First! The hat tip!
Today's extremely powerful and highly insightful and soul-searingly deity-like post (due to the fact it's a topic near and dear to all of our beloved hearts) is credited to the magnificent:
Jens P. Berget of Sly Marketing!
This stalwart young soul revealed to me something I just plain didn't realize.
See, it all started long long ago, back when "cool" meant a temperature and not a state of awesome beingness, back when children realized that having a job was a privilege and not an inconvenience, back when (oh wow I'm on a coffee roll!) kids' parties at school actually featured all candy and zero "It's healthy for you!" liver protein bars….back when….
Okay, I'll admit it.
It happened this morning.
I had boldly realized it was 'way past my wakeup time (4:30am?) and saw the aforementioned gentleman sent me this email via my contact form.
Subject: Comments on your posts
Message: Hi Barbara,
I have tried to post some comments on your posts, but I can't see that they show. Maybe I'm doing something wrong, because I can see that a lot of other people are commenting and their comments are visible.
And my immediate response?
"Jeepers! Oh where, oh where, did my readers comments go, oh where oh where did they go?"
Where did they go…indeed. And thus began Barbara Ling's Excellent Adventure with……
(insert dramatic music here)
The WordPress Spam Comment Lair Of …. Ummm (remember family friendliness) HECK!
Otherwise known as this beastie:
Now, I already have Akismet installed on me blog, so I figured that any non-spam comment would be spared.
Not so!
After going thru my spam folder, I found Jens' comment and Marc The Sales Techniques Guy's comment and Steve's comment Alex's comment and …..
You get the idea.
All together now:
WAH!!!!
Idjut me never thought to go thru my spam folder and see if wrongly accused legit comments were waiting to be released.
In other words:
And….
———————————————————————————
We interrupt this post with a special announcement!
Right now you might be wondering to yourself, "Objection?" What the heck is that?"
Well young padawans, it's a clip thingee from Phoenix Wright, SuperStar Lawyer or whatever that Japanese animation thingee is. Gotta love one's kids who educate you about such things!
And it could be worse, you know, it could be:
Alas, my children will never appreciate the gloriousness of:
Now *that*….is *classic*.
We now return you to our regular broadcasting.
———————————————————————————
Where was I?
Oh yes! So I bravely slashed and burned my way thru me banned comments, and released those that deserved to see the light of day.
Which brings me to the crux of the matter!
If you ever wonder why your comments aren't showing up….chances are, they've been eaten by the spam filter of the blog in question.
And to fix that, you must do 2 (count 'em, two!) things.
Step 1.) First go to your own blog and comment logically there (using your own credentials).
Hit "post comment".
Does your page refresh to the comment area? Or does it refresh to the top?
If it refreshes to the top, chances are, your comments are getting flagged by Akismet.
Now check your spam folder to see if the comment is there.
If so, move to:
Step 2.) Contact Akismet and ask for help.
I've had to do this twice in the past and wrote about it over here:
Blacklisted by Akismet – How to fix being banned and escape from Comment Hell
You basically drop them line over at their Akismet Contact form, and then followup.
And that's all you do.
Sure…it's annoying and sure it takes time and sure it would be nice if you didn't have to do this.
Ah well, these things happen!
So do it and get it fixed.
Want other resources? Check out:
- How to stop your blog comments from being blocked by Akismet
- Akismet 101 Guide for All WordPress Users
- Akismet Spam Filter for WordPress – The Banning of the Innocent Commenter
- Digging Your WordPress Akismet Spam List For Hidden Treasure
- Find Out If Akismet Has YOU Flagged as a Spammer
- My Comments Are Not Showing Up Because Akismet Is Blocking Me
- Why My Comments Are Getting Blocked?
and don't forget about:
Akismet Blocking Your Blog? No Way, Just a SPAM Trick!
Neat read, that.
Remember… Akismet blocking your comments is not personal.
But you have to take action to get it fixed.
So if you don't see your comments commetizing around, go proactively contact the blogger and ask if they got eaten by the spam filter. And if yes….contact Akismet and fix the problem.
Your future blog publicity will thank you for it.
Enjoy!
Grow strong,
Barbara Ling
ps – Stop by Sly's blog and say "Hi!" for me. It's a great read!
pps – Have you ever found legit comments in your spam filter? What did you do?
Get Started Here
You’ll love what you learn… Promise!