How to Kill Comment Spam While You Sleep
A friend of mine called me the other day, outraged. Her local paper posted an online article about someone she knew — at the paper’s blog. And while my friend liked the article, she was offended by the 300+ comments the blog post generated.
The spammy blog comments ranged from the obscene — to the obtuse — to the off-topic.
The plethora of erratic blog comments degraded not only the article, but the reputation of the entire publication.
Blog spam can be a big problem, but there are easy solutions at hand. Offline publications exercise editorial control of their content. So must online publications. Newspapers, corporations, and even personal bloggers must not let their valuable online publications become a forum for hate speech or other unwanted content.
Here are four simple ways publications can easily solve their biggest comment spam problems :
- Publish a blog policy and code of ethics. Let your audience know what kind of content is appropriate, and what is not. Sure, you probably want comments and feedback from your audience: but you want THOUGHTFUL comments and feedback. Let your audience know what it appropriate, and what is not.
- Use Captcha. Captcha generates and grades simple tests (usually visually distorted letters and numbers) that most humans can pass, but current computer programs cannot. This prevents computer generated nonsense from being entered at your site.
- Exercise control. Most blog platforms have a simple on/off switch in their set-up options. The on/off button will say something like, “Administrator must approve the comment before going public - Yes or No?” Select “Yes”, and your editor or administrator will need to read and approve the comment before they go live. Select “No” and comments get published instantly, without editorial control. (That’s what is happening at my friend’s online paper. Yikes!)
- Use a simple plug-in called Askimet. Askimet installs in about 5 minutes, and works automatically to stop comment spam while you sleep. I implemented Askimet at this very blog, and when I log in, my dashboard shows me all the spammy comments, and asks if I want to delete them or publish them. I hit “delete all” — and my problems are solved. (See screenshot below for my running tally of comment spam that Askimet eliminated while I slept…)
Yes, blog comment spam can be a headache. But by implementing the four easy controls noted above, you can keep your spam under control and your reputation intact.
Bottom line: if you’re a newspaper, act like one. Exercise some editorial control. You wouldn’t publish every letter-to-the editor you received — you don’t have to publish every comment, either!
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[…] Blog comment spam is a scourge — and it’s a big reason why many businesses I know are initially afraid to open up their posts for comments. They don’t want their sites littered with obscene or obtuse comments (and who can blame them?). But tools like Askimet obviously do a fantastic job of weeding out spam. Combine Askimet with three other components for blog spam comment protection, and you’re good to go accepting thoughtful comments — and bagging the baddies! So spammers: you needn’t bother with spamming my site! I’m protected! […]