Spam: Stop the Madness
Spam. We are all familiar with it. I am not talking about the processed canned meat. Although I think we are all probably familiar with that as well. I guess I am familiar with it to the extent that I know what it is. I don’t think I have ever purchased it or allowed it to cross my lips. Gag.
This post is about the other kind of spam. I am very familiar with the other type of spam. The unsolicited messages that come unwanted to us in our email inboxes, our website comment sections, our social media direct messaging platforms. This type of spam also makes me gag a little. But only because I am getting irritated to the point that it is causing stress related acid reflux. I know. That is a bit dramatic. I am not really that stressed about it. But I am super annoyed. Annoyed enough to dedicate an entire blog post to the issue.
In the past week, literally only since the calendar flipped to 2020, I am receiving spam comments on my blog at the rate of hundreds per day. Hundreds. I am not being dramatic with that estimate either. Literally every time I go check the comments while I am sitting at my desk, which is probably once an hour, there are between 25-50 new spam comments waiting in my comment moderation queue. Previously, I would get approximately 10-20 spam comments per week. And so it didn’t annoy me all that much. I just went in and deleted them and sometimes even got a little chuckle out of what they said.
One of my favorite ones recently said, “Wanna know the best places to purchase cocaine? Click here.” I was actually almost tempted to click the link to see what kind of website is online offering guidance to where a person can purchase cocaine. I mean, is that even a thing you can find on the internet? But I know these links can often be quite dangerous, so I refrained, giggled, and deleted it. It did make me wonder how they are not stopped by some internet police force. Perhaps they have been since I never received another comment of that nature.
In any event, hundreds of spam comments in my moderation queue on a daily basis are really quite irritating. Most of them get captured by the spam detection plugin that I have installed in WordPress and sit in a folder marked “Spam”. However, I do have to sift through them, deleting them one by one, because every once in a while a legitimate and relevant comment does get caught in there like an unsuspecting dolphin getting caught in a fishing net. I don’t want to leave it there to die, so in order to rescue the decent and good comments, I have to painstakingly review all the spam comments.
But I am super curious why the exponential increase in spam comments since January 1. So I went to check to make sure that all of my plugins were updated and working properly, which they are, leaving me even more confused. There have even been dozens of these comments that are not being filtered or caught and are sitting waiting for me in my regular comment moderation queue. My frustration is running high.
So I set off into the land of Google to do some detective work to see if I could find some answers. But the only suggestions I found where the things I am already doing. However, I did discover some really great information and tips that you all might find helpful if you write a blog or manage a website of any sort. I figured I would share them.
- Enabling comments on your blog or website is always a good idea as it allows your readers to relate to you and interact with you.
- Comments also help boost your SEO unless they are spam comments which can dreadfully harm your SEO.
- Setting all of your comments to moderation not only prevents spam comments from slipping through, but also gives you the opportunity to respond to everyone who takes the time to post a comment on your site.
- Allowing comments for a limited time period after an article or post is published lessens the likelihood of spam comments being sent.
- Check your comment settings on your webpage to make sure you have all of these measures in place.
I read the following 6 articles on the topics of the importance of comments on the internet (responding to them and leaving them for others) as well as ways to prevent or limit spam from getting through to your websites. I was going to compile all of this information into my own words for this post, but frankly that would take way more time than I am willing to give right now as I draft this post at the final hour. And I have a pounding headache as well so that’s just not going to happen. (I am currently suffering from lazy blogger syndrome.) Instead I will just provide the links for you in the event that you might find the information useful. They provide much more detail on these topics than I have in this post.
- 12 Vital Tips and Tools to Combat Comment Spam in WordPress
- 6 Ways to Stop Comment Spam on Your WordPress Website for Good
- Comment Spam: Google Cares, and You Should Too
- Ways to Prevent Comment Spam
- 8 Blog Commenting Mistakes You Need to Avoid at All Costs
- Effect of Comments on Blog Traffic: A Case Study
Have any of you noticed a significant increase in spam comments getting through on your websites recently? Or I am just an unfortunate target of some sort?
I am also wondering if all of these spam comments increase the number of page views making it an inaccurate representation of organic page views. However, I don’t think it does because I have not noticed an equivalent or parallel increase in page views considering the hundreds of spam comments I receive per day (my page views have not increased by hundreds per day). I don’t understand though how the comments get posted without visiting my page. It is all so confusing.
Before you answer those questions, however, I do want to thank you all for the loving, supportive, and encouraging comments that you left on my post yesterday. I simply cannot express enough gratitude for what this community does for me. Life is hard. For all of us. We find solace in community and I am thankful that I have that right here. Much love to you all.
Keeping it on the edge,
Shelbee
Linking up with these Fabulous Link Parties.
Shop my outfit…
Outfit Details: Dress, Scarf, Gloves, and Earrings-Target / Sweater-Kohl’s (Exact) / Jacket-Old Navy / Tights-Sock Dreams (Exact) / Boots-Crown Vintage (DSW) / Hat-Linda Gibbs Handmade
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
I am a midlife woman, wife, and stay-at-home mother of 2 boys and 2 cats. I have a passion for helping other women feel fabulous in the midst of this crazy, beautiful life.
32 Comments
Tamar Strauss-Benjamin
Ugh! So sorry you’re being overly spammed ):
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks, Tamar! It is ridiculous!
xoxo
Shelbee
mireille
Very interesting indeed! The other I was so excited when I say that I had 18 comments in the span of a day (typically it is half that) and turns out they were all from one website/person and pretty much said the same thing which made no sense. Interestingly enough 1 or 2 comments looked like they actually read the posts and made sense.
http://www.chezmireillefashiontravelmom.com
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
The spam comments are so weird, aren’t they, Mireille? Sometimes they do appear like legitimate comments, but then if you have a whole bunch from the same source, suddenly they don’t make sense. I find that a lot of them end up on old posts and that is my tip off that they are spam. I hope you found some of the information in this post helpful to try to combat an overwhelming amount of spam coming in.
xoxo
Shelbee
Dee | Grammy's Grid
Oh gross, Spam in a can, yuck! How can anyone eat that stuff? Same as with Treet meat in a can!! There has been an increase in spam recently as I too am getting hundreds. My spam plugin catches most of them.
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Dee, you totally just made me laugh out loud! Both kinds of spam are just gross! Thank you for letting me know that you have noticed an increase as well. I wonder if it’s some new year initiative to blast people with spam!
xoxo
Shelbee
jodie filogomo
Wow…that’s craziness. I don’t see many because Disqus does filter for me. Then again it sounds like you are on some list or something.
BTW…LOVE the orange tights. Now I need some along with a green pair.
XOOX
Jodie
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks, Jodie! I wear the orange tights way more often than the green for some reason. But I agree, you do need all the colors! Wait until you see the adorable baby blue ones I styled for our next Magnificent 8 post!
As for the spam issue, one of the articles I linked referenced Disqus as a good comment option because it really does capture all that spammy crap. I considered it for a brief moment, but I don’t think I have the patience to do the switch right now. I’m afraid of any possible technology issues that may arise! But just as I shared this post blasting spammers, the spam suddenly decreased back to its normal amount today. LOL.
xoxo
Shelbee
Jacqui Berry
If you’d have told me ‘orange tights’ i wouldn’t have thought they’d work … but they do! Nice on Hun. x Jacqui
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Aw, thanks, Jacqui! Orange tights are a bit off the wall, but I have actually worn them quite a few times already. They are fun!
xoxo
Shelbee
Patrick Weseman
Very true. I don’t even know what a SEO is or what it does. I just blog for fun. I used to get spam comments and I deleted them. I hate spammers.
Looking very nice, love the orange tights.
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks so much, Patrick! SEO is basically where you rank in Google according to keyword searches. I don’t really understand it very well either, but apparently a lot of spam comments that get through to your page can make Google angry and bump you way down their ratings.
xoxo
Shelbee
Shauna
Same here. I get like 50 an hour some days! I’m constantly cleaning them out of my Spam folder. Luckily they filter there on their own, so that part is nice. But I might look into an additional plugin to help out. I feel your pain, girl!!
Shauna
http://www.lipglossandlace.net
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Shauna, thanks for sharing your experience with me. Most of mine go into the spam folder, too, but I still have to take the time to go through them and clean them out. It’s funny though…ever since this post went live, the number has decreased back down to the normal amount of spam. Hopefully, it stays that way. So annoying!
xoxo
Shelbee
lorena
I am in total awe at someone offering cocaine and sending a link… WTF???
Luckily my spam is very little.
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Isn’t that the most ridiculous thing ever, Lorena? It really made me laugh though! Like I said I was fearful of clicking the link, but I was really curious where the link would send me!
xoxo
Shelbee
Gail
I haven’t noticed a particular problem recently. Disqus is a good tool because you can choose your trusted users, whose comments are published immediately and you moderate the rest. Generally I don’t check the spam comments because Disqus does a good job in filtering out only the bad ones. My biggest beef is all the emails sent to me offering SEO or sponsored content, and they haven’t read anything I say. Really poor marketing. Thanks for sharing this thoughtful post at #WowOnWednesday.
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Gail, thanks so much for sharing your experience. I have read that Disqus is really great at filtering spam and I may consider switching over if the the problem persists. As for the SEO and sponsored content or guest posting emails, I also get tons of them. I delete all the SEO ones, but recently I started replying to all of the requests for sponsored content or guest posting. I send them my rates and very often get the response that they either have no budget or they counteroffer with about 10% of my rates. That annoys the hell out of me. However, every once in a while, I do get ones who are willing to pay my rates and then I just go for it. It helps to financially support my space here! But yes, many of them clearly have not read my content or the emails themselves are so poorly written that I think why in the world would I want you writing content for me when you can’t even draft a literate email!
xoxo
Shelbee
Anna Shirley
That sounds really awful. I’m using Disqus, and I’m pleased with it. Maybe this will work for you too – later when you will have a time to install it. Have a great day.
Anna
http://www.glamadventure.com
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Anna, thanks so much for commenting. I did read in one of the articles that Disqus is really great for preventing spam from getting through. If I ever develop the patience to switch my commenting over, I will definitely go for Disqus.
xoxo
Shelbee
alice
First, Shelbee I love your posts and your cute pictures! Second, yes I have also seen an increase of spam but that happened after I installed CommentLuv which I installed so that other bloggers could leave a “dofollow” link back to their blogs from mine. HOwever, I then turned it to “nofollow” and I’m still getting spammed. I even shared a few with my email lists because they were so outragegous at times. But they are all being caught by the spam filter so far so I usually just scan through them to make sure there aren’t any actual “real” comments from people in there.
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Alice, thanks so much for the lovely compliment and for sharing your current spam situation with me as well. Most of mine are being sent to the spam folder, too, but I also need to scan through for legitimate comments as well because some do get sent to spam. Ever since I wrote this post, however, it has gotten a little better. I am down to maybe 10-20 every hour rather than 30-50 an hour! If it gets really bad and persists, I may have to consider changing my comment plugin to something else.
xoxo
Shelbee
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shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks so much for the feature!
xoxo
Shelbee
Michelle
I love those orange tights, and the skirt you paired with them. You’re heading into Bohemian territory there.
As for spam, ugh. I occasionally get a few, but nothing like you’ve described. Maybe you’ve hit a certain subscriber number that makes your blog more appealing for spammers? (Although, I don’t know how they would know that.)
Michelle
http://mybijoulifeonline.com
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks, Michelle! It is actually a little sleeveless boho dress under my sweater! I have been wanting to try the sweater over the dress thing for a while but could never seem to make it work for me. I think I finally figured it out. As for the spam, I have no idea what the heck is going on. Ever since I posted this, it has gone down a little bit. I have been getting maybe 50-75 a day instead of hundreds. They appear to be coming from only about 10 different sources but will leave the same comment on 20 posts. So annoying!
xoxo
Shelbee
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Dee | Grammy's Grid
Thanks so much for linking up with me at my #UnlimitedMonthlyLinkParty 8.
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks for hosting, Dee!
xoxo
Shelbee
indah nuria
I hate spams as well, Shelbee..super annoying and many of them, if not all, are so inappropriate. We really gotta work on cleaning them out. Love your hat and orange tights. Freshly popping up indeed. Cheers from #OMHGWW
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks so much, Indah! So I found a way to report the really bad spam offenders to Google. I guess once Google investigates, they can shut down their websites. There was one in particular that has been awful, posting hundreds of spam comments a day on my blog and I reported them numerous times now. I hope Google takes action.
xoxo
Shelbee
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