Create Clear Comment Policy To Avoid Spam
Do you get a lot of comment Spam? Are all the measures you take only partially help you reduce the number of Spam Comments that you have to moderate? Surprisingly…
It Could Be Your Own Fault!
I know, I know… you don’t create the spam comments and you are doing your best to protect your blog from them and yet, every morning your Comment Moderation queue is waiting for action.
But lets consider some of the reasons people comment on your blog and how YOU can be at fault for what you consider to be a SPAM!
Blog comments are a way for people to participate in conversation that you have started and provide their feedback and opinion that sometimes can be quite different from your own. But that is OK, as it still adds to the complete conversation.
Above is one the primary objectives the Blog Comments are intended for…
But as Internet evolves new factors came into play that Blog Comments have proven to be exceptionally helpful in:
- Link Building. This is a HUGE as many people use commenting on other blogs to build incoming links to their own blog. And while there are legitimate ways to build incoming links such as I described in CommentLuv Plus DoFollow Equal Unlimited Link Love post, there are also those that we consider SPAM. Yep, I’m talking about signing comment with Keywords instead of name, etc
- Brand Building. A lot less common but i have seen a few on my own blog already. To avoid being automatically marked as Spammers, although they are anyway – commenter uses Brand Name but without the URL. I didn’t quite investigate enough what benefit they get from it but since I’m seeing increase in those – there must be something behind it!
And since a lots of time comments as those described above come through manual submission by someone seating in extremely remote location, working for tiny wages – it is still considered a manual submission and makes it through most of SPAM filter and requires effort on your part to moderate.
Mind you, I don’t complain, it takes me me just one second to click “Spam It” or delete it but I still find it annoying!
So How Is Comment Spam Could Be Your Fault?
Let me ask you very simple question:
Do You Have A Clearly Defined and Visible Commenting Policy?
Example above is from my own blog and if you don’t have something similar – your Blog Commenting Policy Is Open For Interpretation!
I don’t know how much it actually helps in reducing spam as I never run any tests but I can only assume that even semi-intelligent spammers will not waste their time knowing their comment will be deleted anyway.
I have actually hard-coded the Policy into my theme template but there is a simpler solution.
A very simple and yet effective plugin that is easily added to your blog and allows you to present you commenting policy to each and every visitor.
It is fairly configurable and allows your to either auto-insert the policy on your blog and easily integrates into any theme or customize its placement by using PHP code, which we were trying to avoid in first place 
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The article was very useful. I’ve been bombarded with spam content lately and had no knowledge of using a comment policy strategy.
Question is how effective are these policies really in controlling wp spam
Well, as I stated in post – I think they help in a way that spammers can actually see that their effort will be wasted, as long as you enforce that policy
Askimet once marked a perfectly normal looking comment, in spite it was English on my German blog, as spam. When I googled the email address I came to a site which had some such listed. They told, spammers sent out scouts to leave normal comments first, and after these passed, they would have a collection of careless blogs they could start spamming. Maybe that is also behind this brand name thing.
Thanks for the useful hint. According to our weblaw, Askimet is not quite allowed. At least I should have to write a special disclaimer when I use it, so I hope I can get this extra line into the policy plugin.
I just hope having Comment Guidelines does not discourage too many people from commenting? Blogcomments are scarce enough, also on some blogs which have traffic.
Neila S. R.´s last blog ..Your Hotmail / MSN Password Published on the Internet. What does this mean? And Why Did You Allow This?
Before I post a comment I usually search the comment policy of that site and most of the sites dont have it, I guess their also part to blame when their site gets spammed.
Carmen Bennett´s last blog ..Get a No Nonsense™ Divorce in 67 Days
I doubt people who intend to spam read the comment policy or anything at all on the blog. And even if they do it, it won’t stop them.
Stan The Man´s last blog ..How To Grow Taller – 7 Basic Tips
I installed this because one of my blogs is a subject that is quite political (in the dog world) and people can start flaming. I wrote that thoughtful discourse is encouraged, but mindless flaming would not be tolerated. I think having my policy stated upfront will warn people to think twice about the words they choose.
Leslie Nicole´s last blog ..Finding New Uses for Your Photo Rejects
Thanks Leslie,
I agree and that is the main idea in my mind. If someone dumb enough to submit SPAM after reading it – it only takes one click to SPAM thei stupidity.
Hi Alex,
Thanks for recommending the comment guidelines plugin. I had never thought of using anything like this before but I’m sure you are right to believe that it will help in managing comment spam.
I am going to install the plugin today to see if it helps.
Thanks again,
Dave Ovenden
Honest Reviews HQ
Dave Ovenden´s last blog ..Making Money With Clickbank Product Reviews
Well, thanks. I could have sworn I had a policy, but somehow must have forgotten to re-insert it last time I changed the Theme.
The Comment Policy plugin is perfect. Nothing like a quick fix!
Yep, I prefer to edit theme to avoid extra load for blog due to yet another plugin but for majority – this one is perfect solution.
On another front, wondering why your RSS and Twitter ICONS are not clickable. It took me a minute to find the link is the number of subscribers. I expect to click an ICON, and this surprised me.
Wayne´s last blog ..The Dance of Relationships
Yeah, I had to compromise – images are part of CSS design and making them clickable created too many issues with coding.
Great information. I installed the WP-SpamFree plugin you suggested on one of your webinars, and that has gotten rid of my spam problem. I downloaded this plugin, but I’m wondering if I really need to install it too. I hate to install more than I actually need.
June´s last blog ..WizardResponder is Raising It’s Price
June,
If you know how you can edit your comments.php template file to include similar TOS. I do it on my blog.
I could only do that if someone gave me the code and told me where to put it. Coding PHP on my own – I’m clueless. I’ll look in the folder to see if there are instructions. I am also using Platinum SEO where comment links are already “DoFollow”, and I can set it either way.
June´s last blog ..Know the Right Affiliate Programs to Join
You are better off using plugin I suggested.
I think why not we can also use “no. of words” for being one major point in Comment Policy ??
In this way we can eliminate comments like
* “Great post
*Nice one
*Keep it up ” and many more such types , Have you thought about it Alex??
Sunil Jain´s last blog ..5 Things to know before creating a blog
Actually, I just spam those outright, unless it comes from someone I know is an actual reader of my blog. Sometimes real readers and commenters simply want to encourage and thank you for writing something they find useful and not necessary create an essay
We have to balance the spam protection vs participation on blog.