The trash has been malfunctioning
I’m talking about the “trash” folder on the blog. I don’t usually check it because it’s ordinarily full of spam. But every now and then it traps quite a few real comments. That’s been happening now for a couple of weeks, but I just discovered it. So, if your comments suddenly start disappearing, please let me know.
The algorithm that makes the decision seems to have a dislike for anything by Solzhenitsyn. It always dislikes comments with a lot of links, but that’s always been the case.
It always dislikes comments with a lot of links, but that’s always been the case.
Compared to Disqus, your commenting software is easy-peasy on links. My experience with Disqus is that 2 links- and sometimes one embedded link- will relegate a comment to the spam folder. Then you get the insulting reply that someone is going to check up to see if that comment is actually spam Unless one can e-mail the blog’s owner, no one is ever going to actually check to see if that comment is spam.
“The algorithm that makes the decision seems to have a dislike for anything by Solzhenitsyn.” – Neo
Stealth banning, no doubt.
I suspect a lot of that “trash” consisted of my experiments about a month ago to make a version of his famous “if we had known then” quote that would pass the Spam-censor. I did finally get a couple that worked, but it wasn’t consistent in what triggered its sensibilities.
On the other hand, I’ve sometimes piled up an inordinate number of links that sailed through!
“Unless one can e-mail the blog’s owner, no one is ever going to actually check to see if that comment is spam.” – Gringo
Several of the blogs I follow will occasionally have a comment on the order of “what happened to my last x comments!” or “I emailed you!” — which the owner has then responded to.
I suspect there is a certain amount of familiarity involved (commenter privilege?) that affects how fast the proprietor responds and what action is taken .
FWIW, my most common complaint from the Comment Function Overlord is “Slow down! You are commenting too fast!” — which is, alas, very often true.
This is my experience as well. The SpamFilter evidently thinks from a few to many every day. I check the trash folder one to three times a day. It runs about four good comments to two or three spam comments.
Some legitimate comments sometimes get thrown directly into spam. I try to keep that folder empty or at least down to a dull roar.
Unrelated, my Yahoo email is judging spam too easily.
All text, no links. Direct from one person to me, no dlist. And the sender is in my Contact list.
I wonder if Spam filters have been ratcheted up (and perhaps the algorithm is shared)