WordPress Comment Silliness
Because some of you have indicated renewed problems with commenting on my blog, I hope this post on WordPress comment silliness will be helpful, both to enable you to comment on my blog and to resolve problems on your own.
First, over the past couple of weeks, I have been seeing issues once again with WordPress.org bloggers commenting on my blog. WP.com is deciding, en masse, to send you lovely people to spam. It seems that WP.com is requiring a .com log in, much like WP.org is requiring that I have a .org log in to comment on your blogs.
But, using the WP.com log in does not automatically guarantee that a comment is not relegated to the Land of Spam.
Please, if you are in the spam category, try using your WP.com log in credentials to comment today, and I will monitor spam to see how we do.
The other category of bloggers who seem to be having problems are those who use iPads or smartphones to comment. Following the comment button from the email requires a log in, and several of you have expressed frustration with that system.
Again, is seems that WP.com is forcing people to use a WP.com log in to comment. When a user logs in from a device like an iPad or smartphone, the WordPress app then becomes the best means of commenting on any blog to which one is subscribed. Rather than following the email link, use the reader portion of the WP.com app and comment there. It does not require repeated log ins, and the recent upgrades to the app make this the easiest and most pleasant way I’ve found to keep up with the blogs I read.
On a related note, several WP.org bloggers who used to appear in my WP.com reader feed are no longer there. I do not know what that is about, but I miss you. While I have been afflicted with sporadic internet in the wilds of Mississippi for the past few days, I do try to keep up. I generally cannot remember every blog I read if it doesn’t appear in my reader. So, please comment today if I have not visited in the last week and let me know that I need to come up with an alternate means of tracking you.
These continued contractions and changes to the commenting process are frustrating. As I find ways to deal with them, I will post them here for you. I hope they will help your consistent visitors continue to remain engaged in your blogs, too.
I still find the single most “amusing” thing is having to log in to my own blog after following a link in my email that tells me someone commented on my blog…
If you’re using your iPhone or iPad, the easiest way to manage that is to use the WP app. I don’t know if you’ve downloaded it, but it is a dream. It gives you all your stats remotely, too, and you can reply to comments in an easy sequence.
I have both WP.com and .org blogs. The only way I can comment is through WP Reader. Hotmail sends my comments to spam whether I’m logged into both or one of the WP’s. So far I haven’t had a problem with your blog – nice car by the way.
It used to belong to Elvis Presley.
We visited his birthplace yesterday. Tupelo, Mississippi.
No idea whether my comments to you or anyone else disappear into spam, but I have had the odd comment in my spam box, so these days I just check it each day. Easy to find the intelligent in amongst the drivel.
You’re not in my spam. My .org commenters tend to go there, though I have had a problem with a couple of .com commenters in my time.
Here goes, Andra, hoping i’m not ibeing put in the spam drawer. I haven’t had a problem – yet.
And, I hope you do not have one, Penny. Fingers crossed.
I do have to log in to WP each day to “like” your post and then if I later check comments on the iThingy, I have to log in again… a bit of a pain on the iThingy because sometimes it just won’t accept the log in and I get a weird red dot that is supposedly the comment box, but, no way to enable it.
Oh well, just a little challenge to follow Queen A….no biggie.
Download the WP app to your iThingy. It will be the best way for you to keep up.
Frustrating, isn’t it? Maybe that could be why my comments are low. Better check my SPAM. Thanks for sharing this.
Hugs,
Kathy
Since WP started making all these comment changes, my comments have dropped, too. Checking spam regularly is a definite. I hope you don’t find anything there that shouldn’t be.
I’ve not had issues commenting or responding either on my desktop or my smartphone which is a Droid. Is this just apparent in iPhones, iPads and Macs using WordPress.com?
Are you responding via the link in an email or on a droid app?
That was on my laptop using my WordPress.org login.
I don’t seem to have any trouble commenting here (OSX Mountain Lion, and iOS6, for data gathering purposes), but I also have credentials everywhere. Whew! And as for me, I haven’t blogged in two weeks, so you’re not missing anything there.
For a while, you were one of my regular commenters in spam. I even went and set up a rule to make it stop. Seems to have worked.
How funny! I stand corrected!
MTM just unspammed you.
For whatever reasons I have to log on EVERY single time I want to comment. It does not matter if I am using my MBP or my iPad. When I am doing this on my MBP it is no big deal. Using the iPad is another issue all together. Most of the time I just want to post a quick comment and then move on to other things since I am mobile but having to logon from the iPad makes it frustrating and I usually just blow it off. Did someone say there is a WP app I can install on the iPad that will enable me to logon and then follow the blogs from there? Maybe that is the answer? Yes, the photo of the car is awesome!! They do not make cars like this any longer. What a shame.
Download the WP app and set it up on your iPad. You will love it. Once you are logged in there, you can comment through the app and not have to log in every time.
Hate to say it, but it is going to get worst before it gets better. Hang on.
You speak the truth, Hudson. I know it.
You’re my daily dose of dark, so I’m pleased to say it hasn’t happened on your blog up till now, but it’s appearing spasmodically in others. If WordPress weren’t the only game in town (apart from Blogger, which isn’t in the same league) they’d get the bum’s rush.
Using the WP app on mobile devices may help you as well. It is frustrating, isn’t it?
It’s really challenging, isn’t it! I have had a few times when a friendly blogger has contacted me through email to ask if everything is okay! That’s when I realize they haven’t been getting my comments. Then, conversely, sometimes I don’t hear from someone for awhile and I do wonder, but then, I also know it might just mean they are spreading their time between a lot of sites and couldn’t get to me.
I didn’t realize that there was a dot com/dot org competition possibly affecting the reader. I rely on that reader! And you, as well as others, have disappeared a few times lately! Every now and then I go through and take inventory and try to refresh everyone. It’s quite the memory challenge. I thank you for the conversation. It means that I will go through this week and do some refreshing.
Debra, you were one of my .com commenters who ended up in spam a couple of months ago. Now, it seems to be entirely .org people who are getting caught. I’m glad you and I worked that out together, but one has to wonder how many readers we lose because we simply don’t know we have a problem.
tedstrutz has not had a problem commenting on The Accidental Cootchie Mama’s blog… although Andra may have had problems with his comments on The Accidental Cootchie Mama’s blog. He does understand what WP is doing, and would like to thank the CM for calling it to his attention… and will check his spam file for missed comments on his excellent PhotoLog… http://tedbooksdailypics.com
p.s. He loves the pic… is that her new ride?
I have got to subscribe to daily pics. I keep forgetting to do it.
I think you’re hilarious, Ted. Don’t change a thing.
The car belonged to Elvis. It is at his birthplace museum.
I can partially answer the question about the missing people from your feed. Back when my e-mails stopped sending, I had a problem where jetpack was ignoring my blog and it turned out ALL wordpress.org blogs. You should have access to me again? If not, let me know. The e-mails have resumed, and you should be able to choose to subscribe again in the edit preferences area of wordpress.com.
At the same time, the spam problem is an Askimet issue. I had to specifically contact askimet and ask them to see if jesterqueen@att.net had been declared SPAM. It had. They fixed it. Problem solved in under an hour when I expected WEEKS of struggle.
It doesn’t fix everything, but I’m in a better position than I was. LOVE the front of your car!!
I will go back right now and re-up. I have been on the move a lot lately, and I have to have my stuff in order to keep up with the blogs I read. I have missed reading your blog, and I haven’t always had the presence of mind to try to figure out why I wasn’t getting it.
The spam issue is great feedback. It might work for others who are having the same problem. Thanks for sharing it here.
Or rather of the car you took a picture of.
Elvis Presley Birthplace Museum. Tupelo, Mississippi. Of course, Elvis has to somehow factor into my novel.
I’m touching wood as I type this, Andra. Recently, whatever problems WordPress have had, I’ve been affected by them… but this time they seem to have left me be. Hope all of the problems will be resolved soon, I know how frustrating they are!
I’m glad you’re not being plagued, Tom.
Knock on wood . . . no problems with your blog. Akismet helped me out yesterday so that SPAM filters are no longer waiting to gobble me up. Yay!
Glad to hear it, Nancy.
Sorry I’ve been so slow in commenting on any blogs. Don’t think I’ve had any issues commenting on your blog. I’ve always had to log into wp.com even though I have a wp.org website, so I’ve been ahead of the curve on this issue – I think!!
Hope everyone understands so they can comment.
Oh, and whose Plymouth is that? I love that photo.
Elvis Presley’s. It is at his birthplace museum.
Wow, I’ve been there – in the 90′s sometime – but I don’t think I saw it. Beautiful car.
Glad you’ve had no issues. I hope you’ve been busy because you struck employment.
Not yet. I’ve had 8 or 9 phone interviews, but things have slowed down again. I think it’s because of pre-election breath-holding. Waiting to see who wins and what the impact will be.
There are jobs, but MANY applicants for senior manager positions. If you’re a praying woman, put me on your list.
Will do. And, I will keep all my fingers and toes crossed until I hear good news.
I haven’t had any problems, Andra: but if I hear anything on the grapevine about resolving it, I’ll link here. All the best.
I hope I’ve helped some of my commenters figure out a better process for commenting with this post.