Un-Spam Us!!
Having recently done battle with the ‘Happiness Engineers’ and the ‘Likes’ police (How many Likes is too Many) I’ve now had to go head to head with the Spam Police, those awfully nice people at Akismet who, in there overly zealous attempts to protect us from the occasional spam comment, are dumping perfectly good, honest, decent comments in our spam folders. I’ve just had to retrieve over a dozen from my spam folder and having spent a great deal of time recently writing many, well thought out, thoroughly considered and appreciative comment on someone’s work only to see it disappear before my very eyes as it’s whisked away and dumped where few people care to look, the spam folder, I’m getting pretty fed up.
I know it’s always a case of the few spoil it for the many but can we not deal with the ‘likes’ that come from people looking to solicit something from us and those that ‘like’ to get likes back? They’re easy enough to spot. Are WordPress users really complaining so loudly about this that WordPress’s reaction to ration our ‘likes’ is justified? The same goes for the spam comment. It’s easy enough to dump them in the trash. In trying to stop what is really a reality of the world we live in, WordPress are starting to make this platform unusable for decent, honest bloggers like you and me.
While they figure that out for themselves as, surely as night follows day, they’re not going to listen to us, all we can do is check our spam folders daily and like in moderation hoping, as I hope, that we all understand we’re there, following and reading and appreciating the posts we read daily anyway, we just can’t necessarily show it. :-)
If you’re struggling with this as I am, you can contact Akismet at support@akismet.com and the happiness engineers at support@wordpress.com. I’m sure they’d be happy to hear from you ;-)
35mm f/11 1/20 sec. ISO-100
Cornwall Photographic 
Thanks for sharing this information! Nice shot by the way ;)
July 25, 2013 at 10:24 pm
Thank you Virginia. :-)
July 26, 2013 at 6:56 am
Like. Like. Like…..
July 25, 2013 at 10:44 pm
Thank you.
July 26, 2013 at 6:56 am
I have been slack in checking my Spam folder but did yesterday and was horrified to see comments (some a couple weeks old) from people I know in there.
Anyway excellent scene here Adrian, well done!
July 25, 2013 at 11:47 pm
Thank you very much Phil. :-)
July 26, 2013 at 6:56 am
I feel your frustration. I’ve tried to contact WordPress about the “Like” spam. It’s ludicrous and these dummies will have nothing to do with anyone trying to lodge a complaint. Please visit my site and view the Spam Club page. I am fed up with this garbage and go so far as to write my own comment in any post, calling out these dolts for what they are. Sorry for the rant. John
July 26, 2013 at 12:09 am
No need to apologise. It does get very frustrating.
July 26, 2013 at 6:57 am
Sorry to hear this is still happening to you.
July 26, 2013 at 12:44 am
Thank you Lignum. WordPress will find a balance eventually but it seems they’re gone a little too far on the side of caution and are catching too many legitimate bloggers in the traps.
July 26, 2013 at 6:59 am
“Happiness engineers” – love the phrase! Maybe they are control freaks? I have never thought to look in the spam folder to check if I’m missing replies thank you for the alert.
July 26, 2013 at 12:48 am
No problem. :-)
July 26, 2013 at 6:59 am
Love the rich colors in this one, Chilli. I’ve been known to rescue a few folks occasionally from the spam bin, but it hasn’t seemed like a huge problem for me. Something I’ve been encountering lately has been folks reblogging my content at blogs that are exclusively made up of reblogs. No original content at all. I suppose I ought to consider it a compliment, but it strikes me as rather shallow. Then again it’s only a very minor irritation. Now, losing sincere comments…. that’s another matter entirely. Not good at all.
July 26, 2013 at 1:50 am
Thank you Gunta. I checked my spam folder on the off chance last night and there wasn’t a single spam comment in there, just lots from people who follow my blog. I think part of the problem is the spammers target certain people and perhaps I’ve been lucky in that spam hasn’t been a particular problem. I just suspect the filters are being tightened just a little too much if the only spam I had were legitimate comments. :-(
July 26, 2013 at 7:02 am
Yikes! That’s simply ridiculous. Why bother having a spam check at all if you need to be diving into it all the time to rescue legitimate comments!
July 26, 2013 at 7:25 am
That is so frustrating! I’ve seen it happen to some of my other blogging friends as well. One spent the whole weekend writing up comments to catch up on what she missed while away, only to get labeled a spammer. She kept reminding us to check our spam folders and un-spam her.
Nancy
July 26, 2013 at 1:58 am
It is a frustration. As is spam. I just don’t think they’ve got the balance right if they’re catching so many legitiamte comments. How they filter these things I don’t know but there didn’t seem to be anything in these messages that could have been misconstrued. Thanks for your comment.
July 26, 2013 at 7:03 am
A superb image ! I never check my spam folder, I think I’m going to start !
July 26, 2013 at 3:07 am
Thanks Jocelyne. It’s always worth checking. :-)
July 26, 2013 at 7:04 am
“having spent a great deal of time recently writing many, well thought out, thoroughly considered and appreciative comment on someone’s work only to see it disappear before my very eyes as it’s whisked away and dumped where few people care to look, the spam folder, I’m getting pretty fed up.”
Man! I doubt it, but I sure hope I did not miss one of those!
Seriously, I do check my spam folder, which recently has burgeoned with a rash of spam (actual spam).
I’ve yet to have any instances of legitimate comments being spammed. I have had a couple of spam comments go through onto the post (I usually have fun with those).
Then again, I probably don’t have anywhere near the traffic you do. Maybe that’s the answer . . . piss off your readers like I do, and keep the responses and spam at a minimum.
July 26, 2013 at 3:27 am
A well thought out, thoroughly considered and appreciative comment from Chillbrook has been known Emilio. ;-)
It’s interesting. I guess the spammers target certain blogs and I’ve been lucky of late. There wasn’t a single spam message in my spam folder, just legitimate comments from people who follow my blog. Clearly spam is a nuisance and more than a minor irritation at times but I suspect the spam filters need tweeking if they are catching so many comments from regular bloggers. As somebody commented, if you write too many comments, you’re labelled a spammer, just as if you like too many posts. I would have hoped the tools used to detect the spammers were a little more sophisticated than this.
July 26, 2013 at 7:15 am
I have come across this topic several times in several places recently. Not quite sure what to think of it. I do not use Akismet on one of my private blogs and it is now working great. It kills the spam (for free) as-well-as akismet. Likes are cool, but I do not focus on them, nor do I get that many of them. Likes & spam, Yin & Yang, both need to be professional and controlled. Not all people seem to care about being professional and exploit cyber space. Marketing has gone too far and invaded cyber space ina negative fashion. That is the only conclusion I come up with. Best to you in resolving the issue.
July 26, 2013 at 5:16 am
Thank you Bob.
July 26, 2013 at 7:26 am
Great post Adrian and well said.
July 26, 2013 at 6:21 am
Thank you very much Mark.
July 26, 2013 at 7:26 am
It is so irritating, though hopefully, mine is now sorted. Love the lighting in your photo and the criss-crossing heather in the foreground. Great shot.
July 26, 2013 at 10:04 am
Thanks David. Much appreciated.
July 26, 2013 at 9:14 pm
Another strong photo Chillbrook. I look forward to your next post!
July 26, 2013 at 11:08 am
Thank you Mark. I found one of your comments in my spam folder. I haven’t got around to replying to them all yet but will do.
July 26, 2013 at 9:14 pm
I’m not sure of the reason for being marked as spam as, in my case, I just don’t have the time to like or comment on too many blogs. I visit a select few on a regular basis and certainly prefer to comment rather than simply like as it seems more sincere to me – maybe I’m just old fashioned :D Anyway, I realised I was being filtered out as dodgy but found the guys at Akismet really helpful – I’m not too sure but it seems that maybe the problem was between them and WP and we got caught in the middle …..
On a positive note, I now check my spam folder and have rescued a few being held hostage there!
July 26, 2013 at 12:53 pm
Thanks Noeline. I do like to leave comments and I also like to always reply to them. It’s just simple good manners which I guess makes me old fashioned too. Finding comments in my spam folder that I haven’t replied to is not good.
I guess it a difficult line for WordPress and Akismet to draw but there does seem to have been some changes that are not helping. I didn’t find a single spam comment in my spam folder, just comments from blog followers. There’s got to be something wrong if that’s the case. I guess we’re just going to have to get into the habit of checking daily.
July 26, 2013 at 9:19 pm
Gosh that’s a gorgeous image, Adrian!
July 26, 2013 at 1:43 pm
Thank you Karen. I thought of you when I posted this as I knew you would appreciate the heathers. They really are at their very best just at the moment.
July 26, 2013 at 9:20 pm
Love the vivid colours, Adrian. The heathers are now starting thier glorious display. I am away at the moment but can’t wait to get back with my camera….
July 26, 2013 at 5:44 pm
Thank you Malcolm. The heather really is looking great just at the moment. I look forward to some pictures from West Penwith on your return. :-)
July 26, 2013 at 9:21 pm
With that, I am off to check my spam folder! Beautiful image, Adrian.
July 27, 2013 at 12:14 am
Thank you Marina. It always seems to be worth checking these days. I don’t know if they’ve tightened up the criteria with which messages are treated as spam but far too many are being treated as spam that aren’t.
July 29, 2013 at 8:41 pm
This photo is …. breathtaking.
July 27, 2013 at 3:28 am
Thank you so much Lynne!
July 29, 2013 at 8:40 pm
Hi,
I read a lot more blogs that I have time to comment on. Sometimes I hit the like button just to say ‘hi, I have passed by and read your blog and like what you have said or the photo you have taken. I don’t always do it and I don’t anticipate a response on my blog when I do.
I haven’t got a like button on my WordPress blog so I guess it can be removed.
I use Hashcash as the primary filter and that throws the comments into the Akismet queue. Hashcash stops robots from trying to post comments. I have never had an issue with legitimate comments going into the spam filter. It must be really annoying for you.
The light on that tin mine (I am guessing it’s a tin mine) is absolutely smashing by the way.
July 27, 2013 at 6:24 pm
Thank you Ivor and thanks for your comments. Yep, that’s the Wheal Coates tin mine at St Agnes.
July 29, 2013 at 8:40 pm
I have had the same problem and now I always check my spam box every time I log onto WordPress. Mine seems to be doing ok since I complained a couple of weeks ago, lets hope this comment doesn’t prove me wrong … lol
Have a wonderful week Adrian and thank you for sharing as always :)
July 28, 2013 at 12:19 pm
Thank you Angi. You have a wonderful week too! :-)
July 29, 2013 at 8:37 pm
Good photo Adrian with great edge lighting. I’m sorry to hear about the spam boggle. I instantly checked my spam for comments because I get a lot of notifications but most of them don’t show up as comments. Is notifications the new comments on word press now. I had another blogger that had the same problem you are having awhile back her blog is http://tchistory.wordpress.com Good luck
July 30, 2013 at 2:42 pm
Thanks James. It’s a real frustration. I’m sure I’ll get it sorted soon.
August 1, 2013 at 7:25 am