No, You Can’t Comment Here No More
Actually, you can, but I’ve added one more plugin in my anti-spam arsenal: Close Old Posts. (Found by way of Shoemoney.com.)
You see, those pesky spammers find old posts through the search engines, or wherever, and hammer them with spam. Akismet blocks most of them, but it also has the effect (I think) of making some of my more obscure posts more popular, due to the spammers hitting them all the time.
And, lots of spam messages are on older messages, much more so than on recent messages.
Thus, the new plugin. It closes older posts from comments. My only concern is that it will also block linkbacks from real bloggers who may have just discovered an older post and blogged about it. But, I’ll give this plugin a try and see how it goes.
I modified the plugin such that pings are allowed, but comments are not. That should allow for people to comment on an older post on their blogs and for trackbacks to show up, while blocking the spammers from posting their junk.
I think.
We’ll see what happens.
Doesn’t seem to play well with Brian’s Threaded Comments.
Yeah, I read a post on Shoe about some exploit his friend told him about with old posts in WP.
Was there another post, besides the one that mentioned this plugin? I don’t recall seeing another.
I thought about doing this on some of my blogs, but I ultimately decided against it. I don’t get THAT much spam on old posts, plus I’ve gotten a lot of great additions on old posts. I’m not crazy about the idea of people finding my posts through search engines and seeing a big fat “Comments Closed” sign - I think it discourages new readers from getting involved.
I have mixed feelings about it too. But, it’s rare that I get comments on older posts. I’m going to try this for a little while. I may pull it if it doesn’t work out or if a better solution comes along.
Let’s try.
Apparently, Akismet doesn’t like you anymore.
Ahhh, so it might be the plug in people are using! Is this a special plug in though Word Press? As you know, I have been having trouble commenting recently. I’m not the only one. I just figured out that when I take my website link, (URL) out, the comments go though. I have to do more research, but it seems like it’s Word Press users that I am having difficulty posting comments with. Now, the problem for me is … How can I leave my URL at those sites and have it go though??? I mean this is putting a cramp in my networking.
Now… I have just tried to comment here with my URL, and no luck. I’ll bet you it will work now that I have taken it out.
The Close Old Posts plugin is a WordPress plugin, but that’s not what blocked your comment. Akismet, a comment spam blocking plugin that comes if WordPress (but you must sign up for the service and activate the plugin–it’s not automatic), is what marked your comment as spam. I un-spammed your first comment (above) and added your URL to your second comment.
Maybe some blogger thought you were a spammer, and got you in Akismet’s spam database. If you know well the bloggers whose blogs are blocking your comments, you might want to eMail them and ask them to unmark your comments as spam under “Akismet Spam” comments. That may help Akismet “learn” that you are not a spammer and get you unblocked.
You can read more here.
Around the time I was blocked, I was leaving comments about free coffee on a certain day, and mentioned the brand name. I wounder if mentioning the brand name got me blocked automatically on Akismet? Are we not suppose to mention brand names in our comments? Also someone reading the comment many have thought I was a sales person for that company, and reported me. Anyways, I contacted Akismet. I hope they get it straightened out. I’ll let you know what happens. Thanks for the info.
That probably explains it, especially if you included an URL for the free coffee mention. Or, maybe the brand name did you in, if it’s a name recognized as a spammer. Probably some blogger(s) using Akismet marked it as spam, which “taught” the Akismet system that you were a spammer.
I THINK my crisis with WP is over. Several of my comments have gone though on WP blogs without problems. I will leave more comments, and we’ll see. Thanks for your help!
Now … I seem to have another problem. Someone told me that my feed has stopped many weeks ago. Do you know how I can get my feed to work again without losing my current followers?
I guess I should read some of your old posts on blogging. It is more complicated then I thought. I did read a library book about it, but it didn’t mention any of the problems I have had. Sometimes I feel like I’m walking though a minefield. Do you know a good book on blogging, or a good website? Ah, keep in mind I’m a beginner, and not computer literate.
Your feed is still working for me. Are you sure they’re not subscribed to your old feed and not your current one? Your old one is the one that’s not working anymore.
I don’t know that I’d read a book on blogging. It would probably be out of date before it got off the presses. I’ve just learned everything I know about blogging by reading other blogs. But, most of what I know is for WordPress, so you might need to poke around on Blogger’s Help Resources for help with BlogSpot issues.
Aw shoot! Everyone is probably still subscribed to my old feed. I guess I will have to contact everyone, and let them know about the new feed.
When I leave a message on WordPress sites, and put a curser over my name, a box comes up. It has my old posts from 8 weeks ago. My old feed. I’m not a big fan of WP these days.
I heard from WP, it’s official. I am not spam. Glad that’s over with!