Wednesday 5 May 2010

Are you a spammer

Spam Checker Tool

If you post comments on blogs and sites around the web you might find that your time and effort is being wasted especially if you have been marked as a comment spammer.

Most blogs and sites that accept comment use a tool called Akismet to check whether a comment is spam or not. It's a free service that comes with a simple API that allows users with a key to check content and user details for spam. The plugin is easy to use and many popular blogging tools use it to check comments for spam.

The reason it's so popular is that it uses a variety of methods to identify spam such as using feedback from site owners who mark spam and ham that get through the automatic filter so that other users gain the benefit of a large community analysis. On top of that the automatic filtering uses the usual blacklists of known spammer IP addresses, bad emails, dodgy websites and also the usual content analysis that ensures your comment section doesn't get filled with adverts for Viagra.

So the service is well worth using if you want to block spammers filling your comment section up with bullshit replies and backlinks. However if you are a "commenter" and you're worried that you might be getting blocked from posting due to being unfairly marked as a spammer then the best way to find out is to use the same service yourself to see if it regards you as a spammer.

Therefore I created this Spam Checker Tool today which allows you to check whether your details (Name, Website, Email, IP) are blacklisted by Akismet as well as checking out a potential comment before you post it.

Just complete the fields you want to test and hit submit. The site will then report whether Akismet regards your content as spam or not.

All fields are optional but at least one value must be supplied to perform a spam analysis.


Note:
If Akismet clears your good name and doesn't regard you as spam it doesn't automatically mean that your comment will be posted.

Most blogging software including Wordpress allows the administrators to set up their own rules regarding comment spam. These rules usually consist of blacklists of words and a number of links to count therefore keep your comments free of profanity and the number of links down to avoid being flagged for review.

Most of all make your comment relevant to the post your commenting on. Auto posting generic comments such as "Great post, keep it up" and "I found this site is it also yours" will not get you very far unless all filtering has been disabled.

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