Are comments not moderated anymore?

1. 88

   lobobrandonposted 3 years ago

   If I am not wrong comments were moderated before we were given the chance to view them and choose to accept or deny it, at least in case of unregistered users. Am I wrong in thinking this was the case and it was just something on QnA?
   
   If it was, is this no longer the case?
   
   I have been getting a lot of comments on the lines of, great article followed by a link thrown in there. This was not something I used to get in the past and some months ago many of us got weird "address like" comments.
   
   I would reckon I would have seen a lot of these spam article insertions over the past months/years if comments were not moderated, but I can't recall seeing any other than when I was new here.

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      samanthacubbisonposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, we are still modding comments. It could be that there is an influx of spam and the mods are a bit overwhelmed?

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      1. 88

         lobobrandonposted 3 years agoin reply to this

         That does make sense, how does the modding process work for comments? Is there a queue and anything above a limit slips through or are they sent through after a certain holding period?
         
         Maybe a system that detects links and puts them on top of the queue would be helpful, because as Glen says some are getting through to hubs without any moderation on the authors part either.
         
         This is definitely not reason to do away with comments. Just throwing this out there

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   2. 94

      OldRosesposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      Brandon, I'm suddenly seeing the same thing.

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   3. STAFF

      Matt Wellsposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      If you are having issues with spam, change your settings to "Only signed-in users may post comments" and "Comments must be approved before they appear". Hubbers should moderate their comments through their HubPages account. If no action is taken, then Moderators will review the comments after 7 days. If you find a comment spammer account, flag it for review. Visit this link to change your comment settings. Click "show settings":https://hubpages.com/my/hubs/comments

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      1. 88

         lobobrandonposted 3 years agoin reply to this

         Most of my interesting comments are from non-signed in users, so that's definitely a no-go. In terms of a percentage very few create an account to comment.
         
         Comments are already set to must be approved on my account, which is not the case for many and those spammy links go through to the hub, therefore, some niche sites have spammy links on them because from what you say those would not come under review anytime as they do not fall under the no-action label.
         
         From what you say, there was no automated system that looked through comments "before" it went on to the hubber, so I was wrong in thinking that there was. It begs the question why some of us are seeing an increase in spammy links off-late.
         
         I have flagged a lot for review, no worries in doing that.

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      2. 95

         Glenn Stokposted 3 years agoin reply to this

         Matt, That only solves half the problem.
         
         I have noticed that when I flag spammers, you ban them within 24 hours, but their spam with links remain in all the hubs they posted them in.
         
         The only solution would that I can see is to make the setting for "Comments must be approved before they appear" as the default, and remove the option to allow comments without the Hubber moderating.
         
         Setting for "Only signed in users" doesn't help at all! As you know, some spammers create accounts that you need to ban later.
         
         Please bring that up for discussion with the staff. It will help alleviate the overwhelming problem this is causing for the staff.

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         1. STAFF

            Matt Wellsposted 3 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks for the suggestion. If you report another account and the comments are not removed, please send an email to team@hubpages.com and I will review it. We may be able to come up with a better system.

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            1. 95

               Glenn Stokposted 3 years agoin reply to this

               I just now flagged one that has posted spam in many hubs that I see in his activity tab.

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      3. 0

         Marisa Writesposted 3 years agoin reply to this

         There is an easier solution if HubPages would consider it.
         
         Do not allow comments to include links. 
         
         It's very, very rare that a commenter would need to post a link legitimately, and they can always just paste the URL unlinked, so it would be no inconvenience to anyone.
         
         Most comments come from Google visitors asking for help, so restricting to signed-in users would be disastrous.  However, I'd suggest HubPages remove the option to let comments appear without approval, for the reasons Lobobrandon explained.

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   4. 94

      sallybeaposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      I found I was no longer being given the opportunity to amend a comment which had spelling and grammatical errors in it.  There simply was not an option to correct it.

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      1. 88

         lobobrandonposted 3 years agoin reply to this

         I don't think we were ever able to edit comments, just Questions in the QnA system. Comments are posted under a name and an author could edit it to change the message.

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            sallybeaposted 3 years agoin reply to this

            Sorry, must have been having a senior moment, I think it was a question and not a comment.

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2. 95

   Glenn Stokposted 3 years ago

   Samantha, Brandon has made an important point. I see the same thing, and I did some investigating.
   
   A few times I would click to the profile of the spammer and then follow their activity tab. What I found was disturbing. Many times I see the same spam posted under other Hubber's articles. I flagged those spammers a few times.
   
   The thing what is troubling is that they were not moderated and removed by the Hubber. I understand that this would be too overwhelming for staff to deal with. But some Hubbers are either allowing it, or they have their settings set to allow any comment without moderating.
   
   Another troubling thing is that I find these on the niche sites. That could affect the ranking of those sites.
   
   May I make a suggestion?  Remove the option to allow Hubbers to freely let any comment go without their own effort at moderating. I realize that those who have many hubs will, themselves, find this overwhelming. But in my opinion, and some may argue, it should be the responsibility of the author to moderate their own hubs.
   
   Am I wrong?

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3. 93

   Beth Eaglescliffeposted 3 years ago

   I agree with Glen's suggestion about the default setting for hub comments. Spam is getting more frequent lately.
   
   I also think it would be a good idea if newbies couldn't post on the forum until they had submitted at least one article.
   
   Or maybe not until they had completed boot camp (5 hubs), although I realise that would prevent them seeking help to improve, but it would deter many of the poor writers from trying to post spam links here.

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4. 96

   PaulGoodman67posted 3 years ago

   Unfortunately, any comment with a link is suspicious in my experience, very, very few of them are there to provide interesting, related info, almost all of them are spam. One would have thought it would be relatively straightforward to weed them out and give them special attention before they get to hubbers. I guess, as Samantha says, the system is creaking under the weight of all the spam.
   
   I have all hubs set to approve comments mode. There are times when I've dealt with 30 or 40 per day (though it's not constantly that high). It's not that big a deal, as I just quickly scan them for swear words or obnoxious language or spammy links - as long as there isn't any of that, I generally approve. The more crap that HP can weed out though, the better for me.

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   1. 88

      lobobrandonposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      I agree with what Glen says and the option to auto-allow comments should be taken away. An option to allow unmoderated comments in a single click would be a good alternative if it makes approving 30 - 40 a day or even weekly quicker after you have quickly looked for spam.
      
      I would argue that if people are just allowing comments automatically without having the time to go through them, the comments are most likely not asking a question nor providing helpful added info and if they are asking a question response would be appropriate even though not necessary. If they are not questions or additional info but are merely something on the lines of very helpful, great article, etc. they do not need to be on a hub anyway.

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         PaulGoodman67posted 3 years agoin reply to this

         I think we're are the exceptions though, I suspect the people in the forums are the sort who sign into HP at least once per week or more (I'm here every day). I think there are many that are absent for long periods, months, maybe years. I'm guessing those are the ones that HP are catering to. Their readers' comments would not be approved for a long long time, undermining user experience.
         
         I think the comments add "fresh material" in Google's eyes, sites as well as pages, which is beneficial in relation to the algo. HP maybe figure that they weed out enough of the worst spam to make it worthwhile overall. I'm just speculating here. Just raising it as possibility.

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         1. 88

            lobobrandonposted 3 years agoin reply to this

            I agree with the possibility of that being the case.

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5. 91

   Kenna McHughposted 3 years ago

   I've had some recent spam and deleted it right away.

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6. 71

   Danny Fernandesposted 3 years ago

   Although I am new, I see my comments getting moderated prior to display.

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