Resolved: Comment limits

1. 88

   Pcunixposted 5 years ago

   I had to delete/mark as spam almost thirty comments at one hub this morning.
   
   At my own site, I use a geometric progression that prevents such annoyance.
   
   If you leave more than one comment at my site, you have to wait a certain number of seconds before being allowed another.  The time you have to wait is geometric based upon the number of comments - it's 5 seconds times your comments to the 4th power.
   
   So, you've made one comment.  You (your ip address, actually) have to wait 5 seconds before making another (1 * 1 * 1 *1 *5).
   
   Now you've made two.  To make another, it has to be 80 seconds since your first (2 * 2 * 2 * 2 * 5).   
   
   To make three, you need to wait 405 seconds (3 * 3 * 3 *3 * 5).
   
   I reset the counter if they have waited more than ten minutes between comments.
   
   This makes sense.   Nobody should be making multiple comments without spending some time reading and the more comments they are leaving, the more likely it is that they are a spammer.
   
   Of course you can adjust this formula to your own beliefs about what is appropriate, but I can tell you that this really cuts down on the crap I have to deal with at my own website.

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2. 84

   MickiSposted 5 years ago

   Thanks for the suggestion, Pcunix. The algorithm that you suggest is for detecting spam comments (the problem I'm assuming you are making this suggestion to fix).
   
   In addition to spam detector software, we do have sophisticated algorithms to detect spam. However, the spammers occasionally do find ways around them as happened last week.
   
   When that happens, we learn and adjust.

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