Reporting comments as spam

[Sticks]

In accordance with requests by Phill (http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/2007/08/11/eggs-bacon-sausage-and-spam/)


I just tried to post this


This is done on my home desktop, using Firefox

On my Virgin Media Broadband

I always seem to get caught by the spam filters, whether at work, at home on broadband or on dial-up

I got this


Sorry, but your comment has been flagged by the spam filter running on this blog: this might be an error, in which case all apologies. Your comment will be presented to the blog admin who will be able to restore it immediately.
You may want to contact the blog admin via e-mail to notify him.

According to IP Chicken (http://www.ipchicken.com)

IP address is given as 82.39.51.206
:confused:

[The Bad Astronomer]

Hmmm. The problem with whitelisting an IP address is that as soon as you switch your computer off, the IP is reset.

I have whitelisted some domain names for other folks. let's see if that works, and then maybe we can go from there.

[Sticks]

still getting caught :(

[Sticks]

OK

From my works PC on IE6 and Windows XP

I even changed my ID from Sticks to my normal name and blanked out the website address.

In the body of the text I have used only text and no html

And still it gets me

Is anyone from outside the US getting through OK ?

[JanieBelle]

Tried to post on the Faith as Small... thread

"It's interesting that this came up again just now.

As it happens, I saw nine real angels yesterday at my Aunt Helen's funeral, come to carry her to her final rest, and they had nothing to do with visions, or invisible people, or pareidolia.

They were United States Marines."

As I have been consistently getting, I got:

"Sorry, but your comment has been flagged by the spam filter running on this blog: this might be an error, in which case all apologies. Your comment will be presented to the blog admin who will be able to restore it immediately.
You may want to contact the blog admin via e-mail to notify him."

Running a Windows machine, Firefox 2.004, Adblock Plus 0.7.5.1, United States English Dictionary 2.0.0.6.

Just had a thought and tried IE7, samey same, so it doesn't look like it's my browser, specifically.

I started having problems a while back when I got blacklisted for a spam worm I had been infected with, and I was getting redirected to an informational page about that, with two links to two different black lists. Following the links, one of them took me to a page that showed the last time the outgoing spam was detected from my IP address.

Once I got the worm gone, I commented daily knowing I'd be re-directed, just so I could check that page for a week or two before requesting de-listing, just to avoid being re-listed. I was all good and about to make that request when you revamped the site.

Right about that time, my ISP changed my IP address, and the above is the message I get now, with no links to the blacklists.

It's plain black text on a plain white page, and the url bar shows this:

http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/wp-comments-post.php

[Roy Batty]

Hmmm. The problem with whitelisting an IP address is that as soon as you switch your computer off, the IP is reset.

I have whitelisted some domain names for other folks. let's see if that works, and then maybe we can go from there.

Can be true but not always the case. I've had the same IP address for at least a month now (also use major UK ISP 'Virgin Media' which assigns dynamic IPs) & I also power the cable modem down each day. I've not experienced any permanent problem posting to the blog btw, although it does often hang on a blank page after posting & I have to access the page again to check.

You can find what the world sees your IP address as (ie regardless of whether you're behind a NAT router or not), by visiting Gibson Research's Shields Up! (https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2) page... it's also a damned good site for information & checking your pc/network security!

[Sticks]

It has caught me again

From my works PC, IP 195.92.40.49

[Roy Batty]

But Sticks, of course he's going to block everybody from Newcastle... ;) :D

[Sticks]

But Sticks, of course he's going to block everybody from Newcastle... ;) :D

Why? :confused:

[boppa]

one thing i did notice- the blog really doesnt like opera (at least 6.02 on win 98se) at all

it renders really badly and copy/paste certainly doesnt work well at all..

(my quotes appeared but not anything outside the quotes!!)

[Maurizio Morabito]

Phil

My comments are marked as "spam" wherever I post them from (work, library, home) so I don't think it's a matter of IP addresses.

I am using IE6. I have tried with a dummy name, e-mail and URL but nothing changed.

So for the time being I "only" have to wait for you to let my comments through. A bit of a pain for us both.

Is there a way you can whitelist "me"?

You have my private e-mail address, from the comments and from our exchange about National Geographic some time ago

- Maurizio Morabito http://omnologos.wordpress.com

[Sticks]

It has done it again on the blog about PZ being sued

[Spacewriter]

it's gettin' old having my comments flagged as spam over on the blog. It's one of the reasons I don't post many comments any more...

tough to partake in the "give and take" when my "give" has to wait in the penalty box...

[Sticks]

Guess what :(

[Sticks]

And again . . . . :wall:

[Sticks]

My post has been caught in the spam filter

[JanieBelle]

Still getting the same message, and my comments aren't getting posted at all anymore.

It's getting to where I don't even bother much anymore.

[Maksutov]

Still getting the same message, and my comments aren't getting posted at all anymore.

It's getting to where I don't even bother much anymore.Same here. Spinning your wheels may be fun for NASCAR victors, but it's not enjoyable when trying to comment on a blog.

No point in even trying anymore. Just a waste of time and typing.

CIBM*
BioStar mainboard
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ CPU
768MB RAM
Windows 2000 SP4
Firefox 2.0.0.6
AVG 7.5.485
AdAware 2007 0018.0000
Spybot Search & Destroy 1.3
SpywareBlaster 3.5.1

*Computer I Built Myself

[Sticks]

This is more a test post

This system is not allowing me to post a new thread

[JanieBelle]

I'm still getting the same message, but at least my comments seem to be getting posted eventually. I hope that means improvement.

Now I always feel a little guilty that I've created more work for Dr. BA.

[Sticks]

I'm still getting the same message, but at least my comments seem to be getting posted eventually. I hope that means improvement.

Now I always feel a little guilty that I've created more work for Dr. BA.

but by the time they are posted, everyone has moved on and will not read back over old posts to see if ours have appeared. We might as well not post anything, because even if they are released they are never read.

It would help if they appeared at the bottom and not where they would be had they not got intercepted.

[JanieBelle]

Well, if nothing else, it at least prompted me to register here.

That's something, right?

[Gillianren]

Indeed it is, and welcome aboard!

[Maksutov]

Well, if nothing else, it at least prompted me to register here.

That's something, right?Good blog, good blog, gets donut!

Welcome to the BAUT, JanieBelle.

Read the FAQs (http://www.bautforum.com/faq.php?faq=vb_faq), especially the rules, and have fun.

Nice avatar, BTW.

[Sticks]

My comment about the Peruvian impact has been labled as spam

[Frog march]

arrrrrr, the software just recognises yer pirateness, sticks. Just accept yeeer yernin' for the high seas and the taste of good rum, like the rest of the bauters.......

[JanieBelle]

Thanks for the welcome everybody.

Maksutov, that's from an 1892 painting by John Collier entitled "Lilith", and is one of my favorite paintings ever. It currently hangs in The Atkinson Art Gallery in Southport, England. It's oil on canvas.

Though the character was plagiarized from elsewhere, in Judeo-Christian mythology she was Adam's first wife, made from the dust of the earth (as opposed to a rib from Adam) and was Adam's equal. When Adam told her to get on her back to um... perform her wifely duties... she refused because of his lousy attitude and said "I will not lie below", demanding to be treated equally. When Adam acted like a butt-head, she left him and he went sniveling to Yahweh for a new wife that would do as he told her.

She got quite the bad rap and was eventually accused of all sorts of evil stuff (bringing disease, famine, etc. etc.) and eventually she was mostly erased from the official mythos. The argument can be made that the Christian Lucifer is a derivative of the idea of Lilith masculinized so as to avoid the appearance of too much power vested in and wielded by a woman.

In any event, she wasn't the submissive and subordinate field lily that Eve was, though it's interesting that the two of them got the blame for basically every bad thing ever to happen after that. Eve gets the blame for the bad actions of humans because of that whole fruit/snake/fall thing, and Lilith got the blame for all the bad natural events which were scurrilously pronounced to be children of sordid affairs she was later accused of having with demons.

Personally, I think she's the most interesting character in that particular mythology so I carry that painting as my avatar everywhere I go. I like her attitude.

BTW, her demand for equal treatment is why the Lilith Fair is so named I understand.

[JanieBelle]

...she was Adam's first wife, made from the dust of the earth (as opposed to a rib from Adam) and was Adam's equal. ...

P.S. That's why the current version of Genesis goes out of its way to point out that Eve was made from Adam's rib - to reinforce that she was subservient to Adam.

[JanieBelle]

Back on topic...

I'm still getting reported as spam each time I comment.

Just so y'know.

[Maurizio Morabito]

I still have all my comments marked as spam in the BA blog. I have gone as far as to create a separate blog where I can actually record them for future memory, instead of losing them all to the hope that Phil Plait finds the time to de-spam my messages

http://omnograms.wordpress.com/

As I live in the UK too I wonder if there is any problem with that. In fact, even if I post a comment from work in Central London, it gets marked as "spam". I am going to try from a library next week to confirm the hypothesis.

[JanieBelle]

I'm in the US, Maurizio, so the short answer is no. There's more to it than that.

[Sticks]

I have had another comment blocked as spam

Should we now have to accept that there is no point posting on Phil's blog as for unknown reasons we are effectively banned from posting there?

Even if Phil does find time to unban them, everyone has moved on and nobody will check back for unbanned posts, so we might as well submit randomly typed characters.

Phil is there a support number that goes with the service, because a number of would like to know what we did wrong. It happens both on my home PC / laptop and at my works PC.

[Frog march]

have you tried posting from a library or net-cafe?

[Sticks]

I have had another comment blocked as spam

Should we now have to accept that there is no point posting on Phil's blog as for unknown reasons we are effectively banned from posting there?

Even if Phil does find time to unban them, everyone has moved on and nobody will check back for unbanned posts, so we might as well submit randomly typed characters.

Phil is there a support number that goes with the service, because a number of would like to know what we did wrong. It happens both on my home PC / laptop and at my works PC.


It has happened again

Should we just conclude that I am to be blocked from taking part in Phil's Blog forever

[Sticks]

It has done it again on the story about the pope in the fire

[Sticks]

My supportive post of Phil has been caught

[Maksutov]

Same here.

Just for the heck of it, I attempted to post a short reply in support of what Phil wrote in his Bush league science again topic. It was rejected as being spam.

I have now given up on trying to provide commentary for the BA's blog.

Which is probably a good thing in many people's eyes.

Funny thing, I know what spam is, and nothing I've attempted to post even remotely resembles such a thing.

Oh well...

:wall:

[Frog march]

Just had a thought; I wonder if a common English word is a spam trigger in another language. It could mean that a setting is wrong.

[Sticks]

I tried to post on the Trick or Treat section and got


Sorry, but your comment has been flagged by the spam filter running on this blog: this might be an error, in which case all apologies. Your comment will be presented to the blog admin who will be able to restore it immediately.
You may want to contact the blog admin via e-mail to notify him.

I may just try and post "system test" somewhere to see if I get the same response.

[Sticks]

Tried to post on the church and state blog and got

Sorry, but your comment has been flagged by the spam filter running on this blog: this might be an error, in which case all apologies. Your comment will be presented to the blog admin who will be able to restore it immediately.
You may want to contact the blog admin via e-mail to notify him.

I may try and post with an alternate username and email etc

[Sticks]

Well that did not work either

Same blog, posted under my first name and an email address I have never used for the blogs

[JanieBelle]

Yep, mine are still being snagged as well, but Dr. BA eventually digs them out of the filter.

Mostly I just read there now, though. I really hate the idea of adding extra work to his day.

[Sticks]

I have had a question on the latest blog blocked

I still have no idea why this has got it in for me.

[Sticks]

A question related to the great give away has been captured, just like every attempt to post to the blog.

This has been happening ever since Phil tweaked it and we were complaining about how some adverts hijacked our browsers, before Phil blocked them.

[Maksutov]

The kicker for me is that when I read Phil's blog I typically will want to reply/contribute to the various postings, for the most part in support of what he's written and to provide additional related evidence.

Since I'm no longer allowed to do that, I don't read Phil's blog that much, to wit, hardly ever.

Damn shame, he's a good writer and his writing is expressive of a perceptive mind.

But by comparison, my "contributions" would be so much chaff, therefore there's no great loss.

[The Bad Astronomer]

Well, as I've posted many times, I cannot control what gets marked as spam. The best I can do is unmark it when it gets into my moderation queue. But for some reason some people get marked as spam and i never see it. There isn't much I can do, because if I turn filtering off I'll get hundreds of spam comments a day, and the comments will be totally useless.

[Sticks]

Well, as I've posted many times, I cannot control what gets marked as spam. The best I can do is unmark it when it gets into my moderation queue. But for some reason some people get marked as spam and i never see it. There isn't much I can do, because if I turn filtering off I'll get hundreds of spam comments a day, and the comments will be totally useless.

It would be nice to know what algorithm it is using and why a number of us have been black listed.

My other point is, that as the comments list grows, hardly anoone is going to go back to previously read comments to see if there is any new entries there, so even if the comment is unmarked, there was never any point posting it as no one will read it. You might as well just post random characters for all the good it is. Is there no way an unmarked comment can be moved to the end of the comments instead of leaving it in the position it would have been had it not been flagged as spam?

[Gillianren]

People who haven't read the comments yet when your comment finally gets posted read it.

[Sticks]

I have now tried, on the results of the book giveaway blog:

A different ID (Not Sticks)
A different Email address
Leaving the website blank

And it is still flagging my posts as spam.

This can be traced back to when Phil last did an upgrade with WordPress

[Laguna]

Mine is flagged as spam too.
Even when I am at work.
I do not know why anything I post from here is considered as spam.
Siemens usually does not send SPAM around, but what do I know.

From home I do not even get to the spam filter as my messages get flagged as spam by some other agency. They claim, my ISPs router is an open proxy...

As for this, my contributions to the Blog's Comments can be considered as almost not existent. Its really frustrating that my posts have to be checked by Phil first (at least from work, from home they are simply dumped), and then appear (hours later) on position number 5 in a commenting thread (having already advanced by then to another topic) buried by 40 messages to remain unread under that pile.

I posted some comments to the new Blog entry a couple of minutes ago. Await them to appear in about 5 hours, when the BA got up.

[Sticks]

Again it has happened when trying to post on the entry about females in science.

Is there no way that this can be raised as a log with WordPress. We seem to be presumed "Guilty untill proven innocent and even then we still thing you didi it"

:(

[Maksutov]

[edit]We seem to be presumed "Guilty untill proven innocent and even then we still thing you didi it"

:(Well, that explains it! Thing (http://tv.infinitecoolness.com/04/addams10.gif) is being used as a firewall.

Just another example of what happens when Things go wrong...


This comment brought to you by Dr. W. Spam.

[Laguna]

Sticks, try using a different email Address...
I registered one at hotmail. By entering the hotmail address I get through...

So, obviously, Phil does not like me personally. He either blocks me or my Mail Provider.

[Sticks]

Sticks, try using a different email Address...


I have tried three different ones, no effect.

[Laguna]

I have tried three different ones, no effect.
So, obviously, he dislikes you even more. :lol:

[Sticks]

Make that 4 including a hotmail address

[Laguna]

Now, this is NOT funny.
I got through with two posts using the alternative mail address.
Now I got blocked again...

Phil, what have I done to you?

[Laguna]

Now I got through...
This is getting funny.
Maybe some kind of flip the coin game?

[Sticks]

I am still unclean and considered guilty until proven innocent

[Sticks]

My query got caught again on the blog entry about the Astronomy cast meet up. I hate to be kryptic here but if the answer is no maybe Phil can just PM me to confirm it is no.

[Frog march]

"kryptic"?
have you been eating kryptonite again, sticks?

[Sticks]

"kryptic"?
have you been eating kryptonite again, sticks?

No, Kryptonide it packs a more powerful punch :lol:

[Hydro]

Across the big pond lives Sticks
He tries to comment just for kicks
But the BA's blog
Eats spam like a hog
Give it up dude, there is no easy fix!

:D

[Maksutov]

Thanks for the welcome everybody.

Maksutov, that's from an 1892 painting by John Collier entitled "Lilith", and is one of my favorite paintings ever. It currently hangs in The Atkinson Art Gallery in Southport, England. It's oil on canvas.

Though the character was plagiarized from elsewhere, in Judeo-Christian mythology she was Adam's first wife, made from the dust of the earth (as opposed to a rib from Adam) and was Adam's equal. When Adam told her to get on her back to um... perform her wifely duties... she refused because of his lousy attitude and said "I will not lie below", demanding to be treated equally. When Adam acted like a butt-head, she left him and he went sniveling to Yahweh for a new wife that would do as he told her.

She got quite the bad rap and was eventually accused of all sorts of evil stuff (bringing disease, famine, etc. etc.) and eventually she was mostly erased from the official mythos. The argument can be made that the Christian Lucifer is a derivative of the idea of Lilith masculinized so as to avoid the appearance of too much power vested in and wielded by a woman.

In any event, she wasn't the submissive and subordinate field lily that Eve was, though it's interesting that the two of them got the blame for basically every bad thing ever to happen after that. Eve gets the blame for the bad actions of humans because of that whole fruit/snake/fall thing, and Lilith got the blame for all the bad natural events which were scurrilously pronounced to be children of sordid affairs she was later accused of having with demons.

Personally, I think she's the most interesting character in that particular mythology so I carry that painting as my avatar everywhere I go. I like her attitude.

BTW, her demand for equal treatment is why the Lilith Fair is so named I understand.Thank you for identifying the painting. It looked familiar but I couldn't recall the title or the artist. The one by Rossetti (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Dante_Gabriel_Rossetti_-_Lady_Lilith.JPG) is pretty good too, resembles a former girlfiend (as well as Peg Bundy), and is of course definitely a redhead.

I know we're talking mythology here, but, nevertheless, kudos to Lilith. No wonder the patriarchy suppressed her.

BTW, she is the subject of a new opera by Deborah Drattell (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B07E3DA1F39F93AA35752C1A9679C8B 63).

[The Bad Astronomer]

My query got caught again on the blog entry about the Astronomy cast meet up. I hate to be kryptic here but if the answer is no maybe Phil can just PM me to confirm it is no.

Sticks, honestly, I have no idea how to make this any clearer: I don't know why the spam filter keeps catching you, but there is now nothing I can do about it. I have done everything I can to whitelist your comments, but they are always caught. The spam filter, Akismet, is a third-party application, which means I have very little control over it. If I stop using it, I will get hundreds -- hundreds -- of spam comments a day on the blog, rendering it useless.

It is possible that your comments on other blogs (if any) are what flagged you, since the spam database is used by thousands of blogs. My hands are tied.

[Frog march]

perhaps, a malicious blogger, somewhere, perhaps a HB blog, black listed you somewhere Sticks, and it stayed on the database.

[JanieBelle]

Thank you for identifying the painting. It looked familiar but I couldn't recall the title or the artist. The one by Rossetti (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Dante_Gabriel_Rossetti_-_Lady_Lilith.JPG) is pretty good too, resembles a former girlfiend (as well as Peg Bundy), and is of course definitely a redhead.

I know we're talking mythology here, but, nevertheless, kudos to Lilith. No wonder the patriarchy suppressed her.

BTW, she is the subject of a new opera by Deborah Drattell (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B07E3DA1F39F93AA35752C1A9679C8B 63).

You are very welcome, Maksutov, and thank you for pointing me to that very lovely painting as well. That's beautiful.

Wow, that opera looks powerful as well. I'd never heard of it and I'd have loved to have seen it.

[valkyr]

Spam Filter keeps sniping me too....

ARGGGHHH

Should I start a new thread? :)

Name: C. Taylor
Comments: Varied

I think my external IP address is a 12.23.250.xx Address but I'm not sure...We're behind a firewall so all traffic goes out through one ip address

[Sticks]

I noticed Phil had been doing some work on WordPress so tried a test post and still got caught.

[Sticks]

perhaps, a malicious blogger, somewhere, perhaps a HB blog, black listed you somewhere Sticks, and it stayed on the database.

But in the past I tried using a different user ID, different networks (Work and home) and different email addresses. Plus as far as I am aware I have not been on any HB sites in order to get banned from them.

:eh:

[SourBlaze]

It was in your post titled "Asteroid update: size doesn’t matter"

To the best of my memory, here's what I posted:

Surprised no one's mentioned Dan Durda's asteroid (http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=6141+Durda) yet...

The username I used was SourBlaze (just like this post).

I am on dial-up, so my IP address isn't constant,but at the moment I tried to post it was 172.190.23.252...

Also, my ISP is AOL, my browser is Firefox, and I am running Windows XP.

[Spacewriter]

I've just gotten used to the idea that I have to let Phil mod my comments. I use Akismet on my blog too,and believe me, it's better to have to enable somebody's comments than risk letting on some of the crap that would show up if Akismet wasn't so vigilant.

[Maksutov]

Let's see, "Akismet"? Some kind of anti-fate software? Must be freewillware.

[Sticks]

It has done it again twice today

One on the blog about Meca and GMT and the one on ICR and the failed degree acreditation attempt

[Laguna]

Drop it Sticks.
We are beyond help.
Just live with it and let your comments be moderated, as frustrating as it might be.

[Frog march]

perhaps, if it is important enough for you, you could change servers.

I'm with Tiscali Broadband, and have no problem posting on the badastronomy blog reply thing.

It might work.

[Laguna]

Change Server? Who? Phil and Fraser? Would not help.

Sticks and me? Change Server? You mean change our ISP?

*confused*

[Sticks]

I have tried from different ISPs and computers and different email addresses and IDs

I have tried from home and from work

It still triggers

[Laguna]

I have tried from different ISPs and computers and different email addresses and IDs

I have tried from home and from work

It still triggers
Same with me.
It triggers from home, from old work, new work (US company),
with five different mail-addresses...

So I simply gave up writing on the blog.
Only very seldom I post some comment.

Get over it, we Europeans are not welcome overseas. :lol:

[Sticks]

it has triggered on the entry about the teacher and the toothpick

[Sticks]

It has triggered on the vaccination story

BTW is this the most efficient way of notifying Phil, would PM here be better or if we are a friend on face book a pm there or just posting a comment on the Bad Astronomy group page on face book. Please advise

[Frog march]

There exists one nearly infallible way to get your comments posted on a blog: register an account on this blog (it is usually open to anybody and doesn’t require anything else than basic log/pass type info). Such “accounts” exist on every Wordpress install and are there to help admins build community around their blogs (they can promote simple “visitor account” to actual editor levels etc).
Basically, SK considers registered members with a much keener eye than anybody else, and is likely to let you go through, even if, for example, you are accessing behind a proxy.



from the Spam Karma site
http://unknowngenius.com/blog/wordpress/spam-karma/false-positives/


maybe it would be possible for the BA to turn on this feature, allowing both registered and non-registered people to post.

[Sticks]

It has triggered on the blog about the Anti-Phil

[JanieBelle]

Get over it, we Europeans are not welcome overseas. :lol:

It's not just Europeans, Laguna. I'm stateside and I get snagged every single time.

It just is what it is.

[Sticks]

The new blog site means this is no longer a problem


.... for the moment :shifty:

[Sticks]

The new blog site means this is no longer a problem


.... for the moment :shifty:


I spoke too soon

I just noticed that my comment in the blog about the LHC is "Awaiting Moderation" which is just the same as when we were under the old system :mad:

[TheOncomingStorm]

Sticks under the new system everyone with a link goes into unde moderation, I have had happen several times myself.

[Neverfly]

I think it's just you Sticks.

I'd figure you would have gotten used to posting your commentary here instead of the blog by now...:whistle:

[Sticks]

Sticks under the new system everyone with a link goes into unde moderation, I have had happen several times myself.

But by the time it gets moderated the thread has grown bigger or there are other blogs so it will never be read :(

[Frog march]

I think it's just you Sticks.

I'd figure you would have gotten used to posting your commentary here instead of the blog by now...:whistle:


yeah, they're a bunch of riffraff that post there anyway. :D


well, I do too sometimes, so I can say that.:shifty:

[Neverfly]

But by the time it gets moderated the thread has grown bigger or there are other blogs so it will never be read :(

All the more reason to Keep Making Moon Hoax Videos;)