Spam comments

1. 85

   DzyMsLizzyposted 11 years ago

   Hello---
   
      Did HP get 'hacked' or something??  Is anyone else having this problem?
   
   Today, I came back from doing errands to find that FOUR of my hubs had been slammed with spam advertising "comments" from outsiders, not HP users.
   
   I've had trouble in the past with a single individual, who eventually signed up so he could continue...that of course, gave me the opportunity to report him, and he's since been banned.
   
   However, today's were from several different "user names"  (all gray--outsiders) ..and gobblydegook combinations of letters.
   
   Each and every one of them was 10,000% irrelevant to the hub on which they were posted, and some tried to look like prose comments, but with certain brand name products tossed in about every 5 words or so, and the rest was just random words that made no sense...so they were trying to avoid getting caught on 'links.'  However, at the end there was a link.
   
   On the other hubs, there were multiple links, one after the other after the other.  It is ridiculous. 
   
   I've been forced now to set my global settings to "only registered users may comment," and "comments must be approved before they appear."  Which do you all think is better?  I kind of hate to use the first, as I do have non-HP friends who sometimes like to stop by and comment on my pieces...but, if that's what it takes to stop these morons, then that's what I will do.
   
   Sorry for the rant...

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   1. 86

      Ms Deeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Hi, there is a thread already started on this titled "Spam Attack". I was just reading it before seeing yours here. Suggested going to that thread.

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   2. 83

      Marcy Goodfleischposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I have my hubs set to require my approval.  It takes a bit more time, but it helps avoid those problems and allows me to filter abusive remarks.

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   3. 44

      Kelley Eidemposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Me, too. About a dozen so far today all with nonsense names but with more than one IP address.
      
      I do moderate the comments before they are posted, but this is still a pain in the neck.
      
      How can they be reported?

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   4. 79

      Dale Hydeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      No problems here that I know of. Of course if notifications are not coming in along with emails I would not know as I simply do not have the time to view each hub daily.  I will check into it further this weekend as time allows.

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      1. 61

         paradigmsearchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         http://hubpages.com/my/hubs/comments?co … ilter=Spam

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         1. 85

            DzyMsLizzyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            HUH??? How did this link take me to all of the comments on myown hubs???
              I've never seen this area before..  there is no 'spam filter' link that I can find... but, in this list from the above link, I do now see a bunch more spam.... as well as previously-approved comments.

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            1. 61

               paradigmsearchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               Yep, the default is "unmoderated" when you click on "Comments" on the left side of your stats page. But it gives you the other options as well.

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               1. 85

                  DzyMsLizzyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  Thank you.  That was much less time-consuming!
                  
                  (I'm still puzzled how an apparently generic link can take me into my own account....)

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                  1. 61

                     paradigmsearchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                     HP can be quite coordinated at times.

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                     1. 80

                        Healthy Pursuitsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                        I used the link. Thanks for providing it! Even though I moderate my comments, this link showed me several spam that I've never seen. This would be great, as it would save me time moderating. However, it also displayed two valid user comments that were caught as spam that I have never seen, even though they were written four weeks ago. Is there an item other than the comments menu option, that I can use to check for comments that were caught as spam, and to delete spam that was caught by the filter?

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                        1. 80

                           Healthy Pursuitsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                           Oh. Duh. Never mind. I found it.

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   5. 86

      kschangposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I got about 10 hubs spammed thus far, spam filter got about 90% of them.

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      1. 85

         DzyMsLizzyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         I guess there must be some kind of filter in place, as they show up on my news feed, and when I go to the hub, they are visible to me...but they do not show up under 'comments' report.
         Interesting.  Since there apparently IS a spam filter of sorts... I wonder why this gets through to us at all, instead of being blocked at that point????????

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      2. 86

         kschangposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Update, about 5 hours ago a flood hit. Spam filter caught all but one, but it's a flood. There's like 30 to 50 of them.

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   6. 59

      Brie Hoffmanposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Have you heard from HP yet?

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2. 79

   Uninvited Writerposted 11 years ago

   I have had quite a few but they were all marked as spam and not published on my hubs.

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3. 56

   lj gonyaposted 11 years ago

   I'm having the same problem and I've never experienced that before. I couldn't figure out what was going on. I think my hubs are set up so that I have to ok each comment.

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4. 60

   Randy Godwinposted 11 years ago

   Wow! I just saw a spam comment on one of my hubs on the feed.  Unlike most, the question marks went all the way under my profile pic to the other side of the page.  Never saw this before.  I surrender!! 
   
   
   
                            

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   1. 61

      paradigmsearchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      We are all doomed!

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5. 92

   SmartAndFunposted 11 years ago

   ?????????????????????? ????? ??????????????  ??????????????????????????? ???????? ????????? ??????????????????????????????????????? ????????????? ? ? ? ??????????????????????????? ?????????????????????? ?????   ??????????????  ??????????????????????????? ???????? ????????? ??????????????????????????????????????? ????????????? ? ? ? ??????????????????????????? ?????????????????????? ?????   ??????????????  ??????????????????????????? ???????? ????????? ??????????????????????????????????????? ????????????? ? ? ? ??????????????????????????? ?????????????????????? ?????   ??????????????  ??????????????????????????? ???????? ????????? ??????????????????????????????????????? ????????????? ? ? ? ???????????????????????????

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   1. 61

      paradigmsearchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Easy for you to say.

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   2. 85

      DzyMsLizzyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      LOL--there's one in every crowd....

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   3. 81

      quicksandposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Me too! 

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6. 61

   paradigmsearchposted 11 years ago

   I decided to leave the party and disabled comment posting for the time being.

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   1. 85

      DzyMsLizzyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I hope I don't have to 'go there,' as I do enjoy interacting with legitimate commenters.  However, I hold that option as a last resort--between the time I saw the first round of answers to this post, and getting back from dinner, there were THREE MORE, all on a single hub!
      I've changed everything globally to 'must be a signed-in user.'  That will stop all but the most determined..and if they sign up, and continue, then, as with the last idiot, they open themselves up to being reported and banned.

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7. 78

   bgpappaposted 11 years ago

   Happening to me too, glad I am not alone I guess

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8. 94

   lady rainposted 11 years ago

   Two non-hubbers had posted comments in one of my hubs in the last 3 hours. I did a word count and each one of them had dumped about 700 words of utter nonsense in my comments section. That's more words than I have written in my hub.

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   1. 80

      Healthy Pursuitsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I've had that experience. Unfortunately, the long-winded comments I received on the hub I'm thinking of were from people who thought they were making sense.

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9. 68

   travelespressoposted 11 years ago

   Yes me too!  I wondered why my hub "Manly Man Shampoo...." was suddenly getting comments again. 
   
   This one hub has about 20 comments (spam type with lots of question marks and links to other sites) from different users.  The users have odd sounding names like reulurrix and this one (don't you just love it) cowneuncadove!
   
   Oh, and another one while I was writing this.  Oh boy, I'm popular!?!

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10. 67

    Anamika Sposted 11 years ago

    For the past few days I have been having this problem too. These comments do not appear in the comments to be approved which makes it a real headache.

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11. 59

    Brie Hoffmanposted 11 years ago

    This is getting ridiculous!  Does anyone know if HP is working on this?

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12. 74

    Anna Marie Bowmanposted 11 years ago

    I had the same problem when I logged on this morning.  I had two separate comments on one hub.  The comments had nothing to do with my hub, and one of the comments wasn't even in English...could not tell you what language it was. 
    
    I have my account set to approve all comments before they are posted.  It's easier that way, but on occasion, a comment seems to slip through the cracks, and I am not sure why.

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13. 81

    quicksandposted 11 years ago

    Probably it's one of those "SEO experts" who is doing a back-linking job for a fee. He is selecting articles at random I guess. When he finishes with one author he goes on to another. I too belong to that elite group of those "picked for the kill!"
    
    Thankfully there is no system generated alert which indicates that you have some comments to moderate.  I guess HubPages identifies comments as spam ones whenever such comments contain a link to some site outside HP.
    
    When this happens, the alert does not appear when you log in.

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14. 79

    LeanManposted 11 years ago

    some of my hubs got "selected" for 4 or 5 of these comments..... All total garbage including just a page of ??? before a link...

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15. 0

    Jim Hickeyposted 11 years ago

    Add another victim. So far it's only one of my Hubs but it has happened twice now in the last 24 hours...

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    1. 95

       alexadryposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       The spamming is continuing here as well..looks like day two of deleting a bunch of question marks and nonsense;(

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16. 59

    Brie Hoffmanposted 11 years ago

    I've already had about 12 spam comments and this is before noon...it's getting ridiculous.  I wish HP would do something as it looks like it could go over 50 today.

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    1. 86

       Ms Deeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Today I've probably had around 20. Just deleted another one. Read somewhere a hubber says after spamming certain sites (i.e. hubbers) then they move on to others. So, maybe it will quit on us soon?

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       1. 59

          Brie Hoffmanposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          Hope so..I'm up to 20 too.

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    2. 85

       DzyMsLizzyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Yesterday, I finally decided to set my comments to "only registered users may comment."  That will stop the problem on your own hubs.  ..
       
       As far as whether HP is looking into the matter, I have no clue, but I did just learn about the spam filter, and it was most helpful yesterday in clearing out all the crap.
       I'm sure this will be over with soon, and I can re-set my comment settings then. 
       (Keeping an eye on this thread.)

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       1. 80

          Aficionadaposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          Check this thread in the newly subdivided Report a Problem forum:
          
          http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/98909#post2115286

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17. 80

    Healthy Pursuitsposted 11 years ago

    It seems that everyone who's being spammed has been on HP for two years or more. So they must be going through the hubber list in some specific way. I haven't been hit by this yet. I've only been signed up for about 15 months.

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    1. 93

       AliciaCposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       I've been here for 20 months and I'm getting spammed, so I don't think that two years on HubPages is what the spammers are looking for.

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       1. 86

          Ms Deeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          I'm one who has been here less than two years too.

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18. 59

    Brie Hoffmanposted 11 years ago

    It seems to be slowing down now..I hope.

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19. 80

    lex123posted 11 years ago

    Another victim here. I had received about 20 spam comments and it is such a nuisance. I don't know how to handle this problem.

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20. 59

    Brie Hoffmanposted 11 years ago

    I take it back..not slowing down.

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21. 67

    ptosisposted 11 years ago

    Nonsensical comment that had nothing to do with my 'adopting a problem dog diary' & here it is:
    
    HESSLIZA33 5 hours ago
    
    All people deserve wealthy life time and loans or credit loan can make it better. Because people's freedom bases on money.
    
    So I deleted it 'forever' yet there is a button to undelete - so I guess - it's not forever or it leave that undelete option open for awhile? (Like deleting hubs?)

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22. 86

    Ms Deeposted 11 years ago

    I don't like doing it, but I've changed my Comment preference for no more from outside HubPages, unless a non-hubber signs in, for now. Though I often do get Comments from outside, I'm tired of deleting all the spam. I'll try changing it back after a few days, and particularly if I see any of you reporting you see the spam dump to your site has stopped for you.

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23. 82

    StephanieBCrosbyposted 11 years ago

    I am also glad I am not alone. I found it odd that when I checked my e-mail for the morning there were no e-mails from HP saying I had new comments. When I initially signed in for the day, there was no number next to comments either. However, when I did my usual round of checking out the latest posts on the homepage, I saw there was a comment to one of my hubs. When I clicked on the hub, there were literally 10 comments, all gibberish. So, I had to delete them all.

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    1. 86

       Ms Deeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       It seems HP is doing a good job in identifying the spam as Spam and not counting it as true Comments to our hubs.

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