Ugh! Comment spam

I’m starting to get hit with spam in the “comments” sections. No, I’m not talking about nasty posts – I mean, get-rich-quick crap is getting uploaded to this site. I remove it when I find it, but I don’t want to spend all my time doing that. Unfortunately, I may have to require people to register with Blogger.com before they can comment. Sorry about that.


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17 thoughts on “Ugh! Comment spam”

  1. Wouldn’t bother me. But maybe the problem would best be handled by Blogger. Or maybe you need to go to a better blogging solution. Blogger does seem a bit “small town” for you.What do the big blog-boys do? Well, those who allow comments, I mean. dKos and RedState require registration. Atrios doesn’t (his comments are haloscan, I think). What does he do? He must attract all sorts of malicious spammers.Perhaps NEU might have a blog-hosting alternative?Good luck.

  2. BTW, do you get to see the IP addrs of these clowns? Perhaps Blogger can filter based on that. Anyway, I still think it’s at least as much Blogger’s problem as it is yours.

  3. Dan,I actually just discovered last night that for my blog, there is a little trash can icon next to each comment, so you can delete spam comments as they appear. Of course, this will still allow the spam to show up in the first place, but it’s a good way to take care of it when it comes in.I don’t see those icons on your page, though, so maybe you have a different version …David

  4. When I saw “Ugh! Comment spam,” I was afraid you were going to write about the regular comments. 🙂

  5. I think a majority of your blog commenters won’t mind registering.Of course, I will soon be proven wrong, I’m sure. 🙂

  6. This is just an excuse to filter and censor. You don’t like those criticisms, Dan, admit it now.In trying to keep the ‘comments’ section looking all hunky-dory, you will inhibit some people from speaking their mind.You may not mind that little detail, since you only seem happy among people with whom you agree with 99% and the ones who don’t are to be snubbed.Spam threat my foot…I never knew this to be a major threat in MediaLog or any other blog. DailyKos is one of the most visible and one of the few profitable -read very lucrative- blogs. I bet the registration is mostly for audience tracking to show income potential than anything else like free speech restriction or span or anything else.

  7. ummm…I don’t think Dan goes home and cries at night because people don’t agree with him.

  8. This is just an excuse to filter and censor. You don’t like those criticisms, Dan, admit it now.Why, Anonymous, would you make such a stupid, ignorant comment? I am talking about actual spam – come-ons for websites selling worthless products posted in the form of comments to this site. I’m deleting them as soon as they come in, but they’re real, and I’m hearing from others who are having the same problem.I could easily delete comments critical of me, too, but, as you can see, I’m not doing that.

  9. The downside of requiring registration, of course, is that many of the good inside sources who sometimes post here (and posted at MediaLog) would probably not post anymore. Sure you could make up a fake identity, but there’s some psychological barrier that many just won’t cross for some reason.A great example would be the recent flaps at WBUR over the past year or so. WBUR employees have learned from others’ misfortune that you don’t tie your identity to your comments or you will be smacked down by the man. Now granted, that was more under Jane Christo…but two decades of office culture is not erased overnight. I think if registration was required, many of the juicy inside stories wouldn’t have been leaked (at least not here).

  10. How could you miss the point by such a wide margin.I didn’t say you were censoring the spam messages. No one needs or likes those.My point is, the spam issue is being used as an excuse to implement regstration and THAT will censor and inhibit. People would less likely give us/you a piece of their mind as freely as can be if they are registered.Joe Shmoe illustrates my point exactly as another facet of the risk I am seeing.Free and unfettered…(ughhh that phrase reminds me of Rummy…I’m naucious now)…that’s how we like our speech and blogs. No strings. Just frank exchange.A day after the dean exchange, a registration idea is being floated, giving the impression that we shouldn’t let it go that far and you maybe didn’t like to be confronted in the manner.Hence the censorship odor. NOT censoring Spam.

  11. Wow …You think Dan is really upset that someone gives him guff about Dennis Kucinich and his crazy veggie eatin’ ways.

  12. Hey Anon 2:38PM.Blogger registration is easy and close to anonymous. The only valid thing you have to give Blogger is some email address. And that address doesn’t have to be valid for long. The only thing that remains to be tracked is an IP address. But my guess is that Blogger has IP addresses for all comments anyway, anonymous or not.

  13. Steve, your last comment sent a shockwave through the ranks of the anon writers who just awakened to the idea that maybe they aren’t so “anon” after all. Talk about a buzzkill. Mike_B

  14. We have been trying our best to furnish as much about Trash Can as possible. Read on to find out if our efforts are worth it!

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