Oh, this blogging thing is tricky. One of the great parts of writing a blog is the opportunity to get instant feedback from readers. Whether people agree with the material here on My168Hours or not, I love to engage with people who want to talk about these ideas.
Unfortunately, a reasonable number of people leaving comments were not here to talk about how we spend our time. They were here to sell cheap Rolex watches or Coach bags, provide links to various porn sites, or hawk other wares. We had a certain level of security, but when you have a real person typing these comments — even if it’s a real person in a spam factory in China — it’s impossible to stop on the front end. So I needed to approve all comments, but for whatever reason, My168Hours.com has been absolutely slammed in the past 2 months. I was getting more than 100 fake comments a day.
The problem? 3-5 were real. So I couldn’t just mass delete. I had to wade through all 100 spam comments to approve the real ones. Let’s just say this was not a great way to spend my 168 hours. So my webmaster has put a stricter level of security on this website, and now you need to have a WordPress account to comment.
In general, I like WordPress, so please do open an account! Of course, that’s not the only way to offer feedback. I encourage you to friend me on Facebook or become a fan of 168 Hours. All my posts are there as well where, in the curated internet, the spam is under control. You can follow me on Twitter (@lvanderkam) and we can continue the conversation there. Or just email me at lvanderkam at yahoo dot com. I really wish there was a better way to do this, and clearly some blogs have figured it out, but until I do, this is the way it will be. On the positive side, my inbox is more manageable these days!
Laura – I too use WordPress for my business. We had the same problem when we opened up our comments section. Like you, we approve all comments, but even so you have to wade through all of the spam on the backend of the WP. The solution, we discovered, was to use what’s called a CAPTCHA program – the kind where you have to type in letters or numbers in addition to your other information (take a look at this page, at the very bottom, and you’ll see it: http://bit.ly/b6XlqG ). The plugin is easy to get and install (tell your webmaster that it is free and to go here to find it: http://bit.ly/bopUia). This cut down on 99% of the spam – the difference was remarkable.
Loved your book and love the blog!
-Jeff
PS You don’t need to post this comment, but it seemed the easiest way to communicate the info to you.
It’s ridiculous how much spam is being generated. I have a WP account, let’s see if I am able to leave this comment.
Another HUGE problem: email accounts being HACKED. That just happened to a friend yesterday. A message was sent to EVERYONE ON HER LIST saying she had been mugged and needed money ASAP.