I’ve received a few emails about comments not being immediately posted, and just wanted to assure everyone that all legit comments (whether we agree with them or not) are being posted, at least eventually. Blog comment and trackback spam has become the bane of blogmasters everywhere. In fact, it’s gotten so bad that I’ve turned off trackbacks for ASZ.

The spam and security services we use on ASZ will occasionally flag a comment that isn’t spam as spam. The spam holding queue is checked several times a day, and when a non-spam comment gets inadvertently captured, it’s immediately released. So, if your comment doesn’t show up right away, now you know why. If you’ve received a “spam” screen, and feel it’s in error, please contact us at: allspinzone -at- yahoo -dot- com, and we’ll look into it.

FYI, here’s ASZ’s trackback, comment, usage / privacy policies, and republishing policies updated as of 2/7/2007:

1. Trackbacks - due to the proliferation of trackback spam, ASZ no longer accepts trackbacks from other blogs. Sorry about that! I think the usefulness of trackbacks has kind of diminished over the years, anyway.

2. Comments - we love comments! However, if you’re commenting on an article that’s archived (ie. it’s not showing up on the main page), be aware that your comment probably won’t show up right away. We manually approve comments to older articles rather than allowing the comment to be automagically posted. This is because most comment spammers target older postings. Additionally, if you’re visiting ASZ via an anonymous proxy server, your comments will probably end up in a moderation or spam queue.

3. User records & privacy - ASZ records IP addresses of all visitors. Our site logs also retain other data about users. Normally, this data is just aggregated to give us “big picture” stats. We don’t sell, share, or otherwise use the individual personal data of anyone accessing this site. But, the bottom line is: if you’re an online evil doer, it doesn’t take a whole lot of CSI work to track you down. We’re absolutely anal about pursuing spammers and DOS offenders through their ISPs (and this is also why visitors coming in through anonymous proxies have limited site access).

4. Site access - The ground rules are pretty simple. In deference to our valued readers, we have a very low tolerance for bullshit. Intelligent dissent is encouraged, and we welcome reasoned viewpoints from all sides of the political spectrum. Ad hominem attacks, however, have no place in intelligent discourse. While we hold the concept of free speech near and dear to our hearts, on a privately owned forum such as ASZ, free speech does not confer the right to be an insufferable asshole to other community members or to the staff and management of ASZ. Pure stupidity (continuing such attacks or other crapola after a warning) gets banned, at the sole discretion of the blogmaster and / or editors.

5. Republishing Policy - ASZ is available online and via RSS feed for personal use by those who read the site. Republishing of original content from ASZ on other websites is not authorized, other than minor excerpts as allowed by the fair use provisions of international copyright law. All content ©, All Spin Zone, 2003 - 2008. Republishing inquires can be directed to allspinzone -at- yahoo -dot- com.

Thanks!