I don’t know about you but I am getting a little tired of what I call Drive-By comments on my WordPress posts. Not to mention those sneaky ones that put affiliate links or even worse links in URL box.
What exactly is a Drive-By comment? I consider them to be short, one sentence comments that really don’t add to the discussion or post. You know the ones like: “Nice post thanks” “Great blog” and so on. Then there are the ones that make a three word comment and have the gall to put in a link to their. I have started deleting these types of comments. If I can’t tell you’ve read the post by your comment then I delete it. It really isn’t that hard to reference the post in a short comment so take the time to leave a clue to the author that you actual have read the post.
So what do you do about them? Well I have yet to find a perfect automated solution or a plugin to reduce this type of comment spam. I was at one time using the Spam Karma plugin and it seemed to do a good job blocking adult content and links in comments but some still got through. Then there are the innocent looking Drive-By comments that have no real spam to filter. You can always use your spam plugin or the discussions menu to block certain content. But how do you filter out the laziness of a Drive-By comment?
I do have my blogs setup to get email notifications with all new comments. I check every link to make sure they are not for, what I consider to be objectionable content sites or affiliate links. So I just remain vigilant and check the comments almost daily to make sure only what I consider to be good comments and links are showing.
What about you? Do you leave all comments on your blog or are you keeping close tabs on them and not rewarding the lame and lazy?
Derek Price
Noor Mustafa Raza
