Saturday, August 2, 2008

Are Progressive Blogs Being Targeted?

My blog is up and running today after being down yesterday because Blogger had to do a "spam review" of my blog.

For some reason, the fine folks at Blogger had the notion that Legal Schnauzer was throwing off spam.

The Hissyspit journal at Democratic Underground says a number of liberal/progressive bloggers have experienced similar problems in recent days and hosts an interesting discussion on the matter.

One reader notes that it's possible that similar problems are happening with conservative bloggers. But the reader at No. 15 says it has happened to a number of liberal bloggers because the flag button at Blogger can be easily abused.

Right wingers can pick out a blog they don't like and click repeatedly on the flag button, claiming it's a spam blog. The blog is automatically delisted (locked up was the term I was given) until a human review is completed.

Sounds like No. 15 knows what he/she is talking about. If that's the case, I'm going to take it as a compliment that right wingers felt my blog was deserving of such hi jinks.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can you check your site log and get the ISP of the person who hit the button again and again?
jim gundlach

Carole said...

Having followed your link, I believe that #15, ThoughtCriminal, got it exactly right. There's nothing much technical about this problem.

The ole right wingers motto: Since you can't win on the merits, just shut 'em down.

Anyway, this is a wonderful and informative blog. I arrived here via Scott Horton not too long ago, probably in a Rove story. Rove replaced Ralphing Reed as the man I most despise. Reed avoided the handcuffs (so far), but the political price he paid was worth the admission. Now I'm dreamin' of a life term in a Louisiana prison for the Rover Nazi, just for starters.

Anyway, keep up the good fight.

legalschnauzer said...

Thanks for your comments. Jim, you ask an interesting question. I'm a pretty low-tech sort, so I don't know the answer. Would welcome input from readers on this question. You would think if someone does this enough to shut down a blog several times, Blogger would get the idea that their flag function is being abused.

Robby Scott Hill said...

That's why my blog is hosted on siteground.com The servers are located in Bulgaria, a socialist/communist country that encourages the leftist point of view. Have I had one complaint or service interruption since moving the blog to Bulgaria? Nope. Do they refuse to answer lawyer letters and subpoenas from the US Court System? Absolutely!