WordPress Drive-By Comments
We probably have all seen them and the more popular your WordPress blog gets the more comment spam you can expect to get. Some are automated comments from spam scripts and some are just from Drive-By comment spammers.
For the automated comment spammers a basic plugin like Akismet will probably do a decent job keeping your comments clean. There are other, more powerful or configurable spam plugins available if you need them and some undesirable comments are getting through. Keep an eye out though because some of them may get through because they look innocent enough. I have noticed a spike in comment spam from certain Adult sites so if the comment doesn’t seem like it makes sense on your post check the link to see if it’s from an adult content site. Seems as if a new comment spam script was released a few weeks ago. While these comments below look innocent enough, Akismet caught them because of the URL they were linked to was an adult site:
You rock. World needs more souls like you.
Great post!! I just have to copy it .
Some very interesting and insightful thoughts. I like this.
I am amazed with it. It is a good thing for my research. Thanks. ^_^
Some very interesting and insightful thoughts. I like this.
Great article! I’m loving your website;
Those are just a few examples of automated comment spam, now lets have a look at what I hate even as much and those are Drive-By comments. A Drive-by commenter is someone out to just get links back to their site. They don’t really care about your post and more than likely didn’t even read the post. One of the worst drive-by’s is when the idiot asks a question based on the post’s title but doesn’t bother to find that the answer to his question is actually in the post. I usually just delete these comments but sometimes I will remove his link and then make an example of them by pointing out the answer is in the second line of the post if you actually read it.
Then there are the others that just post, things like “Thanks”, “Great Post”, or this one: “Great review, it makes a fresh change to find an informative blog. Very informative, thanks. Your site is bookmarked.” Bull Crap! The post it was on wasn’t a review of anything and the comment was either an automated script or someone going through a list of blogs and pasting the same Drive-By comment on all of them.
The only reason people are using automated comment scripts and Drive-By comments are because they do show up on some blogs, so stay vigilante and keep your WordPress blog free from the Drive-Bys!
Similar Posts:
- Keep Your WordPress Comments Clean
- WordPress Discussion Settings Can Reduce Comment Spam
- What Makes A WordPress Comment Spam
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Sorry but due to the spamming of a few all comments are moderated and will appear when approved and all drive-by comments will be deleted!
Comments
Thanks for great post! Your writing shows informativeness!
Seriously though, drive by comments make me crazy, and it really annoys me when I happen upon a blog which is apparently approving these comments. They’re always over the top complimentary, and it makes me laugh a little when the author can’t tell that they’re being had. Why yes, my writing DOES show informativeness! Finally, a little recognition…
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Hi,
What a nice article.
Thanks for sharing.
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LOL I think the comment above mine is an excellent example of what I hate in comments. That person must have thrown that comment out the window as they drove by!
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Jeff Replied:
March 30th, 2009 at 7:49 am
Yeah! Usually that would be deleted but in this case I will leave the comment but strip the link out of it.
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Hey I was just driving by and I thought I would comment….:)
I haven’t had a difficulty seeing these spams although I must admit that some are really marginal, so I just delink them and pass them through.
I use both Akismet and WP Spamfree and I find they do a great job.
Cheers
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i’ve not heard of WP Spamfree, i’ll have to check it out. as far as drive-by comments, it seems like it is the “cost of doing business” if you have a successful blog (especially if it allows dofollow).
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“Great review, it makes a fresh change to find an informative blog. Very informative, thanks. Your site is bookmarked.
Just joking, I really hate those comments too. My blog is just starting out so the comments have been clean so far(it’s a NoFollow also), but I got a ton on my last site.
Great blog by the way. I’m new around the blogosphere so expect me back often.
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I have been having this problem more and more on my forums (map nospace forums dot com) I don’t make a url so you know I’m not spamming.
But anyway, the ones I hate the most are the people who show up and actually make a half-assed attempt at answering a question (with some real estate links in the footer). Now even a half-assed attempt at an answer, can be useful to the person asking it as it may give them an idea or make them reflect and figure it out, so do I delete it or not!
Eric
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Jeff Replied:
April 5th, 2009 at 10:46 pm
Yes the comments are moderated and Akismet tagged yours as spam for some reason.
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thanks for sharing the information. its very interesting.
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Jeff Replied:
April 6th, 2009 at 8:44 am
Well look here another Drive-By comment! (with the link removed by admin)
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Sometimes it gets harder to spot spam comments. The easy way to do this is to check the IP+URL similarity, and email address. These comments don’t have gravatar. Thanks for this post, we all are suffering from spamoria!
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Yes it’s annoying to get these types of comments – typically the commenter has zero interest in commenting other than leaving a link in their name.
I keep a simple rule: only comment on topics I am interested in / have a good knowledge of, so I can add some kind of value to the discussion.
In my own blogs (I have a couple), I am pretty brutal with what I delete, and find generally the comments are of high quality (even though I allow them a link per comment). It’s a case of get what you give.
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What really gets me are the horrendously misspelled drive-by comments. :-/
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“This site is helpful to promote business
i will say just few lines
about this site
Just joking, I really hate those comments too. My blog is just starting out so the comments have been clean so far(it’s a NoFollow also), but I got a ton on my last site.
Great blog by the way. I’m new around the blogosphere so expect me back often.”
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We are Do Follow with Comment Luv. I have found that a 20 word requirement keeps down the comment spam somewhat! If you want a link you have to produce something of value.
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Fortunately I always read the articles on the blogs/websites before I leave comments. If I have nothing to say about the post topic, I will not leave any comments. And I like to read someone else’s comments on that post too, because I can find useful ideas from good comments.
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Seriously though, drive by comments make me crazy. This is very nice for us because most bad person do that and we stop them automatically…Thanks for share..
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Jeff Replied:
May 11th, 2009 at 7:28 am
After you posted like 20 freeking comments on my site you have the balls to say this?
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thanks, cool article………..spam comment,lol
seriuosly thoughl those types of comments really annoy me
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This is a great post. Automated comment spammers are really b basic problem for every one that has blog. This post is helpful for all thanks again for sharing.
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I think there may be an answer to comment spammers. Does Akismet or a similar service keep a “black List” or comment spammers and their domains? If these anti-spam tools or plug-ins took it to this level and blocked their future comments, this would be a great house cleaning. When you mark the comment as SPAM, does this get reported to Akismet? This is the only real answer I see to this growing problem.
I’ve also heard that some comment spam scripts will extract the paragraph from an earlier post and copy into the comment box – LOL.
– Brian
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Sunday Replied:
August 4th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
Here, Here Brian. Exactly what I was thinking, My latest blog is only a few months old and yet I get regular spam from one name in particular and the spam comments are very long (hundreds of words)! Akismet picks them all up, but surely there must be a way it can blacklist or even “spike” them back and ruin their day instead of ours? Legitimate bloggers are always on the defence trying to block this rubbish and it’s about time we had the power to fight back!
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Oh… and I will say that I have had a Blogger blog for over 3 years and never had this problem, so what is blogger doing that the WordPress Platform is not?
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Jeff Replied:
August 4th, 2009 at 8:42 pm
Because Blogger sucks.
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Hi,
I do some commenting and like a link from the comment, …
I’m not quite sure where the line is with this and would appreciate your opinion here.
Firstly, I tend to think any comment should be well thought out, relevent to the post and the post should be fully read. I think you should try in at least some small way to add value to the post.
I also tend to check back to see any further discussion.
For example, if this comment is driven by a link (but I am after the clarificatio here) is it spam?
Appreciate any optionion here.
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Jeff Replied:
August 11th, 2009 at 8:48 am
Well you basically restated what I did in the post so what do you want me to tell you? If your comment is approved then I determined that it isn’t spam or a drive-by comment.
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Any way to comment which is not done by hands and enabled mind, which is not focused to topic of post is no sense. If you are commenting to get some link then write something which have sense and have value form blog owner. Many people want to get tons of links by using some kind of spamming tools with same comment on every blog, of course comments like than will not be approved and there is not effect.
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Long time ago one of my blogs had driven by many “cr*p” comments. People got thirsty with back links making my blog very dirty. What did I do with my no “no-follow” blog? I change it to no-follow.
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I see, comment is always be a problem for a “big” blog. But for me, I think using comment moderation is enough.
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[...] nice so they can get a linkback from your site. Be sure to check those links, too! Check out Drive-By Comments for some great examples of what I’m referring to. Published: November 1, 2009 Filed Under: [...]
I think one of my blogs got on some top commentators, do follow list and now I am getting spammed daily.
I love the people who post things like this:
“I’ve read a few of your blogs and i think this is the best I’ve seen. Its an organized, easy to read blog. Thank you for sharing this with us.”
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I was searching for a wordpress plugin and (accidentally) found this post. After reading this, I had to add my comment
You are absolutely right about such comments and commentator. The real problem is, these days most so called SEO guys are offering “commenting services” that do their best to leave their link on your blog. I received so much of that crap on on of my blogs that I had to turn off comments. I would say, one of the best way to fight against this issue is “Automatic Turn off” of comments after certain days (2 week). That works fine for me.
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I have just started my site and don’t have any pagerank yet so haven’t received any spam. It is good to know that there are plugins available to help control spam and in the end maybe I will leave my comments open for a certain time then close them.
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i really dislike the auto commentator so much so i no longer add comments boxes to my web pages as it takes so long to moderate and maintain and is almost easier to just write a new page of content that will drive visitors.
instead of the 10 visitors attempting to use software to cheat and not take part in the site.
take it easy
justin
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Leave a comment
Drive-By comments will be deleted! Like "Thanks for sharing", "Nice post", or any other text that doesn't contribute to the discussion. If you ask a very specific question about your particular WordPress theme, it will probably be deleted. I can fix your WordPress site but for a price. If you ask a question like "Why don't my blog work right", it will be deleted. If you ask a question about your WordPress site without a leaving a link to it, it will be deleted. The point is to ask questions and or comment on the the actual content of the post, and to please use some common sense. All comments are moderated and will appear when approved. Thank you.