DISQUS

Darren McLaughlin · 3 years ago

Excellent post, Aaron. The big key for all of these companies is to maintain integrity in their service, while allowing uses to put in their two cents.

I think you still need human editing for any informational resource.

Vinnie Garcia · 3 years ago

This is why Google's recent update hasn't shaken me much. Yeah it sucks for my newer sites, but for the more established stuff I work on it's been a good thing. A lot of low-quality sites/links have been purged.

PS: Your link to wordpress in this article is messed up.

Udi Falkson · 3 years ago

Hi Aaron. Nice post! It should be noted that on Yahoo! Answers, all user submitted links get the rel="nofollow" attribute added to them automatically. Spamming the site with links will provide absolutely no SEO benefit to the spammer. It's a waste of time. Spread the good word. Thanks!

Aaron · 3 years ago

Thanks Udi. It actually sounds like you work for Yahoo or one of the SEs?

But yeah, that's about the only benefit to the nofollow tag. Jeremy Zawodny opined recently about the fact that nofollow has done absolutely no good whatsoever. We're getting spammed as often if not more, etc.

Carol · 3 years ago

I have to say (and I'm probably jinxing myself here) that after switching away from WordPress to Serendipity, my comment spam has been reduced to almost zero. I get one or two every now and then, but the comment bombing has stopped. The spam prevention features are better than the ones in WordPress, and there are more features to enable. I didn't think much of Serendipity at first, but the anti-spam features alone have made it worthwhile.

Vinnie Garcia · 3 years ago

Carol, that's because NO comments are getting through. I tried commenting on your site the other day and got blocked. Unless you consider me a spammer :(

Aaron · 3 years ago

Haha. That would do it.

Carol, never tried Akismet for WordPress? I get no spam anymore...

Carol · 3 years ago

Yikes -- sorry, I had comments temporarily disabled on my personal site while I was tinkering with the anti-spam stuff and forgot to disable that.

No, Vin, I definitely don't consider you a spammer!!

Andy Merrett · 3 years ago

I use Akismet and I still get a few spams through into Wordpress's own comment approval area (some even just go straight through). I don't know why.

Stacie · 3 years ago

I use to use Serendipity before switiching to Wordpress. Interested in hearing how you like it.

Aaron · 3 years ago

Andy, the beauty of Akismet (as you know) is that it is ever learning. It has about a 99% accuracy rate for me but the ones that get through I report and central Akismet servers "learn" about the spam and attempt block in the future. I swear by it. But yeak, combining it with Bad Behavior or Spam Karma 2 is also a good idea, though Bad Behavior doesn't like corporate proxies when users use IE.

Carol · 3 years ago

Stacie, I really like it so far. The control panel is similar to WordPress, as are the template features -- so it was easy to make the switch. There seem to be a few limitations, but I haven't fully explored the add-ons and plugins, so it may be a simple fix once I find the plugins I need.

Greg · 3 years ago

I've just been bumming through the blog. i really like being able to view by your best posts. On topic though, I think there's a fine line between self-promotion and spam and that line can be in the eyes of the beholder.

Any time you have to rely on the quality of someone's character to protect the integrity of a resource you're asking for trouble... particularly if there's money to be made by bending the rules.