Anyone else getting a lot of random comments?

1. 92

   habeeposted 11 years ago

   I've never had this happen much before: readers (not fellow hubbers) are leaving strange comments that have nothing to do with the hub topic. They're not leaving links, so how are the comments a benefit to the commenters? Strange!

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      tirelesstravelerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Delete them and send them to spam.  My one of my hubs was stolen from one of those.

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   psycheskinnerposted 11 years ago

   There are other threads on this.  It is a new spam strategy to start with comments that have no links to try and look "real".  Delete and mark as spam.

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   brakel2posted 11 years ago

   One person left name and age only as comment.

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   georgialgal1984posted 11 years ago

   Same here Habee. I have deleted and marked as spam many of these. They are often long and full of strange ramblings. Hope they leave your hubs alone and you have a wonderful day~

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      habeeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Not sure how wonderful my day will be. I'm about to take 5 grandkids fishing - ages 3 - 10. lol

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   georgialgal1984posted 11 years ago

   Habbe, your grandkids will look back on this one day and appreciate your love and sacrifice for them. It's a rarity these days to see people take and teach children how to fish. Keep teaching and making those memories with them, they often need it more than we realize. Hope you catch some big ones!

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6. 87

   georgialgal1984posted 11 years ago

   Habee not Habbe, sorry.

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   Rochelle Frankposted 11 years ago

   Yep, lots of them. Just deleted another one.

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   vocalcoachposted 11 years ago

   I haven't had any of these comments lately but a few months ago - OMG - I found several.  I deleted them forever as spam.  Sorry you're being invaded right now.  Very frustrating.

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   Barbara Kayposted 11 years ago

   It is odd and makes me wonder what it is all about.

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10. 87

    Elena.posted 11 years ago

    I'm getting those, too. Marking as spam and deleting is easy, but is there any way to stop it altogether?  I got 11 just last night, becoming a bit annoying...
    
    I don't see any option in profile to block non-hub accounts to stop from posting comments.  Does anything like that exist?

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       Glenn Stokposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Yes, you can block non-hub accounts. Go to your account page. Click on "comments" and then click "show settings."  Select "yes" for  "Only signed-in users may post comments"

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          Elena.posted 11 years agoin reply to this

          Thanks much, Glenn!  That should do do trick for now.  I got around 45 spam comments over the weekend, annoying to boot!

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          1. 96

             Glenn Stokposted 11 years agoin reply to this

             You're welcome Elena. It's also important to set it so that you have to moderate all comments before they appear. I sometimes see comments with links to useless sites that other Hubbers never even seem to know they have in their Hubs. This can also lower a Hubs ranking if the outbound link is to a low quality site. I never approve comments with self-promotiopnal links. Links to any site can be dangerous, so I usually deny most comments with links.

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       Pamela N Redposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Why would you want to block people who aren't a HubPages member? I thought we wanted organic readers? Blocking outside people makes your page seem unfriendly.
       
       If it's spam simply remove the comment and go on. You should keep up with your pages on a regular basis anyway.

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          Glenn Stokposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          Well, I agree with you Pamela. That's how I handle it. I just have my settings set to moderate all comments before they appear. And I do allow comments from non-hubbers. But I understand Elena's problem. She is being bombarded by spam for some reason.
          
          I think if I were to get 45 spam over a single weekend that I'd have to spend time reviewing to decide if it's really spam or just someone who has trouble expressing themselves, I'd get to the point were I'd block them too. At least temporarily.

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       2. 87

          Elena.posted 11 years agoin reply to this

          Hi Pamela!  Yep, deleting is easy -- it's just totally annoying to be getting 10 spams per hour -- and I don't think that 'counts' as organic, quality, traffic, if you get my drift   Next thing you know HubPages takes another plunge on account of crazy roaming spam ...
          
          For me, from all the comments in my hubs, I reckon about 20% are organic. I reckon as well that I can disable the feature to post at will until this wave of spam goes away.  Just my take.

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    RTalloniposted 11 years ago

    The amount has been unreal and I've wondered if bad traffic is better than none.   Some are a hoot and some are so long that the writer should just join HP and start hubbing!  Well, some of the comments are designed to try and seem so personal that they amount to strange shots in the dark so I guess they should start blogging or facebooking or...

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    Rock_njposted 11 years ago

    Internet trolls.  Annoying people who just want to muck things up.  Some mentality as those who create and circulate computer viruses.

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    Pamela N Redposted 11 years ago

    I get this here as well as on my Blogger account all the time. I just delete them if they look like spam and don't worry about it.
    
    Sometimes it's a person that doesn't speak English as their first language so I make sure it's not just a matter of miscommunication before deleting. Everyone has a right to be heard.

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