I am taking a little break from blogging this week as it has been crazy few weeks and my mind can use some down time. I also wanted to leave you a some articles on life improvement to make our life little more enjoyable.
10 ways to help during bad economy
Creative ways to use up left over Halloween candies
How to have yourself Stress Free Thanksgiving
Akismet: When Friend turns Foe
Since I started blogging on WordPress, from March 2010, I learned a lot about plugins and blogging. One of the plugins I love, is Akismet. If you are blogging for sometimes then you know how it is helpful to keep spams away from your blog. I also wrote about it in my blog post 10 plugins to boost your blogging , a guest post at Virgin Blogger Notes.
I loved Akismet as it is free plugin that does a great job of keeping spam away from a blog, may be too great job. Lately, my comments to other blogs have been going in to SPAM folders or getting deleted by Akismet right away. I did not notice it at first and slowly it became evident that most blogs running akismet were blocking me as a spammer. Let me repeat: “I am not a spammer and never have been and do not plan to be one“. Akismet occasionally gets this “false negative” and it affects someone like me who is genuine commenter. I am working with Akismet folks but help from akismet is little and slow so far.
It seems I am not the only genuine commenter who has been affected by Akismet, there are many others who has been affected in past and current times; check out below for folks similar in my situation. If you get a chance read comments inside the articles too, as there are many who are stuck in Akismet hell for wrong reasons.
Find out if you are block by akismet
Is akismet wrongly blocking your not spam blog comments?
Punished by Akismet, what do I do?
I thought it might be bad case of IP (new one after rebooting computer) or akismet. Problem seems to be Akismet as for now. I have since send contacted the bloggers to take my comments and rescue from SPAM folder. Many of my friends were kind enough to un-spam my comments but yet it is happening in same blogs again, it has been very frustrating to say the least.
According to Akismet, some blog owners has to un-spam comments a few times before it will make better and if someone by mistake marks my comments as spam the whole thing will start off again. Luckily, I comment on blogs whom I consider friends, but telling them again and again to un-spam me is not a right thing and I do not want to annoy anyone with my frequent requests. A few of my comments are getting deleted all together and you know what is the worse part? that my own comments on my own blog (when I am not logged in) are going in to Heart and Mind’s spam folder? My own blog, can you believe it? Only other person I know personally who has gone through is, Farnoosh from Prolific Living, Farnoosh gives me hope that this might be fixed sooner or later for me as it did with her.
So what is the solution? While I do not have all right answer but some idea so you as a blogger do not have to go through it. Here are some suggestions if you are a commenter or blogger. Read on to see if that might be helpful. What to do, if your comments are going in spam folder? I did checking and found these answers which might be useful to some of you, who are in similar position.
If you are the blog owner:
- If you do not like the comment or commenter, just delete the comment. Be careful as who you consider as a spammer. Although I have read that what you do in your blog, should not affect that person on other blogs but based on my experience opposite is true.
- Check your spam folder to check if there are any genuine comments to make sure and mark them as “not spam”.
- Sometimes you may have to click “not spam”, twice before blogger can truly comment without falling in to your spam folder.
If you are the blogger:
- Check your comments once in awhile to make sure, it is showing up on that blogs.
- If you do not see your comment after sometimes, politely contact the blog owner to check his or her spam folder to make sure.
- Get a gravatar to make yourself look more “real” and unlike “spammer”, based on a few experts. You can get gravatar for free at Gravatar.com .
- If it still persists, you may want to contact Akismet, to let them know about this issue and get it corrected. I have not done it yet as I hope it solves it soon.
Your turn:
Has your comment has been considered as a spam before? What worked for you? I still do not have much knowledge as to why it happened and what to do to avoid it. I sure would like to know any tips any of you may have.
Meanwhile, check your spam folder to see if me or any other authentic comments are not showing up by mistakes in your spam folder!
I still love Akismet plugin but I will be more careful as in internet world, I still have lot to learn. I will be more careful mark someone as a spam, and when it doubt, just delete it instead of marking as a spam.
Have a great week!
Sorry to hear you’ve been ending up in Akismet spam jail. It really is a pain in the… to deal with those headaches.
I recommend you install Conditional Captcha to give others a chance to get through the spam firewall as well as keep your spam folder from getting overcrowded. 🙂
Hi Preeti,
I used to have a really bad spam problem with my other website Neo Byzantium. But after I started using Nospamnx, they are much more manageable. Maybe you could try it out to see if it works for you. Thus far I have never used Akismet.
That said, I have never been considered as a spammer so far as far as I am aware of.
I hope you enjoy your break and come back soon. 🙂
Kevin,
You ended up on my spam folder too. I still have Akismet but may change in future if needed. I read your article about Akismet issue and it was very helpful. This can be very frustrating to genuine commenter who are not spammer. It sure is not fun being on foe side of Akismet.
Did you ever able to comment on other blog with Akismet?
I have to email new blogs, but existing blogs you will stop going into the spam after a couple of times 🙂
Hi Preeti,
After checking several times, it seems your comments are now “friend” for Akismet.
I remember you used to sign as Preeti, then changed to Zengirl, could be that the reason? Anyway, feel free to ask all the times needed about your comments…a friend’s question never bothers, right? 🙂
As for me, if I have been deleted, I’m not aware of that, and hope it doesn’t happen in the future. My guess is that there’s always a small percent of “problems” and sometimes it is one of us who becomes involved.
Thank you for the articles, and have a nice break to rest and recharge…we all need to do that from time to time.
Raul
hi preeti
how are you?
your comments on my blog in the last 2/3 weeks have been appearing in my spam folder but i have always marked it as not spam.
i do hope the issue gets resolved.
enjoy your break though
take care then..
Hi Preeti,
Yea, I had some comments that were going to my spam folder. Thanks for my friend Steve at stevescottsite.com. He mentioned that to me and now I make sure I check my spam folder daily. I hope the problem gets fixed. Enjoy your week off my friend 🙂
Give Conditional Captcha a try. It gives people falsely flagged as spam a chance to get out.
Preeti,
I have had my share of issues with Askimet. It catches a lot of real spam, but I do find about one genuine comment a day.
Your tip on Gravatar is a big one. I get many hundreds of spam messages a day…so I just go thru the spam folder looking for gravatar images. I could easily miss someone with a real comment without.
I did get one you your comments in my spam, but I had rescued it before I got your message.
I have been thrown in peoples spam folders a couple of times myself. It seems once you start commenting and get innocently thrown in one persons…it can effect others. It is certinaly annoying, so hopefully once people start checking their spam folders more this should become less of an issue.
Thanks for filling people in on a frustrating issue.
So this little thingy might be the reason for my comments to be considered as spam … hmmm, never thought of that. Thanks, Zen!
Try “Conditional Captcha”. It works in conjunction with Akismet (or Typepad) and will make managing your spam MUCH easier.
Preeti,
Sorry to hear about your troubles with Akismet. Enjoy your break from blogging. I hope you have a wonderful time with your family!
Betsy,
I had a great holidays, I think problem should be over, at least in blogs I regularly comment. Let’ s see.
I hope you and bargain guy had a good weekend too.
Kevin,
Captcha might be good in future for me, so I will keep that in mind. I do not have problem catching spam, but being tagged as one I sure do.
Get Happy,
You were in my spam too, you may want to use name or nick name when you comment, it may help.
Steve,
Akismet is great plugin for many blogs but to be in bad side of Akismet has not been fun. Help from Akismet is also bit slow and little for my taste. I still have Akismet but will see in future. Thank you for getting my comments out of Spam folder. Maybe someone marked my comment as a spam by mistake i hope, and it has affected me in all blogs installed with Akismet, not fun.
Sad thing is I am not the only one who is false negative, there are many.
Kevin,
I might do that in future. Thanks for suggestion.
Dia,
You were in my spam folder too, humm. Yeah, Akismet is having some issues with genuine commenters by mistake, if someone marks you as a spam. Hope you had great week too.
Ayo,
Thank you for doing that! I really appreciate it and hope this solves the issue but I am not sure. Some of my comments were being deleted before going even spam folder, now that is not fun.
Raul,
I do not think writing as a Zengirl name is the culprit. I think issue lies somewhere else, such as someone might have marked me as a spam by mistake or something else, I am not sure. But it had effect on many blogs, I am hoping this will solve it , will see. Yeah, internet and blogging can be confusing sometimes, at least for me. Take care.
Kevin,
Humm, I might have to do the same then. Good to know.
Hi Irving,
I should check out Nospammx. I do get a lot of spams, that is why I approve all comments before it shows up here. But the bigger problem is when your comments are going in to spam and you are not a spammer.
I hope you never have to find out, it is not a fun feeling.
Dearest Preeti, so sorry – as you know I have told you in our emails – about your Akismet issues. So so frustrating. And so nice of you to turn it into a lesson for the rest of us. I do most of these and will add the rest of your tips in too. Hope you enjoyed your break. It seems from the last comment, this problem may just be over? Best of luck!!
Farnoosh,
Yeah, it is not fun being on foe side of Akismet and that too without doing anything. I think and hope I am clear, some blogs I am, others I am afraid to find out :-)Thanks, I can always use best of luck.
Hi Preeti
Akismet is fantastic but I got fed up trawling through the spam for real comments.
I use the Andy Bailey plugin now, it’s called GASP.
I’ve installed it om my website and it has stopped almost all my spam.
Take a look at the plugin on my site and please let me know if you want any details.
Keith,
Akismet is good but not fun being on otherside with them. Thanks for letting me know, I will surely check it out the plugin. Is it free or paid version?
Free wordpress plugin.
Take a look at…
http://basicblogtips.com/gasp-wordpress-plugin.html
Keith,
Thanks for the info on plugin. I will check it out. I had not seen you in awhile, good to see you again.
sorry to hear that, i can understand your frustration, i don’t know if akismet understands it, but for a genuine commentator it is a very bad thing, imagine reading whole posts and then making a comment which will go straight to the spam folder that might even get deleted even without reading…
akismet has gone down a bit lately, because i see quite a few one liner, bot type comments, are passing the akismet folder regularly, however i still delete them and not mark them spam. Am a bit afraid to click the spam button honestly.
I check my spam comments folder before cleaning it up, and you are right, you are not the only one. i have seen quite a few good comments from blogs that i regularly read, being stuck on the akismet spam folder. May be it is time that we make a post on Akismet alternatives…
Uttoran Sen,
Akismet tends to learn what use teaches it. Now I believe and hope that problems are over. I always check my spam folder to make sure that no genuine commenter has to go through the pain I went through before fixing it.
I think you’re doing a good thing for commenter too. Thanks for stopping by and leaving valuable comment.