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Akismet

  1. arrby
    Member

    Don't want technical support. Moral maybe. I have been reading, reading about Akismet. I'm not satisfied, but I am concerned. I don't trust it. I don't know, intimately, how it works or who it's creators are. I've read too many scary reports in the WP forums.

    I see a few posts in my spam queue that I worry are not spam. Am I swayed because they are also saying nice things about me? I don't know. Or are there 'gatekeepers' among the techies who oversee WordPress and Akismet? The thing is, When I see a post to my blog that hasn't made it past Akismet, but I can't see anything wrong with it, My hopefully logical mind tells me that I'm not Akismet. Akismet is Akismet and if it marks something as spam, then it's done so for a reason. Since I don't know what those reasons might be, I just don't know.

    I don't want to go to support. I don't have any specific problem or question and I see that folks there are tired of talking about Akismet. I just have a bad feeling about Akismet. I simply worry that important communication, involving myself, is being lost. In a sea of corporate-owned media and sophisticated propaganda that is so effective that our governments can hijack whole countries and we don't even give it a thought, the communication we do between ourselves is more important than ever. Don't you agree?

    The blog I need help with is arrby.wordpress.com.

  2. arrby
    Member

    I didn't realize I could easily check the websites - if any - of those posts in my spam queue. I have a little, probably a lot, more confidence in Akismet now.

    Which isn't to say that technology is perfect. The tagging feature, at least for my blog, is very screwed up right now. I had to copy (from my blog) and paste (back into my blog in a new post field) my most recent post ("Guns In Starbucks?") in order to get the 'coffee' category to recognize it. The new tags I added were missing as well. Even after I successfully re-posted (the coffee category call up found that post), I see not all the tags I added were there.

  3. timethief
    Member

    Don't want technical support. Moral maybe. ... Don't you agree?

    I'm not sure what you mean by "moral support". Moral support for what? Could it be for complaining? I sure hope not and "no" I do not agree.

    As Automattic owns both wordpress.com and Akismet, and as Akismet is an excellent spam filter that's widely used on wordpress.org and other blogs as well I don't think it's likely that there are going to be any changes made.

    For those who haven't read the Staff comments in the recent Akismet thread here's a link http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/akismet-issues?replies=15

  4. webmistress27
    Member

    Akismet is truly has a mind of its own, we had one hell of a issue not to long ago with alot of our personal friends and new admirers ended up in spam not to mention we did too so the system looked at us as spammers, took us literally weeks to get it fixed, but a few guys at suport for WP stayed on top of it. If you or anybody else is new here i'de advise you to check your spam section frequentlly to see if your friends or family members have ended up in there.

  5. arrby
    Member

    You're over-thinking Timethief. Relax.

    Sounds like good advice webmistress. Thanks. Later...

  6. webmistress27
    Member

    Just check it everyday, for awhile we did'nt even think to do that untill people said they stopped by, commented and we had'nt seen any of their replies so we could respond to them.

    F.Y.I

    if you do accidentlly get considered as spam by Akismet trying to contact them might be a waste of time (it was for us) after sending several emails within almost 3 weeks time, they dont respond.

    Support @ wordpress had to take care of it for us.

  7. shesboxingclever
    Member

    My biggest suggestion is read, read, read. Read every little tech-looking link on your blog, and click it to see what it will do. I will show you moral support, as I've had the same occurances on my blog, like so many others. Akismet is not perfect, I've had comments from spammers post through when every comment is supposed to be moderated by me, and I've had non-spam comments sent to my spam queue. The key is just to check everything. Unfortunately, Akismet doesn't always give you the opportunity to see the comment before it gets deleted, this is the most uncomfortable factor for me...it says it's deleted umpteen posts, yet I've only had the chance to check a few. *shrug* I just take it as it comes really, since I don't have the patience nor the inclination to be emailing "staff". I'm here for a good time, not a looooong time.

  8. timethief
    Member

    @arrby
    Of course Akismet is not perfect and neither is Defensio. I use both and I have had so few lase positives over the course of these last 4 years that I have nothing to complain about.

    We all have the option to either choose to have spam deleted or not deleted from old posts here > Settings > Discussion
    Comment Moderation
    Comment Moderation ___ Don’t discard spam on old posts

    We do not have the option bof examining the most harmful of all spam which is why programmers created spam filters in the first place. Am I so worried about false positives that I want or need to examine all that crappola that amounts to a zeitgeist of 83% spam out of all comments every day - no way and no how!

    Lastly, who the heck are you to tell me how to think, how much to think, or how deeply to think? Are you challenged by such extreme youthfulness that you lack the ability to treat the opinions of elders who have extensive life experience and online experience with respect or what?

    My original response stands. If you want moral support for bitching about something that can't be changed you will not be getting any from me.
    .

  9. timethief
    Member

    @shesboxingclever

    The key is just to check everything.

    I agree.

    Unfortunately, Akismet doesn't always give you the opportunity to see the comment before it gets deleted...

    I think Staff have been very clear about what constitutes the spam we never see. It's the worst kind of spam that can actually bring down the site, and that's why it's culled and never reaches us.

  10. shesboxingclever
    Member

    I'm sure staff has been very clear, it's just never concerned me enough to check their opinion on the matter. It does make the average blogger wonder what's being deleted, but, like I said above, it's not a big enough deal for me to have the patience, nor the inclination to find out. Fortunately for little ole' me, spam constitutes only about 3% of the comments I have received as of date, if the ratio was closer to say, 50/50, I might have a little more concern one way or the other.

  11. webmistress27
    Member

    Once akismet has deemed something as spam and deleted it, it would be best to contact those who this might have happened to so they may contact Akismet or wp support, again akismet was no help at all (with us anyways) when it came to restoring our commenting availbility.

    So yes check everything daily if possible as for curious links your not to sure about i would'nt recommend clicking them because they might be something harmful, but if you want to know what it is highlight it, then copy & paste it to your google or yahoo searchbox to again knowledge about those links.

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