Thursday 11 April 2019

😭 Serious Apologies for Comment Mishandling 😭

For more than two years commenters have complained that their comments disappeared and several of you have asked me if I’ve barred you. In fact, some people seemed quite hurt. I have been as mystified as you, as far as I knew I had never knowingly barred anyone. I put it down to the switch-over from Blogger to Google and blamed Google’s high-handedness.

Not so, I was wrong.

I have now found out that years ago I installed comment moderation after 4 days, which I then promptly forgot about. 4 days does seem rather mean, people don’t always visit a blog the moment a new post is written and the trolls, whom I wanted to discourage by the installation of moderation, usually wait a bit longer.

Because the instruction to moderate came from me Apple didn’t overrule me and the Comments Sections “Awaiting Moderation” and “Spam” filled up to overflowing with hundreds (literally) of unread comments to my blogposts. I have now retrieved many of them and hope they have settled into their allotted slots under the relevant posts. There are still several hundred to go which I will deal with as soon as I can.

Some of the commenters aren’t regulars, no wonder you only wrote in once or twice. I am very sorry for not having acknowledged your comments. Quite a few of the then regulars have also disappeared, I don’t blame you at all.

Sincere apologies all round, I will certainly do better in future.



21 comments:

  1. I have comment moderation on after one week. It stops a lot of spam comments and one week is a generous enough time for most to comment. I love seeing a proper comment on an old post that I have to approve. They are always interesting and relevant and mostly by total strangers.

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  2. I guess I usually commented rather quickly, so I never saw any of them not show up. When I see that my comment is not posted but it says it needs to be approved, I always assumed that since I am not a spammer, it would show up eventually. Thank you for being such a diligent blogger to go through all those comments! :-)

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  3. Never had a problem; but then, maybe I just never noticed. I'm going to check back in a few days ... and also check thru my own blog which I think is okay ... but thanks for the heads up!

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  4. Good question. Now I want to go back and check it all out. Thanks!

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  5. I don't think this has been a problem for me. i don't blog but I follow about a dozen people regularly.
    Yours is one of my favorites, so it is unlikely I would not see a post quickly. I do want to tell you
    that I have been pleasantly surprised to see your comments show up on the blog posts I read.
    It is a happy feeling to find many people I consider friends all talking with each other, Kathy,
    Joanne, Ellen, and Mary are people I check on daily. Thank you for blogging. Knowing about
    your life has enriched mine.

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  6. I don't have any comment moderation. It is lovely to see you back to blogging again. Long may it continue.

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  7. I'm still here, dear Friko! Hope you receive my message in comments. My remarks have slowed down a bit since a year ago but I'm healthier now. All best wishes!

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  8. Hi Friko - I've taken to just checking in my comment section to see if any unpublished ones are there ... then I channel them back into the blog. Even though I get notification of comments via email, I'm never quite sure with comments ... I occasionally put them on hold if I'm travelling ... good to know you're resolving things. Take care and enjoy the sun - not so much the chilly wind ... cheers Hilary

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  9. Like you, I have comment moderation on, but only after two weeks. I still get the occasional trolly comment and simply classify that as spam before deleting it, hoping the AI behind this platform is going to learn from it. Doesn't seem so, though, as "Mumbai Escorts" appear again and again, not just on my blog, but on others as well.
    Anyway - thank you for letting us all know. As I usually either comment very soon after a post was published or not at all, I've never noticed.

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    1. I too get the Mumbai Escorts on a regular basis. I have to check my comments often to keep them deleted. I wonder if anyone ever really contacts them through spam that is left on someone's blog.

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  10. Some people who were regulars just seem to quit the blogging world altogether. so many people that used to comment on my blog in the first half of its existence don't now and their blogs are no longer active. I don't do comment moderation. spam usually comes during the night and so I just delete it, or any rare offensive comment, in the mornings.

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  11. Comment moderation is a must, friend Friko … It's the same like call screening and blocking, or looking through the peephole before opening your door, or closing and thus protecting your mind from nowadays rampant foul language use … Got to be careful these days … Much love to you and Millie says this Alberta cat and her cat Theo.

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  12. Oh that happens; I don't think anyone was worried or took it personally
    Only disappointment i suppose is the hypothesis it was due to gremlins or fairy folk rather.

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  13. I did not know a blogger could make a choice like that. I have mine set at 'moderate' but I'll have to go back and see if I have a time limit. Thanks for the information!

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  14. These things happen. Thanks for letting us know.

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  15. Dear Friko, I have never had this problem, because I didn't installed the moderation at all. Yes, there is some spam but Blogger filters it well .
    Thanks for your comment on my blog! Today Ive read 4 your posts and am sorry with Milli's dementia. She was your friend since long time.
    Happy Palm Sunday!

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  16. I use one of the options WordPress offers. The first time someone comments, it's held for moderation, but I get a email from WordPpress saying, "Ahem. You have someone waiting to be let in the front door, Dearie." (Well, they don't really say that, but you get the point.) After I've approved a first comment, the person can comment freely. I've never moderated every comment, because WordPress deals with spam automatically, and should spam slip through, it still doesn't post unless I allow it personally -- which I don't.

    Don't worry about it. There always are glitches with these crazy systems, and we all just cope and go on. We're just glad that you're writing!

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  17. Well I'll be! Glad to see you

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  18. I moderated briefly and went nuts trying to keep at it! I feel the pain!

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Comments are good, I like to know what you think of my posts. I know you'll keep it civil.