Askimet is a system that stops spam ... and boasts on their Live Spam Zeitgeist that 110, 525,015 spams so far 30, 286, so far today. They say that 93 % of all comments are spam. Hmmm… that is high… and I am glad for firms such as Askimet. But it's not quite 93% because they have just begun to collect all my comments in that figure...
and these are legitimate comments -- not spam.
All this has "spam catching of my comments over the past week" made me deeply concerned at how spam is being identified as such. While Askimet and I would share an admission published on their site “We can’t stand spam,” they are currently catching "comments" from Brain Based Business as spam and these are legitimate comments. In fact this site has engaged some of the finest comments out there … and while opposing views are welcomed ... it has not had a comment problem from any blogger.
So why have I had to “unjunk” my own comments at my own site? It takes time and creates much extra work and constant vigilance to go back – open additional files – and unjunk. Worse still, my comments are now blocked from any site that hired askimet to catch their spam. What's up?
I was told that Askimet senses that somebody somewhere might have junked a comment of mine in error or on purpose. They have no idea who did so, or for what reason…. However, that problem which is still vague and undefined now prevents me from making comments back to people on my own site as well as any other site that Askimet services. It seems my ISP is now pegged by Askimet. What's up? How did that happen?
My question is this:
How can a site or a commenter encourage thoughtful, opposing views if the spam catcher leaders can shut out comments at will? More importantly... What can be done to ensure that comments are flow through blogs without censorship from a database that cannot tell you what it is censoring or why?
Perhaps this is a quirk with Askimet and possibly they are trying to work it out– but it concerns me deeply ... and it has wider implications to thoughtfully unconventional – but free speech ... on all topics. Can others help me out to explain why this is happening and how soon we can expect it to stop in favor of dialogue that includes opposing views – expressed in careful tone.
I am baffled but ready to understand what is happening here and when it will be resolved. Anybody know how it works at Askimet spam catcher site? Can you help me to understand why Brain Based Business is pegged by Askimet?
Comment Preview