15 November 2012

Dealing with spam

I'm wondering how you all deal with spam on your blogs. I have tried to simplify the comments process here by taking off word verification. Over the months since I did that, I've had thousands of spam comments. I deleted almost a 1000 spam comments last week (a couple of days worth) and then waited to see how many more came in. In 14 minutes I got 54 spam comments. I then put word verification back on again and have had two since. So word verification has to stay even though I know it makes it difficult if you're commenting from an iPad or phone.

Bloggers ability to pick up spam and put it straight into the spam folder is excellent, but there's so much of it, just getting rid of it every few days takes time because I can only delete 100 at a time.

There is also a problem some readers have reported about comments disappearing. Does that happen on your blog too? Do you know why? I've written to Google about this but haven't had a reply. I doubt I'll get one now. If you're a new reader here, it is much easier to comment if you have a Google ID. It's the same one you get if you sign up for any of the Google accounts - gmail, Reader, Feedburner etc., or you can use your ID from Wordpress, Livejournal, Typepad, Aim, your name and url or as anonymous.  You just make your selection from the comments section. Once you choose an ID, it remembers it, so you'll probably only have to do that once.

I was going to stop the anonymous comments too because when I get hate-filled comments, they're always anonymous. Funny that. You would think that if you felt so strongly about something that you'd step up and own your comments, but there are a lot of cowards hiding on the internet. However, I know some people who comment can only comment as anonymous so I'm leaving that on. I'm not sure why that is but a few readers have told me that is their experience. 

I am so grateful for comment moderation. Do you use it? I know very many of my regular readers by name but those who are new to me with a name I don't recognise, I am now checking them out before I publish their comment. Reinstating the word verification has stopped hundreds of spam comments but some human spammers are now creating a ID, then they make a comment that is related to the post so it looks genuine. I've just realised though that many of these are fake and have a link to a business or website that none of us want to see, or even know about. So I've been going through the old comments and deleting those. If you find one, can you drop me an email with the link to the page please. Thank you.

And that's another way spam comes in - emails. They probably don't think of themselves as spammers but I get a lot of emails from advertising agencies and PR firms asking to advertise on my blog. I got one this week inviting me for cocktails at a fashion extravaganza! Do they not read my posts? Anyhow, if you work for one of these places, please take me off your mailing list because I will never reply to your emails. I will only ever recommend products that I use myself, I know fit in to the life we're all trying to live or for some small home businesses through my sponsor buttons.

Surely it's not only me who has a big problem with spam. If you do I'd love to know how you deal with it.
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66 comments

  1. I'm glad you are keeping the anonymous profile Rhonda, I'm one of your readers who can only comment this way. Question- I use the home made laundry liquid, but as we have a grey water system i don't use the borax, is there something else - septic friendly, you know of to use as a whitener, some of my hubbys white socks are 'greying' a bit. Thanks for your blog I read it everyday & always find pearls of wisdom, Deb m

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    1. Hi Deb, thanl you. Every so often, I soak my whites in an oxy-bleach solution such as generic Napisan. It's not chlorine bleach, it's peroxide, which is much more environmentally-friendly. But I'm not sure if you could use it in a septic system. Could you soak the whites in a bucket and then pour it out on the garden? I'm pretty sure it would be fine on grass but not vegetables.

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    2. We have simply diverted our laundry empty pipe out onto a bit of lawn. It means that when you do the occasional wash with napisan etc you aren't killing the good bacteria in the septic. The lawn likes it too. Just a bit of pipe from the hardware and out the window or wall.

      My poor eyes struggle with verification, often takes me four or five gos but I understand why you would need to enable it Rhonda.

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    3. i replaced the borax with bicarb soda, it works fine on my laundry as i think if you wouldn't use borax in grey water why use it at all, i also looked it up, it is quite toxic too.
      cheers
      selina from kilkivan qld

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    4. Selina, borax is one of the safest natural cleaning chemicals. It would only be "quite toxic" if you swallowed a cup of it. The reason it isn't used in grey water systems is that it accumulates in the soil and turns into boron, and boron is toxic to plants. But yes, you can replace borax with bicarb and that is what I recommend as a general solution, however, soaking in a peroxide based oxy-bleach will make whites whiter than bicarb will.

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    5. thankyou for your responses, i will try the 'napisan" type products, there is plenty of vegetable free areas to pour it on, Deb M

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  2. Rhonda, I think it is probably the higher profile bloggers such as yourself who attract the spammers. I barely get any, although have had a few of the human spammers who have registered, only to comment with a link to something inappropriate, and which I have deleted immediately. I think that your word verification step may have to stay...

    In regards to disappearing comments, I have had that happen to me on a number of occasions and I'm really not sure how or why that could occur as at other times, my comments are accepted!

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  3. Rhonda, I am thankful that you have comments on your blog - it is a lovely way to 'meet' likeminded ladies. Thanks for taking the time to sift through the spam.

    Amazingly, even my little blog gets lots of spam comments. I don't have anonymous commenting, though - I am not thick skinned enough (yet!). I have comment moderation and will put word verification back on if the spam continues.

    Lovely insights, as always. Thank you.

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  4. i took off word verification some time ago and didn't have a problem for ages and then they started coming in - very annoying! but since i clicked on registered user i haven't had a problem!

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  5. Rhonda I am amazed at the amount of spam you receive when you don't have word verification on. Better that we deal with some curly ones individually than you deal with thousands of spam comments.

    I am also amazed that you receive hate emails, are they generic or aimed at you? Perhaps the police or Telstra/bigpond could assist. Sorry that you receive these when the basic tenets of you blog include respect for others.

    Loved the chair covers! We shall se if you get this comment!

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    Replies
    1. Vicki, the hate comes from two specific people directed at me. Hanno says they just jealous. I'm not sure why anyone would waste time sending hate to someone they don't know, but human nature is a strange beast. I'm not going to do anything about it because I tend to feel sorry for them.

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    2. I, too, was surprised to read that you get hate mail. I can't even begin to figure what about you or your site could cause such an emotion *scratches head*

      I think Hanno's assessment must be right. Still, I'm sorry you have to deal with it.

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  6. Hi Rhonda, I've had particularly nasty "anonymous" comment posters and now i don;t lose any sleep at all when I delete all anonymous without even reading - if folks get upset, I'm sorry, but not prepared to put myself under any upset anymore. I delete spam comments with a smile on my face :-)

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  7. I have had to use comment moderation also but not word verification because it is SO difficult to read those words. Usually, I have to try 5 times before I get it but usually just give up. Any spam I get put into the spam category so if they ever comment again it just goes to the spam box and I don't even need to see it. My spam box uses their ip address so if they try using different names, their ip address gives them away. It is so bad that there are so many people out there that enjoy making other's lives miserable!

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  8. I have blogging friends that won't put on word verification, but I couldn't stand the spam. So it stays on. I've always removed the emails with business links. They used to make it obvious by posting about seven times in a row so it was easy to know they were spammers and delete. In fact blogger occasionally had those deleted before I noticed them. Now I get the occasional one that seems like spam as it has a business link but it very related to the post. I remove it.

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  9. I hardly know anything about this world of blogging, and this has been such an interesting read.
    I didn't know that you had to face these things, especially the hate mail. Kinda makes me feel sad that people are inclined to be vitriolic (anonymously) to a lifestyle that is so "earthy".
    If you don't agree you dont read it. I don't look up places/things that don't appeal to me. But I suppose that's the character of people.
    Thanks again for the interesting read and expanding my life.
    Anne

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  10. I haven't experienced the spam to be honest! I guess my blogs don't attract that much attention :D A couple of times my comments here disappeared but I think what happened was I somehow timed-out or was logged out of Wordpress so that couldn't be verified or something and the comment was just lost in the ether? Not very helpful I know but maybe others have noticed a similar thing. Hope it gets sorted out for you.

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  11. Hi Rhonda,

    You made me laugh out loud this morning as I was reading you blog and having my morning coffee when I read this;

    "I get a lot of emails from advertising agencies and PR firms asking to advertise on my blog. I got one this week inviting me for cocktails at a fashion extravaganza! Do they not read my posts?"

    The though of it tickled my sense of humor - perhaps you could go in your gumboots and apron?? ;) Thanks for that!

    - Emmy-Lou
    xx

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  12. I'm stunned at the number of spammers you get and can quite see your problem - time is precious and none of us wants to spend more than seconds deleting nuisance comments. I have comment moderation on my blog but not word verification, for very good reason. You see, I'm dyslexic and struggle with WV myself, so can only think that others must do too. However, if I'm determined to comment, I will try to copy the WV, if I don't succeed I give up - like I said life is too short :) Blogger dumps all anonymous comments into the spam box for me and all I do is, very quickly, scan the last line to check for authenticity - then delete. In the three years I've been blogging only one anonymous comment has proved to be genuine - not bad at all. Of course, I do not receive anything like the number you do. It's shameful that anyone would send you hate mail - you'd think they would have something, anything, better to do with their life. I've had a only a couple of unpleasant comments - it's insidious and it's nasty but it isn't sticks and stones - and I love the delete key. To sum up, I'm not sure there much more you can do about the spam you receive than you already do, but if you do find an answer do let us all know. Regards, Elizabeth

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  13. I wish I had some advice for you, Rhonda. Thankfully I am too small a blogger to warrant bothering with spam comments or emails.

    I have had people say they have trouble commenting on my blog--they comment, but it never appears.

    Thinking of you meeting with PR people for cocktails in evening wear did make me smile with amusement though.

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  14. Rhonda - I've been fairly lucky with word press but I don't have the readership you do so that may be part of it. For Anonymous who is having trouble with greying socks I found this recipe a while ago and love it....1/2 cup Washing Soda, 1/2 cup Hydrogen Peroxide, Hot Water. Mix all three together in a large bucket and put in clothes to soak overnight or minimum a few hours. Throw the whole lot in the washing machine and wash as normal. I use halve the mix and find it cleans two tshirts very easily. I use it for DD2's White (grrrrr) school shirts that nothing else cleans and they come up a treat. I'm including the link so you can check it out.... http://beautifulsmhw.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/frugal-and-simple-laundry-series.html Good luck with the spam problem and the horrible comments. Why they bother I don't know.

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  15. I don't get any spam which is good because I wouldn't know how to get rid of it! My blogging skills are extremely basic.

    I must say, it always amazes me that people would go to the effort of sending hate mail to people they've never met. Who has that kind of spare time? And why would you bother? What do they get out of it?

    I am really sorry this happens to you Rhonda. Your blog creates nothing but goodwill, environmental awareness and personal encouragement. What weird person finds issue with that??

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  16. I've tried both having and not having word verification but eventually had to leave it on despite it being so annoying. When it is off there is just so much spam. I have a couple of other websites too and the spam on those is worse and it is in the form of a supposedly legitimate comment but with a website link to buy their product. It is still spam!

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  17. You DO have a wide readership, while most of us have only a few, so perhaps thats why you get so many spams and unwanted emails!! I have turned off the word verification because I don't like using it myself and so far I've had no problems..... time will tell! I have to add though that I have my blog set so it's "Not listed on Blogger. Not visible to search engines" - maybe that makes a difference.
    Thanks for all your inspiring efforts that you put in here. I'm sure there are many folk, like me, that stop by every day but rarely have time to comment, word verification on or not!!

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  18. I'm not a popular blogger like you but 3 months ago I noticed a steady stream of spam (they comment but it's not relevant and links to another site) but so far mine is all picked up and put in the blogger spam folder and I haven't needed to do anything else but delete it each time I check....but boy that's a lot for you in a very short time so I guess I can see why you would want to change the way you do it....i just wish the word verification was readable sometimes it takes 3 goes and I have good eyesight

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  19. Hello, Rhonda. I know how angry you must be and I agree with you. You wonder why these people dont just get a life and find something better to do with their time. I dont hope that you will receive this as none of my comments to you ever get through. I should ask the spammers how they do get through.lol. Blossomvic

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    Replies
    1. Yay Blossom, you made it this time. Big smiles here.

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  20. I was getting lots of spam comments too until I chose to do away with anonymous users. I also have comment moderation, and do NOT use the word verification. I HATE that. I get very peeved having to do a word verification several times sometimes because you can't make out what the letters or set of numbers are. Sometimes they are easy, but I'd say for the most part I have to do it at least a couple of times before my comment is released. (My little rant.) :-)

    Hugs dear Rhonda to you and Hanno.

    FlowerLady

    P.S. I had to laugh out loud when I saw the word verification pop up, so had to edit my post to tell you. I don't hole it against you though. I love your blog.

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    Replies
    1. HA! I hate it too, Flowerlady, but it has to stay until I work out a better way. I'm going to see if there are any anti-spam plugins I can use. xx

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  21. I use Wordpress. Use to experience tonnes of spam before installing Akismet, a spam plugin. Now I don't get any.

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  22. I did the same as Deanne. I took off word verification but removed the option for anonymous comments. It was sad to do this but it's the only way I've found to control the spam.

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  23. I have been receiving quite a few spam comments lately. I have taken the step to approve comments before they are publish. Mind you I don't have any where near the amount of comments you have so I can do this easily. If anything looks dodgy I delete it. Most posts that have a link are spam, but some are genuine so I just look carefully

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  24. Hello Rhonda I rarely get spam I hope it does not start but I have not even the speck of readers you do so no one would notice or want to send me anything. I have had a few advertisers and I just delete and ignore.
    Google seems to do a great job at catching them for me.
    I do hope you figure it out.
    I can see you at a cocktail party maybe cleaning up or dusting not drinking and mingling and wearing a fancy designer dress.Well that is the image I have in my head. Close maybe? I like you the way you are. B

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  25. The spam is directly and exponentially linked to the amount of traffic to your site. Remember for every few comments there are probably a hundred readers and a thousand surfing traffic hits. Spammers work on the sheer volume factor so no, most of the time they will not have a clue what you write about, it's just a numbers game. My traffic is reasonably small time and I can afford the luxury of having the word verification off but I do not allow anonymous comments, unfortunate for those who do not have a profile but it's easy enough to get one if they really want to comment. I expect people to "own" their comments. I have noticed a lot of your anonymous commenters will sign their name at the bottom of their comments though so you know they are genuine. The emails are time consuming for you I am sure and that advertising junk is annoying. I am wondering also about virus protection etc. I have computer protection for virus, spybots and trojans and on the whole have very few problems, so am wondering if this filters and stops more than I realise. I have also set up more than one email account. I have one that is for professional use and I can keep this really "clean" from contamination. I am very particular who gets this email so that I do not have people sending me all sorts of chain letters that have spy stuff attached to them. I have a very active hotmail email acc that is used for many site notifications, casual friends, and when you fill in other forms and they require email. It has a very good system for sorting into the junk folder and I do not even open anything that I do not recognise or has a subject line. There is less at stake if this email is compromised. I also do not accept e-cards that have a lot of spy stuff attached.

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  26. Hi miss rhonda, thank you for leaving "anonymous" ,otherwise i could not comment...Espy

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  27. I'm on Wordpress and they have this comment spam catcher called Askimet (I think). I am not sure if it is a anti-spam thing all people can get or part of Wordpress though. It works rather well. There are those who have jobs with companies just "cold" emailing and commenting. Usually the english is quite back in the comments so I can pick them up straight away. My blog usually only asks me to allow the first time a person comments and then it recognises their email address or ID after that and just lets them comment. These are all very helpful. Unfortunately my Hotmail account isn't so helpful and I manually block every single junk email (working on the, probably incorrect, idea that the gobbledeegook email address they use is repeatedly used so I won't keep recieving their rubbish - at least until they get a new rubbish email address! I've managed to trim the amount of spam I get by doing this but it doesn't stop all together. My brother is an IT guy and told me that there are some things you can do to limit the amount of spam you get:
    * Have a seperate email account for business, use this address online and keep your personal address for friends and family.
    * Never put your email address into a page that is not secure (no 's' at the end of http means it is an open page).
    * Take the time to utilise any blocking or reporting abilities you have at your chosen blog host or email host - it feels like they won't take any notice but if they get hit with 1000 blocked or reported email addresses or IDs, it is worth their time looking into it.
    Hope that helps...unfortunately the internet is like panning for gold....there are a lot of rocks as well!

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  28. Hi Rhonda
    I'm stunned that you get awful messages, if someone doesn't like what you write then goodness me use some common sense and don't read the blog..
    Personally I'm grateful I stumbled upon your blog. My mum died too young two years ago and I miss her common sense & back to basics ideals very similar to yours - I'm madly trying to remember all the things mum taught me and pass that on to my 4 darling children with the hope that they can continue what their Oma (grandma)started to teach them and me..
    Life's too short to be spiteful.
    My heartfelt thanks to you that you continue to provide a wonderful place to visit.

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  29. First of all, I cannot believe you get hate filled comments... what is with people! Spam and I are not friends. I took the word verification off aswell, albeit I don't get as many readers, but I have managed to get all Anonymous comments sent to my junk mail box of my regular email address and they don't show up often at all in my blogger stream. I have no idea how I did that though! xx

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  30. Hi Rhonda....I'm sorry you get a lot of spam on your blog. I don't get any in my blog comments..but I do get some in IncrediMail. If I dont recognise the name ..I delete without reading. If I go and check my blog stats, I find I usually have a couple of 'business names' with links..I've been told to ignore these because if you click on the links you only attract more spam.
    I hope there is an answer to this problem.
    I don't mind word verification...it can take a few tries but I think if I'm interested enough to make a comment...why stop when you get to wv....I just do it..it shows I'm genuinely interested in the person and what they have to say.
    Have a good day
    Barb from Australia

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  31. Hi Rhonda I never thought this kind of thing happens on blogs your the only blog I read I don't have a blog but you do hear of a lot of hate messages on Facebook I hope those hate filled people grow up and get a life and leave a lovely person like you alone

    Have a great day Linda :-)

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  32. I don't get many spam comments at all, even though I have a lot of readers. I got rid of the word verification. I allow anonymous comments because I have such a lot of genuine people who use it. I don't moderate the comments, just check them after they have been published. Only get a tiny amount of nasty comments and have never had an offensive email. I am amazed that you get so much spam, it must be because you have been blogging a long time and you have so many more followers than me.

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  33. I use wordpress....And, I have about a million times fewer comments than you do, Rhonda, so it makes it much easier. Almost all spam is caught by the wordpress filters and I never see it if I don't want to....The first time someone comments I see it in my email and have to approve it. But after that, that email address is not challenged. I wish you could have an easier time, and get no spam.

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  34. I have a blog address & name reserved, but I have yet to post anything.
    I'm sorry that you have to weed out so much spam Rhonda. I do remember when I moderated an EZ Board back in the day, that trolls would love to come out and play! Folks need real lives! I enjoy reading your blog for the ideas and inspirations! Thank you for all you do!

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  35. You are a victim of your own success!! I allow anonymous comments because some people don't want to take the time to log into Google. I also turned off the word verification because I hate the new way it works--it's so difficult to read the gibberish "word" and house number. I have found that blogger does a good job of catching the spam, so I just go to the spam comments page and "Select all" and delete them. But I don't have nearly your volume, so it might be too much hassle for you.

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  36. One thing I like about blogging as opposed to Facebook (I don't even have an account but know people who do) is that it takes a while to develop a readership. I'm not a consistent blogger so I don't get many readers, but the ones I have, I know and like.

    It makes it easy to delete those phony ID's who comment only to place a link. I don't feel any remorse because I don't know them personally, and they don't know me - they're only using my blog to advertise.

    As I don't have the readership you do, it wouldn't be very useful listing what I do to avoid spam. But I've read through the comments and several people have already mentioned what I do anyhow. Good luck with it. I know SPAM it's not the best part about owning a blog.

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  37. Ooops, one more suggestion I forget to mention in my last comment. For those having to submit word verification several times because they cannot make the letter and numerals out: try selecting a new image (it's a circular arrow button on the right of the word verification box).

    Blogger tends to make it easier the more you click on it. So keep clicking until you see a letter/number combination you can read. It beats writing it out numerous times only to have Blogger reject your interpretation. Click the button until you can make an image out clearly, then write it down once! Should work.

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  38. I'm like the rest of the bloggers - never get any spam. I would say it's because you have such a large number of followers (and rightly so as you are a wonderful writer Rhonda!) As for hate mail - I can't understand why anybody does that to anyone else especially to you. If you don't like what you read DONT FOLLOW THE BLOG ANYMORE!

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  39. I am only a small blogger and only have a small number of followers so haven't had to deal with 'spam'. I am always amazed in life why people have to do this type of thing - if they don't like what you write or are jealous then it is simple not to follow or read your blog (a bit like the on/off button on a television).
    I for one don't have any problems with the verification processes that many bloggers use - you blog because you enjoy and always have something of note to say, so keeping your blogging experience smooth and enjoyable for yourself is a priority!
    keep on blogging and verifying - you would be missed by so many if you stopped.

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  40. The ones I don't like are the ones that sound legitimate because they use legal sounding names - like better business bureau, or paypal, or even my own bank's name. I just ignore them ALL. I figure if my bank wants to talk to me, they have my phone number! ( besides which our doors are less than 300 feet apart;-)

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  41. Rhonda - I also re-enabled word verification. But I find that anyone who tries to link to their webpage / site (i.e. advertise their product) in their comment lands up in my spam folder.

    But, I have also discovered that it is mainly one blog posting that is attracting them - almost as though "someone" out there has discovered my most popular blog posting and has created a "spam link". Sounds crazy, I know, but there is a definite pattern...

    I also enabled comment verification on posts older than 10 days - that way I can delete them before they hit my blog :)

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  42. Well how bizarre! My comment has disappeared. I left one at 9am and it's no where in sight, just when you were talking about this very thing! It's only ever happened to me once before and I think it was on your blog that time too. But then again I don't re-read comments all the time, only when it is a subject that I think I can gain some insight from. I haven't had anyone say they have had their comments disappear before from my blog. Anyway the gist was that I thought computer virus protection does seem to help with spam and that you it is very much traffic based and inevitable that as a high traffic blog you are unfortunately going to attract spammers who are working strictly on numbers. There have been a couple of useful suggestions above also, so it was a good topic, Thanks.

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  43. Hi Rhonda,

    I tried disabling word verification, and like you I get a lot of spam (not as much as you but enough to be annoying). My spam filter on blogger is pretty good at screening out all the spam, so I let it do the work for now.

    I was having problems in that the word verification was stopping some people from commenting.

    I don't get that many real comments, so for now I've left it off. I also have moderation for posts older than 14 days, like Dani. For some reason it's just Russian spam....

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  44. Hi Rhonda,

    I'm sure your presence at the fashion show and cocktail party would be the most interesting thing that happened there that night. They could learn so much - made me smile to think of all those fashionistas hanging on you every word and then returning home to simplify their lives. :-)

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    Replies
    1. Curvywitch, your comment made me LOL at 4.30am in a house full of sleeping people. If they comment later, I'll tell them you made me do it. ; - )

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  45. I haven't read through all of the other comments so I'm sorry if it's already been said. First of all, it is a sort of compliment that you get so much spam. Obviously the spammers/bots know you have a fabulous blog that is widely read.
    Have you thought about using a plugin comments system? Something like intensedebate (which I use) they seem to keep spam at bay as well as having easy email reply etc.
    Also, I'm part of a few blogger groups on facebook and it's been a hot topic of late and seems that the spammers are particularly attacking older posts. This was the case on my blog.
    Hope the problem goes away. There is enough to do in managing a blog let alone dealing with this :(
    Thanks for your fabulous blog and all the inofmration you provide!

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  46. My husband and I have both had our email hacked this week and emails sent to everyone on our contacts lists. That is so frustrating because now we are the indirect cause of spam. I am embarrassed that all those people got a bogus email from me.

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  47. Hi Rhonda, firstly, I am SO sorry anyone would send hateful comments to you!!! I can only use anonymous because I don't have an account with the other choices & I don't have a blog or URL. :-( So for my part, thank you for keeping anonymous comments available. Much love for you & your blog!! Lynne from central NY

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  48. Tks for discussing this problem. When I took word verification off my very humble blog I was flooded with spam [and I'm a nobody] so I put it back on and now I don't get any but I get fewer comments because word verification has become almost impossible to read and after several attempts people give up including me. I don't comment nearly as much as I used to because of word verification, but I visit your blog daily Rhonda and enjoy your great advice and common sense. Take care and I think you are dealing with hateful comments the best possible way.

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  49. I don't have any followers yet on my Blog so this isn't an issue for me at this time, but it's good that you put this article up because it would be good to keep in mind for future reference. I also don't get many people commenting on my blog either and of the few I do have they are really nice ones. Though if my writing ever gets me any where I may have to deal with spam later down the track. I really appreciate you putting this up.

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  50. Hi Rhonda,

    Thanks for leaving anonymous as I can only comment under anonymous. I don't have a blog but love reading yours. You are such an inspiration and I don't feel so alone in my ways after reading you and your followers.
    Antoinette

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  51. I don't think anyone reads my blog, but I sometimes get spammers too. It is so annoying and a lot of work to delete them. We appreciate that you re so dedicated to keep your blog comments from being cluttered with nonsense.

    My old computer had some issues and refused to allow me to sign into google, as well as other important things. At times it would not let me sign into livejournal as I just don't keep it active. I have resorted to commenting anon at times. I have a hard time seeing you getting haters, but I think sometimes they just do it for entertainment.

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  52. I hate spam too, Rhonda! I definitely moderate my comments.

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  53. I have just comment moderation and I've noticed recently that more spam is slipping through to be moderated.

    I'm also getting an incredible amount in the spam folder, I hadn't checked it recently and was shocked that there were "pages and pages" of spam. I deleted all of it even though it took awhile, thinking that may stop spam from slipping into my moderated comments but I'm still getting a few.

    I think spammers are finding ways to get around it without the word verifications. I don't have it because I have a lot of older readers who find it difficult, I know I do because I've had surgery on my eyes and some of them are very fuzzy.

    I hate spam but then again I realized it comes with having a lot of people read a blog. Must look at it that way. :(

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  54. I don't like the word verification, maybe if they used words so you could guess... But I understand. A while back I subscribed to follow up comments on a blog I read as I had asked a question. Now I get 4-5 anonymous post emails from that site. I will never do that again.

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  55. I once wrote a post about white vinegar and how its actually made (sadly not all that green or eco friendly) & it went viral. 100 000 people saw ot within a day or so.
    I had the lynching mob come at me, after that. i had to go to 'Approval First' commenting and deleted HEAPS of comments over the following weeks. I have kept it to approval first which has worked well do far. So I can understand your frustration Rhonda! ;-)

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