documentation

Here's some documentation that may be of use to others. It could use an explanation of Akismet admin. I've attached a pdf version of it as well.

Using the spam-moderation tool (Akismet)

When new content is submitted on the site, it will usually be published immediately. But, completely invisible in this process, in between the moment when a user clicks “submit” and when the new item appears on the site a few seconds later, the website consults a service called “Akismet” to find out if the new item looks like spam. If it does, it will not be published, but instead will go to a spam-moderation queue for you to check on later if you choose. If Akismet’s automatic service thinks it looks normal, then the software publishes it on the site, and Akismet admins still have the option to remove it later.

“Spam” and “ham”

As an Akismet admin, you will see attached to each item on the site a link that says “submit spam”. You use this if Akismet fails to catch an item of spam. When you click “submit spam”, three things happen:
1) The item is unpublished from the site (removed from public view),
2) It is flagged as spam— you can still see it and get it back (until it is deleted automatically after a set period of time), and
3) Akismet is told that they made a mistake, and resent a copy of the item. Their spam-filtering process gets better through these submissions.

If you are viewing an item that you or Akismet has marked as spam, then the “submit spam” link will no longer appear, and you will instead see a “submit ham” link. In this context, “ham” means an item that has been misclassified as spam. When you click “submit ham”, the 3 steps above are reversed:

1) The item published to the site (made publicly visible),
2) Its “spam” designation is removed, and
3) Akismet is told that they made a mistake (that they falsely condemned the item), and resent a copy of the item. Their spam-filtering process improves through these submissions, too.

“Published” and “unpublished”

Besides seeing the link for “submit spam” or “submit ham” on each item, you will also see one for “publish”, or “unpublish”, depending on whether or not the item is published. You should use “unpublish” for inappropriate or undesired content that is not spam. For example, if someone posted a racist or sexist comment that you felt is completely inappropriate, or merely a posting that is off-topic, you should click “unpublish”, whereas if someone posts an advertisement for Viagra or puts links to online casinos or porn sites, you should click “submit spam”.

Note that “publish” and “unpublish” basically just do step 1 from the lists above, but not steps 2 or 3.

Bulk moderation

There is second way that you can deal with spam/ham. Rather than doing it item-by-item as you happen to see them, you can go to the Akismet moderation queue. To get here, click on “Administer”, then on “Content management”, and then “Akismet moderation queue”. (Or just go directly to http://womenwantanswers.com/admin/content/akismet)

From here, you can select several items at once, and mark them all as spam/ham, or published/unpublished.

The items in the moderation queue are broken down into three categories:
1) Spam
2) Unpublished, and
3) Published

Unfortunately, these names are not completely clear. What they really mean is:
1) Unpublished items that are also marked as spam
2) Unpublished items that are not marked as spam, and
3) Published items, whether or not they are marked as spam.

Note that this means that you can click “publish” for items of spam, and it will make them visible on your site, even though they are still considered to be spam. We do not recommend that you do this, since anything marked as spam will deleted automatically from your site several days after it is first marked as spam.

Settings

There are a couple of settings that that system admins can change:

- How long to keep spam before deleting it. (Currently, this is set to 2 weeks.)

- How many records to show on each page in the moderation queue. (Currently, this is set to 50.)

Email notifications
The system can send an email to each Akismet admin, letting them know about new content. Admins can turn this off entirely if you want, but currently it is on.

Each Akismet admin, however, has the option to turn this off for their own account. Simply click on “My account”, then on “Edit”, then look for the section entitled “Akismet moderator settings”. You can turn it off there.