Andy Beard - Internet Business Systems Discussion - Latest Comments in Comment Spam Warning Signs

Re: Comment Spam Warning Signs

Jag — Wed, 14 May 2008 16:34:05 -0000

Hi Andy,

Okay my blog is also 'do-follow'. And I get lotsa commentators leaving 'keywords' as their names. Can get quite irritating especially when some of the 'keywords' are really out-of-place (e.g. I got 'manboobs' as a nickname of a commentator once before!)

Usually, if these comments pertains to the post's content, I will close one eye and let them pass.

But if the comment is obviously a generic one and is posted only to get link juice - I will delete them.

As compared to those who leave their real names, I respond to them and their comments far more than those who leave a 'keyword' instead.

Jag

Re: Comment Spam Warning Signs

Jag — Wed, 14 May 2008 16:34:05 -0000

Hi Andy,

Usually, if these comments pertains to the post's content, I will close one eye and let them pass.

But if the comment is obviously a generic one and is posted only to get link juice - I will delete them.

As compared to those who leave their real names, I respond to them and their comments far more than those who leave a 'keyword' instead.

Jag

Re: Comment Spam Warning Signs

Clement Nyirenda — Fri, 09 May 2008 00:29:29 -0000

Andy

Thanks for the tips. Since my blog is a dofollow one, I usually receive junkã€€comments.These tips will help me a great deal.

But can someone help me explain this scenario. I sometimes receive junk comments on my blog but when I check my web stats I don't notice any visitors during that particular period.Usually when someone leaves a comment on my blog, the timing of the comment corresponds to the time of the visit in my web stats.How do these guys leave comments on my blog without being tracked by the web stat application? Is my blog still secure?

Re: Comment Spam Warning Signs

Clement Nyirenda — Fri, 09 May 2008 00:29:29 -0000

Andy

Thanks for the tips. Since my blog is a dofollow one, I usually receive junkã€€comments.These tips will help me a great deal.

Re: Comment Spam Warning Signs

notjohnchow — Thu, 08 May 2008 17:08:13 -0000

Andy,

It is okay to be harsh! It is your blog after all!

Re: Comment Spam Warning Signs

Not John Chow — Thu, 08 May 2008 17:08:13 -0000

Andy,

It is okay to be harsh! It is your blog after all!

Re: Comment Spam Warning Signs

AndyBeard — Wed, 07 May 2008 13:57:14 -0000

I am certainly serious about things that can affect my business, such as my domain being blacklisted for email delivery.

Re: Comment Spam Warning Signs

AndyBeard — Wed, 07 May 2008 13:57:14 -0000

I am certainly serious about things that can affect my business, such as my domain being blacklisted for email delivery.

Re: Comment Spam Warning Signs

J 4 JOKES — Wed, 07 May 2008 13:46:03 -0000

Well, who doesn't hate spammers? But, we all have to deal with them, no matter we like or we don't. But I guess, a lot of your time gets choked into this as you seem to be a real harsh moderator! Are you a serious kind of a person in real life? Then, my blog is strictly a no-no for you. Well, I pen a little serious blog too.

Re: Comment Spam Warning Signs

J 4 JOKES — Wed, 07 May 2008 13:46:03 -0000

Re: Comment Spam Warning Signs

Michelle Gartner — Tue, 06 May 2008 23:43:22 -0000

I read through all the comments and a lot of it was more on the technical end. On my blogs I use Askimet and I use moderation. Both are do follow too- so I can appreciate being vigilant about spam. My husband I have a business blog that gets a crazy amount of spam- I am not sure if it's for the PR 4 link or the
fact that it says do follow or maybe it's no particular reason at all.

However on the site I run by myself- I tend to let comments in that are kind of in the first three bullets you posted
"Short comments
Off topic comments
Comments that don't add something very specific to the conversation"

Why do I allow these, because I believe that some people aren't spammers and are possibly shy or want to just point out the fact that they are a reader. I think it's a little harsh to block someone who just says "great post." Maybe they are intimidated by what the blogger wrote- especially in tech fields, but they want to be seen and that's ok with me. I think if they get black listed and see that their comment never shows up- you might lose a reader. I certainly don't want to lose my shy readers. JMHO-

Re: Comment Spam Warning Signs

Michelle Gartner — Tue, 06 May 2008 23:43:22 -0000

Re: Comment Spam Warning Signs

AnneMarie Callan — Tue, 06 May 2008 00:38:28 -0000

I came to this article from the comments on Case Steven's blog and for me, this topic is becomming more and more of a mind field of confusion.

Having relied on Akismet and now reading through this post that I should not ...

Also, within your list, you have 'multiple comments in a row' ... as part of a link buzz group, I do make comments on particular blogs for no other reason but for the interesting content they contain.

Is there a 'definiteve guide to commenting on blogs'? Seems to me it is needed with very regular updates.

Re: Comment Spam Warning Signs

AnneMarie Callan — Tue, 06 May 2008 00:38:28 -0000

I came to this article from the comments on Case Steven's blog and for me, this topic is becomming more and more of a mind field of confusion.

Having relied on Akismet and now reading through this post that I should not ...

Is there a 'definiteve guide to commenting on blogs'? Seems to me it is needed with very regular updates.

Re: Comment Spam Warning Signs

Our Monmoouth — Fri, 02 May 2008 16:33:50 -0000

Andy-
I commend you on your efforts to promote and support Dofollow. As a newer blogger I use Dofollow to encourage community participation. I suspect that if you changed your policy your participation would remain constant. Purely speculation on my part, but you are a well known and provide expert insight.

You said:

Akismet also frequently seems to block genuine pingbacks and that can snowball.

This is an area where I have had some trouble determining how to moderate. Do you apply the same logic for pings?

Re: Comment Spam Warning Signs

Our Monmoouth — Fri, 02 May 2008 16:33:50 -0000

You said:

Akismet also frequently seems to block genuine pingbacks and that can snowball.

This is an area where I have had some trouble determining how to moderate. Do you apply the same logic for pings?

Re: Comment Spam Warning Signs

AndyBeard — Fri, 02 May 2008 04:02:29 -0000

Alex they are really just indicators, and with every comment there is a judgement call.

I have left a ton of comments that originated from people following dofollow lists, using dofollow searches etc.

The problem is when your average SEO linkbuilder lands on an internal page with PR5, such as my dofollow plugin list, and proceeds to leave 3 or 4 comments for each of their client sites, or to their MFA / BANS etc

Arriving from a dofollow list is a signal of intent, and on most of them I am not listed in the first position because of how they were spread, yet the quality of the comment left on all the preceeding blogs (I often get a few email notifications before they hit me) is almost always a one liner or if it is more, it is prepackaged.

Typical are things like "I didn't know that my blog has been using nofollow all this time. I am going to do some more research and maybe change my blog to dofollow"

Normally it is not as well worded.

The intent is obvious, it is purely linkbuilding

Traffic from dofollow search has recently taken a hit, it is hard to have missed Comment Kahuna and similar tools in recent weeks.
They are much harder to detect, but hopefully if people actually follow the advice of the creators then there will be much more targeted visits, and better quality comments which actually add to the conversation.

Re: Comment Spam Warning Signs

AndyBeard — Fri, 02 May 2008 04:02:29 -0000

Alex they are really just indicators, and with every comment there is a judgement call.

I have left a ton of comments that originated from people following dofollow lists, using dofollow searches etc.

Typical are things like "I didn't know that my blog has been using nofollow all this time. I am going to do some more research and maybe change my blog to dofollow"

Normally it is not as well worded.

The intent is obvious, it is purely linkbuilding

Re: Comment Spam Warning Signs

insert product here — Thu, 01 May 2008 21:15:02 -0000

thanks! :p

(seriously, good post and your right on all fronts)

Re: Comment Spam Warning Signs

insert product here — Thu, 01 May 2008 21:15:02 -0000

thanks! :p

(seriously, good post and your right on all fronts)

Re: Comment Spam Warning Signs

AlexSchleber — Thu, 01 May 2008 20:09:19 -0000

Andy,

you have likely thought/written more about this than almost anyone, and as always, there is good stuff here.

One thing I might disagree with is the idea that comments should be blacklisted due to referral from search, DoFollow blog link collection, etc. Here's why:

You clearly are using DoFollow as a strategic form of advertisement for your blog (and rightly so, it took me a while to come around to your point of view on DoFollow vs. NoFollow ruining the social graph). So what is wrong with someone advertising this for you somewhere else, and people responding by heading over here?

The only thing that counts in my mind is the quality of the comments. If it's there, than it's a fair trade: User generated content in return for a link, and possible further feedback effects down the line. Win-win.

In an attention economy, you are "pre-paying" for the attention with the promise of a link. In a way it's way more honest than the old ways of link-dealing. If you get hundreds more SEO-savvy bloggers to parade past your blog and take a look, that has to be good.

[Personally, I tend to refuse to comment on (and thereby put my work into) a site that treats the comments with disrespect, like CNET.com among others. Shows they don't get Web 2.0.]

Similarly for deep linking, if it's relevant, so what? That doesn't take any more link juice from you than a domain link, no?

If someone is on Bumpzee.com/no-nofollow, you'd think the reason is that they want people to head on over from there, no?

Like you said, you can always take the link back/delete the comment, didn't know that SPAM Karma pretty much forces you into declaring things SPAM or not (rather than just delete).

Personally, I have quite enjoyed the "public shamings" that you dole out every so often, they only reinforce your image as someone who gets it and pays attention on a deep level.

All this said, I have been working on getting the DoFollow and related issues worked out on my own newish blog for a while, and have gotten most things to work to my satisfaction. Especially the YAWASP plugin seems to have killed off bot spam comments. That may solve the CommentKahuna issue without a captcha.

I am still trying to implement a comment ratings system similar to the "SezWho" that you use (though I didn't really like their to me overly complex implementation). Then tie this to links getting turned off based on e.g. 3 separate "SPAM" votes by readers.

Talking to Lester Chan to port his "post ranking" plugin over to comments.

What has your experience been with SezWho so far? Does it have a way to "bury" or turn-off spammy comments?

Best - Alex