Deleting and Marking Spam Comments

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   Marcy Goodfleischposted 11 years ago

   I just noticed that comments I delete from the 'comments' section on my accounts page are not being deleted from the actual hubs.  One of my hubs gets spammed a lot by people posting links and email addresses for 'quack' healthcare.  I have clicked the 'spam' button and then clicked 'delete,' etc., but just today I noticed they appeared to be published.  I tried to delete again from the hub - hope it went through properly this time.
   
   Any advice from the admins or tech support?  Thanks!

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      Matthew Meyerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Can you provide the title of the specific Hub and the comments that you marked as SPAM and deleted?

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         Marcy Goodfleischposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Matthew -
         
         Here's the hub that's been spammed repeatedly:
         
         http://hubpages.com/hub/Dating-Someone-with-HIV
         
         FYI - Just before I posted this thread, I 'permanently deleted' a series of comments left over the past several months, but I had to do it from the actual hub; the 'spam' and 'delete' buttons on my accounts page did not delete them.  We have heard we should handle our comments from the accounts page, but now I am worried that spam comments should be deleted directly from the hub rather than on the accounts page (the section where we can see our comments and reply). 
         
         The comments I deleted were spammy links with testimonials of people claiming to be 'cured' of HIV by 'miracle' healers of some sort.  I had no idea those comments were not permanently deleted from the hub after I 'deleted' them from the accounts page; I had to go to the actual hub earlier today and that's when I noticed they were still there.  I am sure you can still find the history of those comments on your backup server if you want to see them (sorry for deleting the 'evidence').
         
         One concern is that if the mechanism for deleting spam on our accounts page isn't working right, Google will slam our site, big time.  This is as bad as having spam links in the forum, or on the Q&A section.  But, if we are not aware the spam wasn't deleted, those imbedding links in comments are still lingering on the site.  I'm sure I am not the only person who has had to delete spammy comments with links.  But I cannot remember all the various hubs on which those things have appeared.

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            Matthew Meyerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            I looked at your account and see that that Hub is only set to show comments you explicitly approve, so unless you are approving SPAM comments, there isn't a risk of the comment affecting your Hub.
            If you choose to filter by SPAM, you can see the comments that you have marked as SPAM.
            The comments that are marked as SPAM, but not deleted will not show on your Hubs.
            
            So you can see them when you are logged in, but other users will not and if you log off you should no longer see the comment as well.
            
            That being said, it sounds like you are saying the following.
            
            1. You marked a comment as SPAM here with the "unmoderated" filter.
            http://hubpages.com/my/hubs/comments?co … nmoderated
            And it was still showing on your published Hub.
            
            If you have this occur again, mark the comment as SPAM, but please do not permanently delete it.  If you still see the comment you marked as SPAM on a Hub when logged out, please let us know and we can check out the specific comment to see if there is an issue with the system.

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               Marcy Goodfleischposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               Thanks, Matthew - I am relieved that perhaps the spammy comments were not visible to readers. Since I get spam on this hub fairly often (at least once or twice a month), I will do as you suggest and let you know, so you can check it out.

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               jansharesposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               FYI, Matthew, SPAM posts are back in the forums, 3 posts 2 minutes ago.

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   The Examiner-1posted 11 years ago

   Have you tried just marking one message as 'spam' without deleting it to see what happens? That is how 'spam' gets marked in the email.

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   Marcy Goodfleischposted 11 years ago

   Update for Matthew:
   
   Thanks for suggesting that I sign out & view my hubs without being logged onto the site.  As you predicted, it appears the spam comments are not visible. 
   
   FYI - I have had repeat offenders on the HIV hub I posted here.  I've also had a 'run' on other spam comments.  If you have time (and if it would help prevent spammers from hitting us), please check the comments I marked as spam on my accounts page.  In particular, the HIV spammers return time after time to 'promote' some sort of miracle cure person.  They all appear to be from another country.
   
   The other 'frequent-flyer' spammers are hitting a hub about spotting online dating scams (you can find an example of this on my accounts page 'comments' section, too).  If there's a way to block these people, it sure would save some time for me and for other hubbers they're probably hitting.
   
   Thanks, again!
   
   

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      The Examiner-1posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Instead of logging off, try clicking on 'Preview' (upper left) when you are in edit. I found that it is usually the same unless you are going to wait for some time. If you are not, then you can use 'Preview' and click when you the 'x' in the upper right you are immediately back in edit. You can repeat this back and forth if you need to.

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      Matthew Meyerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Keep labeling them as SPAM.  The issue is that many of them are automated are not the same person coming from the same IP. 
      The more people can identify the SPAM the better our system can be in identifying SPAM before you see it (it can tell if it came from a spammy IP for example based on past reports).
      I know that SPAM is annoying, but short of disabling comments entirely there is no practical way to eliminate it.
      
      SPAM is such a widespread problem online, that Google has changed the YouTube commenting system and sites like Popular Science has disabled comments all together.
      
      http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2 … r-comments
      
      http://www.theverge.com/2013/9/24/47667 … -to-google

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         Marcy Goodfleischposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks, Matthew - this suggests the system (here at HP) actually does do something with our spam reports?  I always flag spam as such, but never knew what results came if it.
         
         Just to check - can I 'delete forever' the examples I left in my comments records on the accounts page now?  Wanted to make certain you've had a chance to review the info.  Please, please, ban those IPs if at all possible.  I recognize the repeat content.

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            Matthew Meyerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Yes, we use SPAM reports to identify users, IPs, and other identifying aspects of SPAM reports and use that to determine and block future SPAM, so marking comments as SPAM helps prevent future such comments.
            
            Yes, you can delete the comments forever.

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               Marcy Goodfleischposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               Many thanks!  I am glad I don't have to look at them any longer!

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