DO BY ALL MEANS SUBMIT YOUR NON-SPAM COMMENTS!

Folks, a heads-up, and apology: I unintentionally had my Moveable Type 3.2 comment filter phasers set, not exactly on "stun," but higher than I wanted. And as a result, legit comments have recently been getting stopped and auto-deleted, along with the voluminous comment spam that - thanks to my filter - will never again be auto-published here. I'm very glad the commercial comment spam isn't getting through, and believe commercial comment spammers - usually peddling vile products, to boot - will surely roast in the eternal fires of hell. But I am dismayed I have blocked any non-commercial comments.

However, I have fixed things now, so please, non-spammers, comment away. And if you left a non-spam comment that didn't show up here, please accept my apologies. I welcome your comments, in fact, look forward to them. As I've always stressed, dissent is welcome.

DO be apprised there will still be a brief hold period (no longer than overnight, usually much sooner). I check the filtered comment interface regularly and will green flag for publication any on-topic, non-obscene, non-spam comment on any post's comment string. Again, that includes dissent.

You may want to focus primarily on the most recent (main page) posts for your comments, because I am considering inserting code, or taking other steps to ban the voluminous spam comments submitted on the older posts. (Many bloggers will know what I am talking about - the older posts are where the comment spammers usually go, figuring that unless the blogger has a good filter or a "recent comments" listing on the main page, their junk comments will fly in under the radar, and boost their Google algorithmic ratings, which are based, very roughly-speaking, on amount of Internet real estate occupied, and each recipient site's reach.)

It may make sense to ban all comments on the older posts - as many bloggers have started to do - because even though my recently-activated filter prevents spam comments on these older posts from appearing on the blog, I still have to remove the spam from my filter interface, and that takes time.

Bottom line: non-spammers, please comment away, especially on the current main page posts.

TECHNORATI TAGS: COMMENT SPAM, COMMENT FILTER, MOVEABLE TYPE 3.2