written a new post I’ll spend some time each day reading and replying to the new comments but dealing with any spam is literally seconds.

I cannot imagine the amount of comments that you sort through. That alone can be annoying when you find more spam than decent comments. Kudos to you for caring about your blog and keeping it tidy :)

I have one blog that simply has about 40 spam comments per day, and the best part is there is only 1 page of content, which is the hellow world post and the comments are set moderated. Spambots are pwning themselves :) Just waiting till this domain expires… That karma is just not right.
smashill´s last blog ..5 ways to create a unique character

Yep, I know what you mean. There are way too many people who still do the whole “Nice post!” thing and try and squeeze some keywords in there.

I don’t know why they still do it. It might have worked a few years ago but I doubt it’s worth their time these days. My blog is pretty new so spammers arent a huge problem, but I’ll probably have to do some cleaning up soon :(

Cheers,
Sean

those so called spammers may also generate keyword for your page, in my blog i dont delete any form of comment, instead i’ll close comments when i see they are enough.

you are right to get a quality comment. But how if the website is new? Should i accept all comment or should i filter it from the start?

Just seek for advice.
afzal´s last blog ..Go Affiliate to Make Money on Internet

Well, I’m a new blogger and still learning from other blogs and there are many tips I’ve read to do blogs commenting to increase traffic, but I never thought that it would be annoying for some people. Anyway, your reasons are make sense for me. Thanks for the info and also the advice. I hope that my comment wouldn’t consider as a spam ^_^
neesha @ all about jakarta´s last blog ..Ragunan Zoological Park

Hey Caroline

How do you keep up with this kind of thing. I have a blog as well and had only 3 comments so far and just logging in and going through these 3 comments and approving them made me feel this is so not worth the time.

Most comments are like – nice post – good goal – etc… You know what I am talking about.

I am using the @ format you mention so hope it is ok with you.

Since you dont mind the use of @ in name why dont you install the Keyword LUV plug in? It is really good and will actually help reduce more spam and fake keyword names.
Ravi@How to Make Quick Money´s last blog ..Steps to First 1000

@Ravi, it really doesn’t take long at all – maybe 10-30 minutes daily, that’s all. Several people have mentioned the keywordluv plugin, I need to check that out!

I actually think the @-solution is great because the idea behind the link love is actually to build relations, so why not let people get the most out of visiting and leaving comments as long as there is a personal element. Who cares if put learn hypnoses behind my name. One could argue that the only purpose I’m commen ting right now is the selfisness of building links to my own block. I would be lying if i said that wasn’t what drove me here, but I just bookmarked this site to come back to it have another look… If you want to fish you gotta have bait.

Brian
Brian@ learn hypnosis online´s last blog ..Can You Learn Hypnosis From A Book?

I guess this is one post you where you won’t have to worry about spam at all…LOL. But you really touched a sensitive subject here – spam comments have been the plague of bloggers since God knows when. What can we do about it? Just keep cranking out the posts and hope spammers get their just desserts – sooner than later.
Tuesday Hall´s last blog ..Paypal Increased their Fees – what it means to you

Ha, I cant agree more and I like your style… straight to the point. I must admit I am guilty of using keywords as my name but with CommentLuv I can have both.

I noticed your comment links are “nofollow”… Using keywords as your name wont achieve anything anyway as Google wont parse on any juice.

I hope you don’t spam me, I’m kind of nervous posting this comment after reading about your early morning comment moderation.
Justin Roberts @ Central Coast Web Designer´s last blog ..Quality Assurance in Web Design and Development

Hi Caroline,

Your post makes perfect sense and though I am just getting started in the “blogosphere” I have already noticed the same thing happening on a frequent basis. Looking forward to the next post….

Paul
Paul Norwine´s last blog ..Rich Schefren Called Me Out…but I Stepped Up to the Challenge

Now I want to put my name in as Sonia @ Get Disgustingly Rich Without Working.com just to see if I get bounced. :)

I’m the same way, I really have very limited patience with it.
Sonia Simone´s last blog ..Are You Sure Your Content MarketingStrategy Is a Good Fit?

Hahaha… That was a good one Sonia. But didn’t you forget to put it into the name field?
Mikael @ Retire Early´s last blog ..How I Suggest You Best Get Started With Google Adsense

Caroline i just use my name, just makes it easier for the 2 of us!

Also you should check out the KeywordLuv plug-in, it’s awesome.

I have to admit I’ve struggled with the spam thing too. I let a few slip through to have some comments on my blog but the same person only gets one and it must look semi-intelligent. Anything with tons of links in the post or keywords in the name gets spammed. As for Suzanne 1,2,3….@gmail, what’s the point? I wonder if someone is out there teaching people how to build backlinks to your site through comment spam….just pay a monthly fee to my robot. :-p
Gandree´s last blog ..Getting Traffic

I like your comment policy, it sounds like a good upgrade for most any successful, but not yet huge blogsite. I think that it probably makes sense to post a comments policy periodically on most sites and I think I will start that on my site.

One thing I really like on your site that I am going to try to install this week, (not a techie here so sometimes things glitch and I have to run for help…lol) is your commentluv plugin. I love seeing everyone’s most recent posts with the clickthru to read them and of course I appreciate having mine displayed.

thanks for your work Caroline!

Wayne

Unfortunately this keyword luv plugin is useless for SEO purposes. I don’t agree with the approach to delete comments simply because they use a keyword as a name. I think maybe including their name at the end of the post would suffice and still let them use their keyword as the anchor text, what do you think Caroline?

My policy is to allow the comment if it suits my purpose. In other words, if the commenter adds good unique content to my blog, I will approve the comment. If the comment is obviously not unique or even close, it is gone! If the comment is not relevant to the discussion at hand, it is gone.

By the same topen, I have no problem with a keyword referenced link for a commenter who contributes. I figure the content comment will eventually add to my monetization, so a link out is fair payment. It certainly costs less than outsourcing.
Keith@Norman Rockwell Art´s last blog ..Sep 1, The 1939 Norman Rockwell Santa, Extra Good Boys And Girls

I would agree completely with what you said Keith, this is the exact way I handle comments also.

I like to give blogs a comments a chance before I delete them to see if they are genuine. My blog auto deletes comments that have more than one link also, which is nice.
Robert Brown´s last blog ..Cute Graphics 5

Hope you don’t mind a company name. It’s IM Headlines and I use it for most of my blog comments. Not for SE ranking purposes (In fact, I usually delete keyworded names too). I just use it instead of my name to make the company’s name more popular.

Cheers,
Johnny
IM Headlines´s last blog ..Automated Income Streams… Possible Or Impossible?

Thanks for the tip, I was just visiting the blog and I can add nothing to your design. I like the layout very well, yes and there is no information missing. I am curious what soon will be published here.

Hi! My name is David. I just read through your post. I don’t understand – what’s the point of having the keywordluv plugin enabled if you mark peoples’ messages as spam if they stick in their keywords? I usually hit the spam button when somebody writes “hey dude nice post” or i can see that their comment has been written by some kind of auto-comment generator. Thanks, David
David @Santa Figurines´s last blog ..Privacy