Sneaky Spam
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@janolofbengtsson
Yes there is an increase in spam. Yes spam comes in waves.
No this is not technical issue for the support forums where every thread is available to every spammer on the internet, who wishes to read the threads as see exactly how well their latest tactics are working or not. Akismet issues are dealt with by Akismet Staff.
http://akismet.com/contact/If you get spam that slips by Akismet then mark it as spam (do not delete it) and over time Akismet will learn it’s spam.
I’m not saying this in an unkind way but the reality is that if you had a self hosted WordPrerss.com blog you would be dealing with thousands of spams every day. What we deal with here at WordPress.com is diddly squat in comparison.
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timethief:
I don’t think this is an authentic discussion among WordPress members. It is obvious that you and justjennifer simply post slightly modified standard formulations that you have used elsewhere in response to the same complaints, without reading with proper attention the individual comments you respond to.
Had you done so, it would have been impossible for you to repeat once again the sentence “If you get spam that slips by Akismet then mark it as spam (do not delete it)” etc.
Nor could you have written “Yes spam comes in waves”. I have never said anything about spam coming in waves. Spam very definitely does not come in waves. I might say spam now comes in one single huge wave, 20-30 per month, compared to the still water of one, or none at all, before March. By saying that spam comes in waves, in the plural, you seek to give the impression that the current problem is a normal occurrence. It is not. There has never ever been another wave before, not even the smallest.
And that I “would be dealing with thousands of spams every day” if I had a self-hosted blog and what we deal with here is “diddly squat in comparison” is another wholly irrelevant remark. We are talking exclusively about the sudden, grotesque rise in uncaught spam here and nowhere else; the situation elsewhere is beside the point.
You say this is not an issue for the support forums since “every thread is available to every spammer on the internet, who wishes to read the threads and see exactly how well their latest tactics are working or not”. I cannot see how this is an argument against discussing the issue here. What spammers will learn by reading this discussion is that their tactics don’t work since I never publish their comments/links.
In the ways I have pointed to, you seek to avoid even acknowledging the nature and reality of the problem I and others are talking about. For some reason, you are out to play down the problem, mechanically using standard phrases, without taking it seriously. My experience is that discussions in WP forums are normally very good ones, with helpful and knowledgeable members, and equally helpful and knowledgeable WP “happiness engineers”. But the discussion of this very important topic is, unfortunately, an exception.
The problem should certainly be brought up directly with Akismet too, but the fact that something seems to have gone wrong with Akismet is a matter of general interest and concern to WP and the WP community. It should therefore be discussed precisely here.
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Why would you assume that a technical support thread would be “an authentic discussion among WordPress members”? That is what blogs are for. These threads are not for discussion purposes at all. They are for posting questions on support issues and getting accurate answers to them and/or providing resources links such as http://akismet.com/contact/
Our technical support forums cannot be used as bulletin boards for blog promotion, business promotion or discussion purposes. Please respect our policy and promote your blog in social networks. https://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/forums-housekeeping?replies=1
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That last paragraph is a copy and paste answer that I frequently post because there are misguided bloggers who think these technical support forums are for discussion purposes when they are not.
You believe you have an Akismet issue that is in some way different than the issue we all face. You believe that this thread in a public forum that’s available to all spammers on the internet is the place to create what you refer to as “an authentic discussion”. I don’t believe that’s the case at all.
You have been provided with accurate answers and resource links re: “5 things every blogger should know about spam” on this page Akismet: How it works http://akismet.com/how/ and you have been provided with a contact link you can use to contact Akismet Staff directly. Please do that.
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I assume a technical support thread would be an authentic discussion among WordPress members is that all the technical support threads I have written in have been such discussions.
In order to address and try to solve technical issues, members discuss them. By discussion I mean that (in cases where the answer is not immediately obvious and the questioner simply needs to be informed about it, which, as far as I can remember, has not been the case with the problems I have brought up) members describe the problem, ask questions about it, analyse it, suggest solutions, report the results of their measures, and evaluate each other’s responses. Such discussions, heretofore always meaningful and valuable, I have also had with WP’s “happiness engineers”. They are the way in which accurate answers are given and solutions found. They are what I find all the time in the support forums.
Are these forums not for such purposes? Obviously, you mean by discussion something else, which is neither what I mean nor what I am doing here.
An authentic discussion among WordPress members (and happiness engineers) is thus in my experience the way technical issues are addressed and often indeed solved in an excellent way. It is not a discussion where, for a new instance, participants accuse others of seeking to promote their blogs (!). This allegation is truly remarkable. Is there even a link to my blog here, as there is to yours?
You say many strange things. Another new one you say now is that I believe I “have an Akismet issue that is in some way different than the issue we all face”. On what do you base this? I very definitely do not believe this. Quite the contrary. I believe at least very many, perhaps indeed all, have exactly the same Akismet issue.
It is for this reason that, while appreciating your links to Akismet, I belive this is an issue of general interest to WP which should be discussed – in the sense described above – here. It seems to me a relevant continuation of the thread would be, for instance, a discussion – in the same sense – of responses from Akismet.
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Corrigendum: The first paragraph in my last comment above should read:
I assume a technical support thread would be an authentic discussion among WordPress members because all the technical support threads I have written in have been such discussions.
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Hi marcys and janolofbengtsson,
If you have any concerns about spam on your site, please contact Akismet directly:
http://akismet.com/contact/Discussion of spam patterns can be fascinating, but is not a topic for general WordPress.com support, so I am going to close this thread. The Akismet team should be able to assist you from here. :)
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