Saturday, March 24, 2012

Spam Isn't Always Spam

"In 2007, the seven billionth can of Spam was sold. On average, 3.8 cans are consumed every second in the United States." (Wikipedia.com) Really?


Since 1998, I have received TNTC (too numerous to count) actual spam emails and now blog comments identified as unsolicited, unwanted, or suspicious by the Blogger system.  Some comments were correctly identified as spam while others were not.  Frustrating is the fact that comments I have posted to blogs I follow are being incorrectly detected as spam, which is what this post is really about.

I now realize that Blogger has been zapping some of my comments to other blogs for quite a while.  I may have missed out on another blogger's giveaway as a result of this.  I believe Blogger removed my comment to this particular blog post after I saw it published and made a mental note that I was commenter #5. My comment was probably stored under the blogger's spam tab.  The winner was announced as someone else and rightfully so since my comment did not remain in the #5 position.  I shrugged this off as a fluke and decided the doll was not meant for me.

Blogger's spam detection system is obviously flawed. 

Vanessa of Fashion Dolls at Van's Doll Treasures informed me that some of my comments to her blog are showing up as spam.  Then Jorge of Clicking Dolls was notified by email of a comment I made to one of his posts that was not visible on his blog.  Like Vanessa, Jorge found my comment under the Comments/Spam tab of his blog's dashboard after I asked him to look there.

To check your blog for legitimate comments incorrectly detected as spam, using the old/original Blogger interface, go to the Blogger dashboard, click Comments, then click Spam.  Hopefully you will not find any legitimate comments, but it would not surprise me if  you do.

A periodic check of the spam tab might be in order for a while until Blogger corrects its flawed spam detection system. 

dbg

6 comments:

  1. It was easier with the old interface to see Spam was there. Now it's an extra step. The new Blogger interface has some other issues as well. I have reported them to their technical team. Not sure what will come of it. Thanks for this post. I also check my email spam all the time. I have found enough important emails there that I never delete the spam without perusing it first.

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    Replies
    1. I enjoyed the old interface much better, too, Vanessa.

      Improvement is only good when it works and when there is an immediate resolution to any unforeseen problems.

      How can I report this comment issue to Blogger. I could not find a technical support link under the Help link. Thanks!

      dbg

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    2. On the top right hand side there is a little wheel like icon. If you click it, you can see the Blogger help menu. I also discovered that you can switch back to the old interface from there.

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    3. Found it, but didn't find a place to actually type in the problem that needs reporting, just a series of suggestions for other unrelated problems. I won't sweat it.

      My problem may be that I never began using the new interface. I still post blogs, read and comment using the old interface because I do not like the new interface. I'll try commenting using the new interface to see if that solves my issue and continue to post using the old.

      They should have just left well enough alone in my opinion.

      dbg

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  2. Revelation: The reason Blogger detected my comments to others' blogs as spam falls on my prior refusal to use their new interface. Now that I am using the new Blogger interface, I have not experienced (as many) zapped comments, maybe 1 or 2 as opposed to all, when I was using the old interface to comment. Perhaps this is Bloggers' way to force all to convert to the new interface. I am now a convert (reluctant), but converted.

    dbg

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