Comments: How to Avoid the Spam Filter

DISQUS uses a double filter — Akismet and its own spam filter. Akismet is the spam filter used by WordPress and is quite efficient, rarely catching a legitimate comment. I never review the Akismet filter, because it traps hundreds of spams per day.

However, evidently the proprietary filter for DISQUS traps some legitimate comments and I will check it. Here’s how to avoid the filter —

1. No more than one hyperlink per comment. As hyperlink addresses are automatically converted to hyperlinks, you need to either divide your comment into multiple comments or else intentionally prevent the software from interpreting the address as a hyperlink (h**p:).

2. Not too long. I don’t know how long is too long. DISQUS doesn’t seem to publish the rule. If you post a long comment and it doesn’t show up, email me and ask me to rescue it. I’ll likely find it anyway, but it would help me to know to look for it.

In fact, anytime a comment doesn’t show up, let me know. It’ll help me figure out what triggers the filter.