After Hours·5,470 discussions

Why are all my TechRepublic comments marked as spam and removed?

Tags: Off topic

Lately, it seems like all of my comments on TechRepublic are marked as spam and removed with no notification to me by email, on my profile page, or anywhere else, not to mention no chance to object to the classification. Of course, there seems to be no method of asking a question about this or filing any sort of complaint. Does anyone have an explanation or solution for this?

Topic

I didn’t see any deleted forum posts,

In reply to Why are all my TechRepublic comments marked as spam and removed?

other than this one, which triggered the spam filter,
and I removed the spam flag to approve it. What causes
this? Darned if I know, happens to me as well, lol!
The system is not setup to send notifications when a
person’s post is removed for being spam, vulgar, or in
some other way violates the terms of service.
Posts made to the articles are handled by Disqus, which
can be temperamental to say the least, anyhow for me
it can. You can always send me a PM (private message)
if you have questions about a post being removed.
Thanks for bearing with us!
Wiz
TR Forum Moderator

It’s Comments, but Not Using Disqus

In reply to I didn’t see any deleted forum posts,

It’s comments I’m talking about, but not using regular Disqus. They seem to be tied into my ZDNet account just like everything else, and they don’t look like Disqus comments, but could be some sort of special arrangement with Disqus, I suppose. I don’t have the problem for ZDNet comments for some reason, though, which appear to be using the same system. I was thinking of trying from another location/IP address to see if it made a difference. This article, for example, got my comment marked as spam:

How to build a great Linux PC for under $1,000

The reason this one got deleted is the URL

In reply to It’s Comments, but Not Using Disqus

For some reason the Spam Filters tag all links as Spam mainly because the lovely spammers put them into their posts and attempt to hijack the site for their own selfish ends which would make this site pointless to those of us who use it for what it was set up for.

If you do not want your posts automatically flagged as Spam do not add any links to them it’s as simple as that.

That Doesn’t Explain Anything

In reply to The reason this one got deleted is the URL

This forum post is the only post or comment that I can recall having made on TechRepublic that had any links in it whatsoever, and it was only there to point out a place on TechRepublic where the problem existed. So, no, it’s not as simple as that. I don’t put links in posts on ZDNet or TechRepublic.

You have been bitten by the same bug

In reply to Why are all my TechRepublic comments marked as spam and removed?

that bit OH Smeg! Many of his posts here in the forums get flagged as spam, lol! Prolific poster too!
As for the discussions in the articles (not here in the forums) those are hosted by Disqus, and has been a pain in the rear for a LONG time. I sometimes cannot even load comments, let alone make a comment, to an article. Sometimes refreshing the page helps, sometimes it doesn’t. If I can get a bit of spare time and can manage to get into Disqus, I might be able to take a look and find any problems…don’t hold your breath though, LOL! FWIW—ZDNet is also hosted by Disqus, and most of the time I don’t have problems with those discussions??? Darned if I know why!
Wiz

It’s Just Odd

In reply to You have been bitten by the same bug

OK, so there is an arrangement with Disqus that uses our ZDNet/TechRepublic login for conversations hosted there, and they look a bit different than regular Disqus conversations. What I think is odd is that there is a single sign on between ZDNet and TechRepublic (that is, if I sign in to either, I’m signed in to both), and yet both my comments and posts tend to get flagged as spam for TechRepublic, but my comments at ZDNet don’t. I haven’t tried commenting at TechRepublic since this conversation started, so I don’t know if unflagging my post here could have had any influence with my comments or not. Apparently, you would not expect it to, since the hosting is different. The only thing that makes me wonder is that TechRepublic seems to be the point in common for the spurious spam flaggings.

[Author]

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