How to determine if comment is a spam

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  ellifolks · Member · Mar 30, 2008 at 10:19 am

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  Hi,

  Most spam I have received is obvious, but I got a comment where someone did comment on my post and then said “I have a website on…(same general topic as my post). Check it out — and then they put their url.

  Would this be considered spam? Their site is mostly informational but also has some commercial aspect.

  Thank you.

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  mark · Member · Mar 30, 2008 at 12:12 pm

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  Yes – that is 100% Grade A spam. Promise.

  Any comment that says your blog is great / cool / interesting / anything good AND that also leaves their URL is spam.
  Akismet will catch a lot of these – please do not tell Akismet it is not. It really is and when someone de-spams it what you are doing is letting the spammer use your blog to promote their spam.

  If you want the comment, remove their website address.

  And if you ever see a blog with “Bob wrote an interesting post today….” or “Read the full post here” then that too is spam – they are stealing your work to make money.

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  ellifolks · Member · Mar 30, 2008 at 12:32 pm

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  Thank you, mark!

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  blaxter · Member · Mar 30, 2008 at 1:51 pm

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  I totally agree, Mark – but altho I get cross at people who keep writing bits of my posts in their first lines (sometimes their only lines!) and saying ‘read more here’, I fail to see how that is “making money”. I did work out it was spam. They’re totally lazy gits, actually. If I thought they were making money, I’d see why they did it, but if they’re not, then it defeats me to see what they *are* up to. Explain? Thanks – I am still getting the hang of things!

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  mark · Member · Mar 30, 2008 at 1:57 pm

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  Some people only allow others to comment freely once they have had a comment approved.
  So they make a few nice ones.

  Also, if you start letting them comment they could change their url and you will start linking to porn / pills.

  It’s your blog, you are not obligated to post any comments.
  If in doubt, unapprove it so it does not show. If they come back you can also then judge it.

  And beware people who do not use their real names. There really can’t be that many people called ‘Toronto Real Estate’ and ‘Tech biz marketing’ and similar.

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  blaxter · Member · Mar 30, 2008 at 2:12 pm

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  Ha ha – thanks for explaining; that makes sense. But I’m amused because I, too, do not use my real name in order to protect my clients and the people I work for!! Then I can have open discussion without breaching ethical guidelines. Akismet has already caught the comments in question so I don’t have to approve/disapprove, but I went to have a look at a couple to see what was what.