Spam Filter Blocking You From Commenting on Articles?

[obidamnkenobi]

this issue still exists by the way. I have never been able to post any comment to an anandtech article

 

[yannigr]

So here I am, having to create a forum account because it doesn't seems to be any other way to contact Anandtech and tell them that after 15 years I am reading them they finally found out that I am a spammer.

 

[yannigr]

So I can't post at the web site. I create an account here because I can't find another way, I post and my post isn't shown hours after the post.
Then I try to send a pm to the person you are talking about that can help, and the forum informs me that I have to make 25 posts first before sending a private message.

In other words the irony here is that
I created an account to get help from the forum, but forum mods do not approve the posts for some reason.
And the funniest thing and most ironic is that, because the system thinks I am a spammer in the web site, it asks me to spam the forum with 25 messages before having the option to send a private message.

This is fun...

 

[bigboxes]

I'm having the same issue. I realize that just PMing some guy should fix the problem, but apparently it doesn't. It would be more helpful if we know that John Champion is aware of the issue and that something is being done about it.

 

[allisolm]

Once again, the forum mods have nothing to do with the main site. We have no control over anything that goes on there. We can't fix any problem you have there. Forum Issues is for problems you are having with the forums, not for problems you are having with the main site. All we can do in Forum Issues is forward your requests to others who we have been told might be able to help. We cannot force them to act.

There are new owners and new management here and maybe they can help. I will give them notice of this thread. I am sorry some of you are having problems replying to articles on the main site.

 

[allisolm]

This is the info I have been given.

Unfortunately there is no one-shot solution on this. The site uses a 3rd party service to score comments based on several factors (content, IP, registration, etc). As a result each blocked comment is different. Problems are often connected to the use of VPN/proxies, disposable email addresses, IP addresses associated with spamming and so on.

They do have tools to deal with this, but it needs to be handled on a case-by-case basis. The best thing users can do is PM John Campion and/or Ryan Smith with details on the comment, their IP address, and the name of their AT account.

Hope this helps!

 

[ThePragmatist]

I cannot believe I wasted so much time on this issue. I am happy I finally found a response that makes sense. Perhaps it would be useful to give this level of information with the statement "This comment is apparently spam and we do not allow spam comments."

I never had any intention of spamming, so Anandtech loses the information I was going to contribute, because this process has ruined any appeal that the site had. I had even thought about working for Anandtech at one point, but the only way I would work there is if it was to fix this horrible system design.

Also, using a third party does not take away from a site owners responsibilities. I also want to be clear that this is not aimed at the forum, but the website.

Lastly, I am not certain why these are not unified accounts and since they are not unified accounts why it is not explicit in telling the user that one account is for the forum and one account is for the website. There's so much room for error in the process that needs to be addressed if Anandtech wants users to be content with the system or even be able to "use" it.

 

[ET]

Just wanted to chime in. I often can't post a comment because it's considered spam. Happened quite a few times over a many months. This is very annoying.

 

[niketjf]

Same problem here, more than 10 years later. I think this is really hurting Anandtech as a website.
It's not that hard to fix this, come on. Just have manual approvals for comments or something.

 

[mindless1]

^ But manual approvals means that someone has to be notified and act, every time something is blocked as spam, including the (probable) majority which are really spam.

I face this as an admin of another high traffic site, over 80% of my emails related to that site, are spam filter notifications! The emails are also sent to other people, so they get taken care of faster (by whoever notices it first) but it also means, 1/2 the time, I'm looking into a post that was already resolved so a wasted effort.

I agree that it's good not to alienate people by blocking their post (really should have a mechanism to tell them why it was blocked, the specifics of hits on which variables) but at the same time if the spam filter threshold is set too high, more spam gets through which also looks bad and annoys other people.

 

[niketjf]

^ But manual approvals means that someone has to be notified and act, every time something is blocked as spam, including the (probable) majority which are really spam.

There's no need for automated spam filters, when there's already the registration requirement. Just manually approve the first message (or two) for every new user and that should weed out 99% of spammers and won't take more than 5 minutes per day (it doesn't have to be instant, either).
Some other websites (like Ghacks) don't even have the registration requirement and they seem to be doing fine.

 

[mindless1]

^ Bots were designed (and spammers learned) to work around that years ago.

Besides, I'm dealing with dozens of new signups a day, on average then there are peaks triggered by event xyz, not a mere 5 minutes.

Plus, depending on the context of the site and post, this can really annoy legitimate new site members, if they make an effort to make a post, then it doesn't even show up until who-knows-when, so they leave, and may never come back. I'd estimate that this can be a larger # of new members, than those who have legit posts blocked by spam filters.

Ghacks, how is that even an example since they definitely either have to manually filter or use a spam filter? "Doing fine" is great when you aren't the one doing the work to make that happen!

 

[niketjf]

Ghacks is an example of manual approvals, which I suggested for Anandtech for new accounts. Ghacks even allows anonymous/unregistered comments, but they approve them a few times a day only - no need to get constantly flooded with emails. I think the target audience (tech savvy users) understands why this is required and so the site still gets a good amount of interaction. But as I said, with registration you can let users post instantly once they've been cleared.

There are so many ways to deal with spam effectively nowadays, that there's just no excuse.
If Anandtech doesn't want to implement a better system, they can also resort to a 3rd party like Disqus.

 

[mindless1]

^ You are suggesting things that subjectively benefit the minority, then pretending an excuse is needed to benefit the majority instead. Adding another layer with Disqus, you think that doesn't have manual or automated filtering? Clearly I am wasting my time.

 

[MobiusStrip]

I even sent these clowns a paper letter via U.S. mail about this bullshit, and it's still not fixed.

Screw this disrespectful, user-abusing site.

 

[mindless1]

^ Which clowns? It might need to be the spam filtering service. They might also be more active on complaints since it is their bread and butter, opposed to AT which seems to operate on autopilot at times.

How do you connect the complaint in a letter, to a past blocked post anyway? I'd suspect that the *most* common reason for spam blocking is either a combination of keywords, or using a small ISP or a VPN frequently used by spammers. It is unfortunate, maybe at some point the AI will take over and save us all. Or ruin everything.

 

[MobiusStrip]

It was pretty easy. I sent a screen shot.

If you're not going to maintain a user-interaction facility on your Web site, then take it down. Wasting users' time is stealing, period. Anyone with self-respect needs to take stock of this and stop tolerating it without a peep.

 

[mindless1]

^ I sometimes feel like that on other sites, especially when there's reply box sitting there available type something, then when you try to submit, they want you to register first. The reply box shouldn't be there if it won't submit without being logged in.

Otherwise, most people have no problem posting on AT. Apparently they see value in the site, though I hardly surf there these days.

 

[MobiusStrip]

Yeah, that behavior is inexcusable BS too. And then there's Hacker News, which takes it to a new level by not only enabling a Reply button, but letting you type out an extensive comment or question and only after you try to submit it telling you "you're posting too fast" and rejecting it. Unbelievable.