Monday 30 January 2012

Musings: A Spamification Situation…

“Like almost everyone who uses e-mail, I receive a ton of spam every day. Much of it offers to help me get out of debt or get rich quick. It would be funny if it weren’t so exciting.” Bill Gates
Musings: A Spamification Situation… Ham I am, Not Spam…
Periodically, a glitch causes our comments to get flagged as  blog spam but then it self-corrects in a few days or so.  I can be a bit of a ham but spam I am not! Yesterday, I used my Photo Challenge post to bring attention to this issue. I used humor to inform you that my comments on your blog posts were being tossed into your spam box by Akismet; owned by Automattic. One way to correct it is to open your spam box and unspam comments from legitimate sources and fellow bloggers. Some of you did and some have not. Please check your spam boxes regularly as legitimate comments do end up there… Some of mine are still there. I have sent a note to both WordPressand Akismet support about my disappearing comments on your blogs. Those comments are in your spam box and you can retrieve them; unless you’ve already emptied your spam box. I check mine regularly because some of your comments have ended up there too. Since reading/liking/commenting takes a lot of time, I’d like you to know that I’ve visited many of your blog posts. Thank you!
“Who has time to manually spam web sites? That can’t be very cost effective.” Eric Cheng
Musings: A Spamification Situation… Spam bugs us all ….
What have I done so far? I wrote to both WordPress and Akismet Support. When I didn’t hear back… as I suspect the weekends are not the best time to reach them, I sent Matt Mullenweg a friendly note too. I’m learning a lot from this event, like the fact that Matt’s sister, Charlene, had something to do with the name Akismet. I love the word kismet and, of course, my first intuitive response is: What is the universe trying to tell me? OK, no jokes even as I’m tempted to crack one. Below are my letters.
Hello WP Engineers/Akismet,
I follow a lot of blogs and usually when I leave a comment, it either appears right away or a message shows that it is being held in moderation. Today I noticed that my comments were disappearing; even the replies on my own blog which then showed up in my spam box. I do use both of my names and have never had a problem. Please advice as I have a lot of blogs that I need to catch up on with comments.
Thank you,
Elizabeth
Hi Matt,
I love WordPress and support all the wonderful innovations you bring to us regularly. I have apersonal blog that I started in 2008. Yesterday, out of the blue, all my comments were flagged as spam. I have reached out to WordPress and Akismet support, even paid $ for an API keyand no one has responded. The problem persists. This is incredibly frustrating as I follow a lot of blogs and I’m trying to catch up on commenting on others posts… Please Help. I don’t know what else to do!
Thank you!
Elizabeth
If you believe that your comments are being trapped by Akismet and should not be, you should contact Akismet support. I hope they will be quick to respond to you.  More below. Yeah, more later…
“No one bill will cure the problem of spam. It will take a combined effort of legislation, litigation, enforcement, customer education, and technology solutions.” David Baker
Musings: A Spamification Situation… Typical Spam we don’t want.
The last 24 hours have been a great learning opportunity as I read everything on the Akismet siteand learned a few things. I have some thoughts about this situation that I will not voice quite yet… But let’s say it is a lesson on the downside of what we do. Blogging is a joyful and creative endeavor. We take it seriously enough to want to support each other and, when things get complicated, we feel the pinch.  I will “Like” all of your outstanding posts in my email box, leave some comments, and start afresh with you. In the coming weeks, I will change my blogging efforts and downscale my schedule.  Love to all! What are your thoughts? Have your comments been flagged as Spam? What did you do to correct the problem? What lessons were learned?
Do share? Thank you!
Positive Motivation Tip: Spam stinks but being called one is a real drag… Keep striving to correct erroneous labeling.
PHOTO CREDITS/ATTRIBUTIONS: All Photos  No SpamSphaerophoria – Spam BugViagra ad, viaWikipedia and/or Flickr

1 comment:

  1. Hi Donna, just wanted to say what an interesting blog you have here.

    Your posts and pictures are funny, amusing and often thought provoking. (Though the picture of the expanding pregnant belly, freaks me out a bit.) :)

    ReplyDelete