Need help? Check out our Support site, then


WordPress.com Forums » Support

Is there any way to prevent abusive (caste) comments?

  1. visekhar
    Member

    For months I've been getting abusive comments in phonetic Telugu language. One particular person is consistently posting very worst comments abusing me in filthy language. I've made his comments public expecting that he would stop. Instead of stopping he doubled the frequency and filthiness.

    As I belong to an oppressed caste of India, his abuses are directed at my caste. If he is in India I can take legal action against him. But, his I.P. number (82.28.154.58) shows that he is in U.K (if it is not a proxy number?).

    There are two question regarding this. One, Can I take any legal action against him if he is in U.K? Two, how to prevent him from posting comments at the posting time itself? I mean, I should not see his comments even for approval. It seems your tools available in dashboard do not provide such facility.

    The blog I need help with is teluguvartalu.com.

  2. timethief
    Member

    Please see here:
    http://en.wordpress.com/freedom-of-speech/
    http://en.wordpress.com/abuse/
    http://en.wordpress.com/complaints/

  3. visekhar
    Member

    Hi, thank you for the response.

    The above links pertain to abusive blog. But, here the problem is with a commenter.

    Even then, I will try the procedure in 'abuse' link.

    My question in the title remains. Do I have a way to prevent such comments at the posting stage itself?

  4. thegiddygoat
    Member

    There is a new law in the UK which means people leaving racist (and other) comments online can, and will be sent to prison. Someone was recently sent to prison for leaving a racist comment on Twitter. You can report it to the Police in the UK, even though you are not in the UK yourself, it is where the person leaving the comments is from that matters. The info for that IP address is cpc18-stok15-2-0-cust57.1-4.cable.virginmedia.com The Police can find the persons address from that, it is Stoke On Trent (but could still be a proxy!). Keep all the comments as proof.

  5. timethief
    Member

    Do I have a way to prevent such comments at the posting stage itself?

    No. Also note that we cannot block or delete subscribers from public blogs. However, please read this about public blogs that become private blogs > Blog Privacy and Subscribers > http://wpcommaven.wordpress.com/2011/09/05/blog-privacy-and-subscribers/

    Note that you have complete control comment moderation. http://en.support.wordpress.com/settings/discussion-settings/#comment-moderation If your blog is public others can, of course, read it. They can submit comments but you can Moderate all comments and choose which ones to approve or not.

    For trolls, you can “blacklist” them at Settings > Discussion toward the bottom of that page. Enter their email address, their username, and if they included it, their website. That will automatically send them to moderation so that their comments do not appear on the blog. Do note though that if they are determined, they can use a different email address or username to get around that. Also, do not put their IP address in the blacklist. IP addresses are no longer unique, and you might end up blocking legitimate visitors. Also, all they would have to do is go to a wi-fi hot spot, or connect via a different ISP and they could get around that.
    http://en.support.wordpress.com/settings/discussion-settings/
    http://en.support.wordpress.com/settings/discussion-settings/#comment-blacklist

    One other thing I would suggest is to set your blog so that first time commenters are held in moderation till approved, then from that point forward they will not need approval. Settings > Discussion. The next step on that of course is to set it so that all comments are held in moderation until approved. That way you are in control, and they might just get tired and go elsewhere after a while.

  6. auxclass
    Member

    I would set so all comments need to be approved that would prevent someone from leaving a mild comment then getting commenting abilities that they can run wild with insults - it you have others that help on the blog maybe you can get someone to help with the comment moderation so you don't need to look at the insults

  7. timethief
    Member

    ~~auxclass
    I also have my comments set up to moderate all comments, and I have posted a Commenting policy that I adhere to http://onecoolsitebloggingtips.com/commenting/

  8. thegiddygoat
    Member

    And so the racists can move on to someone else? The only way to stop racists is to let them see that it is not tolerated. Just hiding the comments is not the answer is it? Because that person will continue thinking he has got away with it, and he will continue elsewhere etc etc. The person in this thread has had comments directly about his skin colour. That is considered racism in the UK, and is against the law. Take action, don't hide.

  9. visekhar
    Member

    Thanks, thegiddygoat! You've shared my feelings.

    And timethief has given a great information on comment moderation.

    But, my abuser knows that I'll see his comments before trashing them. He is consistent and tireless. In every comment he calls me bastard adding a religious or caste adjective like 'christian bastard', or 'dommara (an oppressed caste) bastard' and so on. Later he throws further filthy abuses on my character, characters of my parents, our social status etc..

    He declared that he will not stop and challenged me to do whatever I like.

    These people are trying to extend oppressive social prejudices, which are totally banned in daily life, to the virtual activities also. And, they are finding it very comfortable to post such comments as they will not face direct and immediate harm.

    So, as 'thegiddygoat' suggests such people shouldn't be hidden and action should be taken.

    I don't know whether I'm the first one to report this type of abuse. But, I want to suggest that there may be some way to prevent such comments at the posting stage itself. I don't know whether it is practical or not.

    By the way, I'm going to report in abuse section tomorrow.

  10. thegiddygoat
    Member

    Good luck mate. Always stand up for what is right and just, and never brush it under the carpet, or it will just fester and grow.

  11. auxclass
    Member

    Be my guest to use what ever legal routes available to you - the world has too much hate in it - also if you mark the comments as "spam" you are sending a message to Akismet that this person is bad and with a bit of luck their comments will start to go straight to spam even on other blogs - my suggestion above was to take the public forum away from the troll - trolls hate being ignored - but you never want to put their comments into the public unless you have @raincoasters (one of the other people that help here) go for the jugular skills and thick skin

    Good luck with your site

  12. timethief
    Member

    @visekhar

    But, I want to suggest that there may be some way to prevent such comments at the posting stage itself. I don't know whether it is practical or not.

    IPs have not been unique for over a decade now. ISPs save money by placing hundreds and sometimes thousands of us under the same IP. WordPress.com does not IP block and we can't either. http://en.support.wordpress.com/ip-addresses/#blocking-ip-addresses If we foolishly choose to place an IP address in a comment blacklist the result will be sending all legitimate commenters under the same IP address to the spam queue.

  13. sensuouscurmudgeon
    Member

    If we foolishly choose to place an IP address in a comment blacklist the result will be sending all legitimate commenters under the same IP address to the spam queue.

    Does blacklisting have the same effect as marking a comment as spam? Anyway, although it's contrary to the common wisdom, I routinely blacklist by IP number. I could be wrong, but I regard the likelihood that two people with the same IP number are both trying to post on my blog to be slim indeed.

    On the other hand, I've found that when blacklisting by email address or user name, it's sometimes the case that some part of that will cause another commenter to get hung up because of the Scunthorpe problem. So for for me, doing it by IP number has been more satisfactory. If I'm wrong, then everyone should disregard this.

  14. thegiddygoat
    Member

    @sensuouscurmudgeon I always think it would be incredibly unlikely that two people with the same IP address would go onto the same blog, and then comment (hardly anyone comments, unless they are friends). There are millions of people on the internet and not everyone shares an IP, and if they did, would they really have the same interests? Would they all be the kind of people who comment? Highly unlikely!! I have blocked people by IP and will continue to do so as the need arises. I don't think blocking an IP is the same as marking it as spam, but the very lovely timethief will be able to answer that correctly for you, as i don't know for sure.

  15. timethief
    Member

    Re: the IP comment blacklisting
    Other reasons I don't rely on placing IPs in comment blacklists are:
    1. Many of us have dynamic IPs that continually change.
    2. Trolls can and do will get another IP address in the blink of an eye.
    3. Racists are psychologically disordered people and considerable research reveals any form of punishment for making racist statements does not deter them from continuing to make the same statements again.

  16. thegiddygoat
    Member

    Good points there timethief. You are such a font of knowledge. With point three though, although that may be true, that doesn't mean we shouldn't do everything we can to stop them. Imagine what the world would be like if we let everyone do whatever they wanted. And also you could add to your points that there are free proxy services online, and that means thousands could use the same proxy address, while hiding their real one. I'm guessing the real evil people would use a proxy anyway. So i suppose you are quite right in that way, as blocking certain IP's (if they were a proxy) WOULD block an awful lot of people, a lot of people use a proxy innocently (not for evil reasons). I'll re-think the IP blocking strategy.

  17. timethief
    Member

    Hi again,
    I didn't want to take the time to get into the proxy servers issue. Thanks for doing for me. lol :D
    You provided the information visekhar needs to contact the police. WordPress.com will not block by IP and I provided that link above. http://en.support.wordpress.com/ip-addresses/#blocking-ip-addresses
    I think we have come full circle.

Topic Closed

This topic has been closed to new replies.

About this Topic

Tags