IMPLEMENTED CHANGE (4/29): Block blank comments posted by bots

1. 69

   Pamspagesposted 11 years ago

   Hello,
   
   Recently I received notification on 3 different occasions that I had a new comment on my hub.  I went to my hub, signed in, but could not see the comment, just the name of the person who commented.  I did accept their comment but still nothing showed up. I have been viewing on a PC on the latest version of Firefox. I have also viewed it on my iPad on Safari and still I cannot see the comments. I do not have any special settings for comments and have not changed anything so don't know why suddenly I cannot see comments. 
   
   Please let me know if you figure this out. 
   
   Thanks very much.
   
   The link to this particular hub is here:
   
   http://pamspages.hubpages.com/hub/Vacat … f-Scotland
   
   Pam

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   1. 86

      Simone Smithposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Sorry for the inconvenience, Pamspages! Someone mentioned something similar earlier this week, so it sounds like this might indeed be a persistent bug. Matt, our problem-solving expert, shall take a look as soon as he gets in.

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   2. 70

      Matthew Meyerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I just tested and was able to post a comment to the Hub as well as view it from a browser when not logged into the site in both Firefox and Opera.
      See my comment at the bottom (you can delete it or I can once you see it).

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   3. 70

      Matthew Meyerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Pam,
      
      We just deployed a fix that should now block bots from posting blank comments.
      Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

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2. 84

   lovebuglenaposted 11 years ago

   The comments you have (aside from the test comment) the users are not members of Hub Pages since their names can't be clicked on. Maybe this is spam and the people that commented didn't enter any text and submitted a blank comment though I am not sure if Hub Pages allows people to do that. Will give it a try just out of curiousity.

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3. 84

   lovebuglenaposted 11 years ago

   Ok just tried it and Hub Pages doesn't allow to post comment if no text entered. It is very puzzling then why no text shows up. Try to go to your Comments page (where you see all comments for all hubs) and see if you see them there and if they have any text next to them...

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4. 72

   quildonposted 11 years ago

   I am unable to approve or respond to comments on my hub. I don't like being rude to my readers by not responding.

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5. 92

   LCDWriterposted 11 years ago

   Yesterday, I approved comments, responded and then came back later to find the comments were still pending.  I approved them a second time and they came through.

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6. 69

   Pamspagesposted 11 years ago

   Thanks all. I still don't see comments from the 3 who left "comments" on my post, but I can see Matt's. Matt, do you have any further insights?  Cld it be that the posters are not members and therefore I do not see their comments? Bit of a coincidence though that all three are like that.

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   1. 84

      lovebuglenaposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Comments should be visible regardless if the commenter is a registered user of Hub Pages or not.

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   2. 70

      Matthew Meyerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Pam.  It could be a timing issue as they could have deleted the comments after posting them.
      If you see something similar for another of your Hubs let us know the URL and/or title and we can check it out for you.

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      1. 69

         Pamspagesposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Ok, just seems strange that 3 in a row would do that.  I'll update you with any new occurrences.  Thanks for your help.  Pam

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         1. 70

            Matthew Meyerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            I've heard from our engineering team that this seems to be related to bots posting blank comments.  We are looking into the issue.
            Thanks for taking the time to let us know.

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7. 84

   lovebuglenaposted 11 years ago

   What are bots?

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   1. 70

      Matthew Meyerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_bot

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