Lola’s Ramblings: Do You Check Your Spam?

Posted September 29, 2016 by Lola in Lola's Ramblings / 44 Comments

LolaRamblings

Lola’s Ramblings is a feature on my blog Lola’s Reviews where I ramble on about a book related or a non-book related topic. These are discussion type of posts where I talk about a topic and readers can weigh in on the topic in the comments. Usually these posts are everything that doesn’t fall under any standard header, like tours, cover reveals, memes, challenges, recaps or reviews. Lola’s Ramblings posts are discussions of a certain topic and my point of view on them. The banner for this feature is designed by Michelle from Limabean Designs.

This topic was inspired when a month or so ago I had a day when all my comments on other blogs went to spam and a post from an author in a facebook group about e-mails landing in spam. Your spam folder whether on your blog or your e-mail is there for a reason and most of the time it works quite well, but sometimes things you did sign-up or want to receive land in spam or things you don’t want to receive don’t land there. So that made me wonder if people actually check their spam.

Do I check my spam and how often

I’ve had newsletters from authors I signed-up for land in spam and I had to fish them out and genuine comments on my blog that landed in comment spam folder that iI had to unspam. So I know it can be handy to check my spam folder now and then. My e-mail spam folders I check quite regularly. Especially the e-mails I use most often, the lesser used ones I also check less often and I have one e-mail address forward to another, but sometimes e-mails land in the spam before getting forwarded and I don’t check that folder as often. My Lola’s Blog Tours e-mail address received a lot of spam a few months ago and every time I checked I found my spam folder filled with them, so most of the time there is spam in there. But sometimes a real e-mail lands in there and I am always glad I checked so I can get it out. I think I check my spam folder every day or a few times each week on my most used e-mail accounts. I don’t want to miss anything important and even though most of the time the only thing I find in my spam folder is spam, I also had to rescue some important e-mails from there.

Then again I am pretty bad at checking my blog spam, I get a lot of real spam in there and it can be a pain to wade through that to see if there’s something real in there. It seems that with e-mail I have a quick and easy overview and can see if there’s something in my spam that doesn’t belong there and get it out, but with my blog spam I have to check multiple pages. Sometimes I do check it though, but it’s sporadically or when someone lets me know their comments didn’t go through. That last thing doesn’t happen as often, but it does happen sometimes.

What do I do when your comment or e-mail goes to spam?

The situation I mentioned with my comments going to spam did also spark a conversation with another blogger about what we do when that happens. I mentioned I usually just contact someone on twitter and let them know my comment might’ve gotten to spam. Sometimes it happens when visiting another blog that my comment doesn’t post, which means it either goes to spam or the blogger has some to manually approve comments. For the blogs I regularly visit I usually know which of the two it is and some blogs who manually approve comments have a message that says so. When I post a comment on a blog I usually leave the site shortly after that, but I do sometimes check if my comment posted. Some days this is more of a habit and there are days when I am more busy and I might forget this. If I notice my comment doesn’t post while it should have I usually refresh the page a time or two first to see if that works. If my comment still doesn’t show up I usually just click away and forget about it or send the blogger a dm on twitter. I usually only do the latter if I know the blogger. I don’t want anyone to think I am not visiting back, but it does always feel like I am bothering the other person. Then again if someone’s comment doesn’t go through on my blog I would want them to let me know about it. So I usually use that thought to convince myself to ask them anyway. The worst that can happen is that it didn’t go to spam and I was wrong.

With e-mails it often depends on the e-mail in question. It’s harder to know if your e-mail landed in spam or not. As not all e-mails require an answer, so if you don’t hear back it could be because of that or because it never arrived or landed in spam. And most e-mails aren’t that important that I would double check to make sure. The only exception is work related e-mails. If an author books a new tour and I e-mail them about it and don’t hear back on that e-mail for a week or so I might dm them on tiwtter or facebook to see if they received it. It’s pretty important to make sure those e-mails arrive so that’s the only e-mails were I might double check to see if they arrived and only if they are e-mails that require an answer, like an e-mail to set-up a tour for example.

Do you check your spam? What do you do when your comment or e-mail goes to spam?

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44 responses to “Lola’s Ramblings: Do You Check Your Spam?

  1. The email I use for blogging almost never gets real spam, so any time I see something in that folder, I check because it’s usually something legit. My blog does get some spam, but not a ton, so I check it every few days or week or so if I see there’s stuff in it.

    When my comments were going to spam on all the blogs, I started doing your thing after we talked about it lol. Well, I just tweeted to people instead of DMing. But now that I’m not having that issue anymore, I don’t bother. If my comment doesn’t show up, I assume it just needs to be approved or something, unless it’s a blog that I just so happen to remember that my comments always show up right away. Like, I’d notice if my comment didn’t show up here on your blog. But most blogs I don’t even pay enough attention to remember that.

    The email thing just kinda sucks. I’ve sent emails before when books were being offered or something, you know, times when I really don’t see any reason why I wouldn’t have gotten a response, but I never send another email because I worry that there is still a chance that they got it and just didn’t want to respond, and I don’t want to bother them :-/
    Kristen @ Metaphors and Moonlight recently posted…Book Review: The Beast Without (Arcadia Trust Book 1) by Christian BainesMy Profile

    • I do get some legit spam, but I always check as quite some of the things in there are legit. My work e-mail actually seems to be the worst in receiving spam, I get spam e-mail sprees there where all the e-mails have the same titles and start of the e-mail. Luckily they nicely land in spam.

      After that time when all my comments went to spam I didn’t have any trouble afterwards, it just seemed to be an issue those few days. And nowadays everything seems to work fine again. I don’t always pay attention to the blog commenting system, but with the blogs like yours that I visit regularly I do remember if my comment shows up or not.

      Sending e-mails and then not hearing back is always so difficult because you never know if they didn’t deem it necessary to respond or if they didn’t receive it. And I don’t want to bother anyone by resending it, so I usually don’t. Unless it really is an important e-mail or when I get a failure to deliver e-mail back.

  2. I actually don’t have a spam folder for my email so it all dumps into one spot b/c of the issues you describe. I don’t get much spam so far so not having a spam folder works at the moment. Now if I end up having to sort through a lot in future, I’ll have to restore the spam folder.

    You do make me wonder now how many times my comments don’t end up on the blog page or where the blogger can see them. Most of the time, I comment and move on and rarely go back and check my comments. There are a few times when I’ve noticed that something is wonky at a particular blog and will contact the blogger and other times I get lazy and don’t bother if the refresh page doesn’t work to get my comment to show. I do worry a little that they think I’m not visiting, but usually it’s working the next time I visit.
    Sophia Rose recently posted…Locked and Loaded by Mandy Baxter #ReviewMy Profile

    • I didn’t even knew it was possible to not have a spam folder, but that’s good you don’t get much spam. My work e-mail gets the most spam, usually these sprees with spam e-mails once in awhile.

      It’s almost impossible to say how many of your comments don’t post. I am sure it’s usually not as bad and I only thought of it when a few weeks ago I had this day where every comment seemed to go to spam. And if it’s working again the next time you visit at least it means whatever was wrong probably got solved, so that’s good :).

  3. I don’t get very much spam on my blog as WordPress seems to be very efficient at winnowing it out, so checking every week for the one or two articles that get through they’ve labelled spam isn’t much of a chore. About one in ten of those are legit – normally from someone who hasn’t contacted me before, but it takes the click of a button to put it in the right place and then respond. As for email – before I clear out my Junk file, I do whip through it to see if there is anything there that shouldn’t be – but to be honest that is a cursory glance and it would be easy to miss something.

    • WordPress.com probably has some standard installed plugins that sort the spam out, it’s good to know they work well. And indeed it’s easy to correct it when there is a comment that lands wrongly.

      At least with a cursory glance you might still catch something that doesn’t belong in the spam.

  4. Interesting topic! So I’m dreadful at checking my email spams. Most me email I only check from my phone, it’s rare that I’ll go on the computer. And that makes spam a pain to check – it also make me forget about it. If I’m expecting something and I don’t see it, then I check spam. Otherwise, yeah, it’s like never.

    My comment spam I check – I feel like Akismet has gotten dreadful at blocking my spammers and keeps blocking regular commenters! So I keep an eye on that.
    Berls recently posted…Can you stop anywhere?My Profile

    • I don’t have a phone with internet, so I never thought of that point of view. That’s interesting! On my computer it often is pretty obvious when there is something in spam on my e-mail so usually check it regularly. And if I check every day there isn’t as much in it and it’s easily done.

      Sometimes real comments land in spam. I try and check it once a week or so or when someone lets me know. But where I am great at checking my e-mail spam, I should get better at it for my comments.

  5. I check my blog spam every few weeks, or when it reaches 60+ spam comments. I’ve found a few comments that were sent to spam that shouldn’t have been, so I try to check it at least twice a month if not more often.

    For my e-mail? I get so much junk as well as important e-mails a day, that I don’t actually check the spam! I’ll go through the junk folder a few times a day, as that’s a manageable thing. But my spam folder isn’t actually a separate folder. My e-mail is set up to send all spam to either the trash can (which has hundreds and hundreds of e-mails!) or it never actually arrives anywhere I know where to find it. (And I don’t think I can change that…) So unless someone contacts me and says “hey did you get this e-mail?” I have no easy way of knowing if something has gone to spam or not.

    As far as I know, I’ve only had one comment go to someones spam on their blog. I meant to poke her to let her know, but got distracted and eventually decided not to bother because her blog gets so many comments the spam must be astronomical!
    Silvara recently posted…Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children #1) by Ransom Riggs (review)My Profile

    • I also try to check now and then, I probably should check more often as it does happen sometimes that comments land there.

      Oh that is confusing you don’t have a spam folder. I usually check my spam folder every day or so.

      It’s a shame when your comment goes to spam. I usually let the person know as I know I personally would like to her about that, but sometimes I forget. And I can imagine that the bigger the blog the more spam you get as well.

  6. I try to check my spam folder in my email every few weeks just to clear it out. And yes, I do get things in there that don’t belong but I let Google know that those aren’t spam. 🙂 As for my blog, I never check my spam. I don’t even know how! I did when I was using the Blogger commenting system but since I switched to Disqus, I haven’t. Makes me wonder if I have things in there though. You’ve spurred me to action, Lola. 😀
    Bookworm Brandee recently posted…Books & Crafts #6 ~ #Bookblogger #CraftCircleMy Profile

    • It always a good idea to get those real e-mails out of there and mark them as not spam, most e-mail programs are smart enough to know to not put those e-mails in spam again. It’s kinda neat. I have no clue where your spam would be with Disqus or on blogger.
      I have to check my spam on my blog more often as was obvious this week. I still appreciate you letting me know about comments landing in spam, it’s difficult to remember to check, but when someone lets me know I always check right away and know what to look for.

  7. I check my e-mail for spam every week, and it’s very seldom I find anything there that doesn’t belong there, thank goodness!
    I check the spam-folder on my blog every day though. Both to make sure there are no legitimate comments hiding there (quite often, there are!) and also to put all those spam-comments in the trash. They take up server space I want to keep fro actual comments, you know?
    There has been a lot of WordPress blogs lately where comments went to spam, and that is never fun! Usually, I have done the same thing you have, Lola, I have tweeted the person to let them know I think my comment has been high jacked…
    Lexxie @ (un)Conventional Bookviews recently posted…Thirsty Thursday and Hungry Hearts #84 – Magic BindsMy Profile

    • That’s good you hardly get legitimate e-mails in your spam. I should check my blog spam more often as like you said legitimate comments sometimes end up there. I think the spam folder gets emptied once in a while, but sometimes I empty it manually. Not sure what is going on with the comments going to spam on wordpress. But luckily if you contact the blogger it’s usually easily fixed.
      Lola recently posted…Review: His to Protect by Karen RockMy Profile

  8. I very rarely get comments going to spam, which surprises me actually, but I haven’t had the problem too much (knock on wood). However I think I remember that day a few weeks ago or whenever, because just about every WP blog I commented on my comments didn’t show up. I assumed they went right to spam and judging from some replies it seems they did. I do check spam daily though just as a regular part of checking my email… I’m kinda OCD that way.

    I was hesitant to contact people on Twitter about it too, because what if it didn’t go t spam lol? Although it happened so much I was pretty sure that was the deal…
    Greg recently posted…NerveMy Profile

    • That day a few weeks ago it was very bad. I think some plugin probably changed their spam rules.

      I usually check my spam daily or regularly as part of my email too, you never know what lands it there.

      I always glad when someone lets me know when comments go to spam as I don’t always catch that myself. But I also am a bit hesitant sometimes to contact people as you never know for sure if they go to spam or not.

  9. I do check my spam folders, but not as often as I should. With email, I’ve occasionally had non-spam emails go to spam, so if I’m expecting an email I don’t get, I look there. And if I’m expecting an answer to an email I’ve written, I send another email to make sure they got my first one — and the second time, I send it from two different addresses just to be sure.

    With my blog, I’ve had really good success with Akismet up until just recently. Akismet sends stuff to spam, and I have it set to discard the really egregious stuff automatically, which means I only have to look at the ones that are less obviously spam. That was working great… until I checked it yesterday and found about 10 emails from regular contributors to the blog — people who should be on the “approved” list. (When someone comments on my blog for the first time, or uses a different name than they did in the past, I have to approve/moderate their comment. After that, they should be automatically approved, so their comments post immediately.) I have no idea why Akismet tagged those comments as spam, but I feel really bad that it took me about a month to check my spam folder and notice they were there! So I’ll have to make sure to check once a week from now on.
    Lark @ The Bookwyrm’s Hoard recently posted…Death of a Reenactor: Darkest Journey (Heather Graham)My Profile

    • Sometimes it’s just best to send another e-mail or contact someone in a different way to make sure they got it. Good idea to send it from two different addresses! That way you might get around their spam filter.

      Your first comment on this post actually was in my spam, then i got it out and noticed you already posted again. So not sure why the same comment got through once and in spam the other time. Sometimes it’s just doesn’t make sense. I just got 15 comments out of spam earlier this week after a blogger notified me. Sometimes it goes well and other weeks there’s suddenly a bunch in there. Checking once a week sounds like a good idea, I should start doing that too.

  10. I get a notification email every time I get a comment on my blog. So if I click on that comment and it’s not there I look in the blog spam and either delete it if it’s spam or approve it if it’s not. It doesn’t happen very often.

    I actually have 8 email addresses. I use each one for something different. The one I use for getting free samples ends up getting hundreds of spam messages each day. I don’t check the spam box for that particular email address because that’s the only thing I use it for.

    My regular email address where most of my correspondence with bloggers and family get only a few spam messages a day. I look at them and clear them out.

    The other email address I don’t use much so they hardly ever get any messages, spam or other wise.
    Mary Kirkland recently posted…Review: Walmart Welcome Baby BoxMy Profile

    • I only get e-mails from comments that get posted not the ones that go to spam. Ten again I do get quite some spam each day, so maybe that’s a good thing.

      I can imagine that the spam folder for such an e-mail address doesn’t needs checking if that’s the only thing you use it for. My blogger e-mail gets some spam and real e-mails like newsletter that land in spam sometimes, so it’s good to check that one now and then.

  11. I usually wait and make sure my comment posted before I leave the blog (unless it says it will need to be manually added), so if it didn’t post, chances are I just didn’t realize. However, for email spam, I check my spam before I check my regular email, that way it doesn’t add up and I can keep on top of things. I do get emails that are important in there, so I just move it. Most of it usually IS spam though. It’s good to check though!!
    Let’s Get Beyond Tolerance recently posted…Liebster Blog Award: Get to Know Me!My Profile

    • I usually check to make sure my comment posted as well, although I sometimes forget. I also check my e-mail spam regularly and it helps as it doesn’t add up that way, if only I would do the same with my blog. And yes most of it is actually spam, but it’s good to check to make sure.

  12. I have a think about SPAM I need to check it almost every day. I have lost a few things in spam a while ago and now seem to check. I will also once a week check my spam for my blog just to make sure I haven’t missed anyone or someone slipped in the cracks of my blog. I know WP was having an issue with spam a while ago. Thankfully none really gets through without checking for my approval first but I hate when people that visit regularly get asked to be approved. That was happening this week but I think I was having a blog issue that is now, I hope, fixed.

    Awesome post, Lola!
    Michelle @Because Reading recently posted…I never thought it would happen…just a posted noteMy Profile

    • It is sure is good to check your spam regularly as sometimes legitimate things end up in there. I’ll have to be better about checking my blog spam, just got 15 comments out of there this week. But I do pretty well with my e-mail spam checking.

  13. Ugh, the dreaded spam! The weird thing is, for some reason my spam usually comes in spurts. So for whatever reason, my spam plugin thingy will be fine, only getting rid of actual spam, for months! And then one day, someone will give me a heads up that their comment may have gone to spam, and BOOM, there are 10 legit comments in spam. SO, I mark them as not spam, approve them, and then meticulously check the spam for WEEKS. Then it doesn’t happen again, so I forget to check… and then the cycle repeats hahha.

    As for email, I do check every so often. But I never know WHAT to do about emails that I have sent! I feel like some I send DO go to spam, because it is NOT like the person to not respond, but I also don’t know how to stop it from doing so? I hate that, because I never want to be a huge pain, but I also don’t want the person to think I didn’t email them! That is definitely a HUGE struggle for me- I still don’t know what the best thing to do is! Awesome post, Lola!
    Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight recently posted…This Adventure Ends Blog Tour: This Adventure SwimsMy Profile

    • Yes same here, it feels like week or months it be fine and then suddenly one week (like this one) I get 15 comments out of it at once. Thanks to someone giving me a heads-up. And indeed I check better for a few days and then forget again. I should get better about checking it once a week or so.

      I feel like with sending e-mails it’s really difficult as you never know for sure whether it arrived or not and you don’t want to bother the, but you also want to know if they got your e-mail and not have them think you didn’t e-mail. And like you i still don’t know what’s the best course. I usually just decide on a case by case basis. Sometimes I sent them a message on twitter for example asking if they got my e-mail, sometimes I send another one and other times I just wait and see.

  14. When my comments first started going to spam, I thought it was something going on with my internet connection. All the sites were sites that I commented on all the time and never had issues. I had commented several times. Then I messaged someone and figured out that my comments were going into spam. I then started attempting to pay more attention to if my comments posted or not, I know I still missed some. I’ve been checking my spam folders on my blogs and while there is some there, there isn’t a ton. I do try to check at least once a week.

    I do get some spam emails, but most of the spam that goes into those folders are actually spam. I did have a publisher’s request list going into spam. I added a filter in Gmail to not allow those emails into spam anymore. I also added all my publishers contacts to that filter, so I know I won’t miss any.
    Melanie Simmons @mlsimmons recently posted…No Good Dragon Goes Unpunished Audiobook by Rachel Aaron (REVIEW)My Profile

    • I think checking at least once a week is a good idea. And sometimes the spam plugins change something and comments suddenly go to spam. It seems to go in burst,m some weeks nothing and the other weeks I get a bunch out of spam.

      I’ve had a few author newsletters or review request go to spam, that I had to unspam, but mostly it’s actual spam that lands there.

  15. Thankfully with Disqus that doesn’t really happen. It sends you an email every time someone comments no matter if it’s a legit one or they think it’s spam. So you know right away. But spam is very rare with Disqus. I might get 5 comments a year that it considers spam.

    My email spam folder I check every day or two.
    anna @ herding cats & burning soup recently posted…Interview w/ Peggy Lampman– Food, People. Glorious Food!My Profile

    • That’s good to know spam is rare with disqus, I don’t think I ever had a comment on disqus go to spam. Probably because you have to log in to comment.

  16. Since I switched to Disqus a few years ago, I don’t get ANY spam on my blog anymore. Nothing. So I don’t need to check that. But when it comes to email, I check it maybe once per month. I don’t use gmail for anything important, and I have my spam filter turned low for my regular email. It just marks emails it thinks are spam, but leaves them in my inbox. So I don’t miss many!
    S. J. Pajonas recently posted…Sunday Update – September 25, 2016My Profile

    • That seems neat how you don’t get any spam with disqus, I do wonder if they just approve everything or they have a spam filter that you don’t see on your side? I don’t think I have had nay of my comments on disqus not show up so far.
      That sounds handy it does mark those e-mails, but leaves them in your inbox. i think I have that as well as sometimes I get e-mail with things blocked and I can make that visible. But it also sends things to spam.

    • It just seems some weeks or days things go wrong and comments or e-mails end up in there. It sure is odd. And good to check regularly.

    • It does sound nice to not have to worry about that. It sure is a pain sometimes when comments disappear in the spam folder. I also check my e-mail spam regularly so it doesn’t get too bad.

    • It is good to take a peek in the blog spam now and then. I don’t do as well with that myself, but it’s good to get reminded of it now and then.

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