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Nov
14

Askimet and Blog Comment Spam

Filed Under Blogging News 

Blog spam is definitely a problem and I don’t want to pretend it isn’t, and anti-spam plugins like Askimet are great plugins.

But, if you are moderating comments on your blog, you need to make sure you are flagging true spam as spam with Askimet, and deleting questionable comments.

I have heard from some people that a comment of their’s was flagged as spam with Askimet because the owner didn’t approve of the content of the comment.  If you don’t approve of a comment delete it, don’t flag it as spam especially with Askimet because if the comment is not true spam, you have just screwed someone.

In summary, Askimet is a Wordpress plugin that is used by thousands of bloggers.  Blog comments are sent to Askimet and Askimet uses it’s rules to determine if a comment is spam or not.  Of course Askimet is not going to tell us how they determine spam, which is good since the spammers would find ways around the Askimet spam rules.

So, if you flag a comment as spam, it’s flagged by Askimet as spam.  Once a comment is flagged as spam by you, Askimet will flag it as spam the next time that person comments on a blog post.

I have read that URLs are sometimes flagged as spam, some keywords are flagged as spam and I suspect IP addresses may also be flagged as spam.  The next time the person you flagged as spam submits a comment on another blog, Askimet may identify it as spam, and the comment will never be approved - even though it could be a perfectly valid comment.

From what I have read, from people who have ended up being flagged as a spammer by Askimet, is that you won’t even realize you were flagged as a spammer until you somehow figure out your comments on blogs never show up.  Some tested by commenting on their own blog to see their comment being flagged as spam.

To get of off the Askimet spam system, I’ve seen people suggest you comment on blogs of people you know, and ask them to mark your comments as not being spam if Askimet flags them as spam.  This is called a False-Positive by Askimet.  As blog owners approve the comments as not being spam, Askimet is supposed to learn.  So if you continue to post comments that are not flagged as spam, you should come off the list.

The best way to stay out of the Askimet spam system is to provide good comments.  But someone having a bad day could decide to flag you as spam for no good reason.  You wouldn’t want someone doing that to you, so be careful when flagging comments as spam when they really aren’t.

If you have questionable comments on your blog, go ahead and delete them, just make sure you delete bad comments, and flag true spam as spam.  I delete far more comments than I flag as spam.  A blog comment has to clearly be spam before I will mark it as such, and Askimet catches most of those for me already.

I also encourage you to periodically look at comments Askimet flags as spam on your blog.  If you find comments that are clearly not spam, remove the spam flag.  You would appreciate if someone did that for you, so do the right thing for them.

Askimet is a great plugin for controlling comment spam on your blog, but be careful how you use it.

Disclaimer:  I am not an expert on Askimet, but I did some research on it to better understand how it works.  If you have more information on how Askimet works, I would appreciate your comments below.

Mike

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Comments

18 Responses to “Askimet and Blog Comment Spam”

  1. Kevin from Great Wall of China Facts on November 15th, 2008 8:14 pm

    Thanks for the info on askimet. I hate blog spammers and these kind of softwares seem to be helping a lot. Thanks for the post!

  2. kouji from love haiku on November 16th, 2008 7:08 am

    i’ve been flagged a few times unfortunately. :( thankfully akismet responds pretty quickly to pleas for help sent via their site’s contact form. :) also, they mention a wordpress blog which was set up precisely to check if akismet is flagging you, or if it’s something else intercepting your comments.

  3. KC SEO on November 16th, 2008 10:42 pm

    I was curious - if you are flagged in Akismet by an immature blogger, what ramifications does this have on other comments that you are submitting? Does it put all of them that you send into the spam box?

  4. Joe from Slow Computer on November 18th, 2008 1:29 pm

    Ye this is a problem. There are a number of blogs that I comment on regularly. Sometimes when there is a post about a controversial subject no one can comment because if we use certain words the comment gets blocked.

  5. Joe from Slow Computer on November 18th, 2008 1:31 pm

    Laugh when I tried to comment on this post I got:

    Sorry, but your comment has been flagged by the spam filter running on this blog: this might be an error, in which case all apologies. Your comment will be presented to the blog admin who will be able to restore it immediately.
    You may want to contact the blog admin via e-mail to notify him.

    typical

  6. Do-Follow Mike on November 18th, 2008 3:01 pm

    Hey Joe,
    That is strange that your first comment was flagged as spam. I don’t see anything that would cause it to be flagged.

    That’s why we should monitor the comments that are flagged as spam and approve them when they are clearly not spam.

    I use SpamKarma 2 instead of Askimet and 95% of the comments that are flagged as spam are clearly spam.

    Mike

  7. Sarika from Balding on November 18th, 2008 3:14 pm

    I’ve been using Askimet for a long time and its never gone wrong for me till now.

  8. prashant32 on November 19th, 2008 5:02 am

    Great information… Spend good time to read your article.

  9. Flug on November 19th, 2008 10:17 am

    Thanks Mike for explaining the way Askimet works. I never grappled with it so detailed. Having a spam-tool is certainly a great and neccessary thing, but Askimet-user should be informed about the way how it works from the right beginning. I suggest you provide your useful blogpost to the Askimet-guys in order they inform the webmasters how to handle responsibly with comments.

  10. TigerTom from Secured Loans UK on November 20th, 2008 7:58 pm

    I’m too lazy to install that plug-in. Consequently, I periodically have to delete hundreds of spam comments, event ‘though comments are turned off on my blog.

    That, plus the regular ‘WP security updates’ puts me off allowing commenting.

  11. Dan from Caribbean Holidays on November 21st, 2008 3:51 pm

    Thanks for the great post and information on Askimet. I’ve heard of it before but never bothered to put it onto my blog. However, recently I’ve been receiving alot of spam so it might be time for me to go get it.

  12. John from Japanese Weekend Maternity on November 21st, 2008 4:17 pm

    It is a great tool if used properly. Spam is a problem for all bloggers and you have to keep it under control. However I do know quite a few people who have been marked as spam accidentally and go no longer contribute meaningful conversation to the site. In that case its a lose-lose situation for both parties.

  13. Mac from Cycle Fairings on December 3rd, 2008 7:13 pm

    Really the problem is that you contributing to the list of comments and for a reason we don’t know, askimet eats your comment, letting you we a feeling of worthyness for that action.

  14. Leonardo Medina on December 3rd, 2008 9:41 pm

    Let me say something about it. If I am a blog owner and am going to post a comment, I shall keep in mind that It can go in Akismet right after submission if I did some very loose comment. Problem is with hiring people. On many popular marketplaces I have seen people hiring cheap person and availing cheap service to extract link juice. I think problem starts from there. People who will be charing a low amount will provide very low quality comment so 60 percent chances are there that your site will be flagged as spam right after using that service. Another thing which I came to know, what happened if you will be posting on only “do follow” blogs in short span of time and in big quantity? Of course you will go in Akismet spam right away.

  15. Johnny from international credit card on December 11th, 2008 12:05 am

    thank you… i just wish more people would do that. so many times people flag stuff as spam when its not.

  16. MarbleHost.com Web Hosting on December 12th, 2008 12:32 pm

    I also hate blog spammers and these kind of softwares seem to be helping a lot.

  17. Kenneth Sena on December 17th, 2008 1:52 am

    Yeah.. Askimet is a nice plugin, I’ve been using it in my blog as well.. :)

  18. SEO Services India on December 31st, 2008 9:13 am

    Very helpful information.
    Askimet is protecting blog from spammer.

    Thanks for the information

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