Title: Comments randomly going into moderation
Last modified: August 19, 2016

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# Comments randomly going into moderation

 *  [phinx](https://wordpress.org/support/users/phinx/)
 * (@phinx)
 * [16 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/comments-randomly-going-into-moderation/)
 * I’ve noticed since the last upgrade that comments by members at my site will 
   occasionally and randomly go into moderation and need to be approved by me to
   be posted.
 * This is a severe problem as it leads members to think it is intentional and they
   are being sanctioned.
 * In my settings, I have always had the checkboxes set so there is no moderation
   of comments.
 * Your assistance on this is urgently needed and very appreciated.

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

 *  [MichaelH](https://wordpress.org/support/users/michaelh/)
 * (@michaelh)
 * [16 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/comments-randomly-going-into-moderation/#post-1261501)
 * What about the Settings->Reading for these two:
 * >  * Hold a comment in the queue if it contains [X] or more links (A common characteristic
   > of comment spam is a large number of hyperlinks.) – Not too long ago, comment
   > spammers would have five, ten, or more hyperlinks in their comment spam. This
   > made it very easy for bloggers to quickly screen comments but spammers recognized
   > that and commonly use only one or two hyperlinks. You can enter a number in
   > this box to tell WordPress how many links you allow in a comment before holding
   > it for moderation.
   >  * When a comment contains any of these words in its content, name, URL, e-
   > mail, or IP, it will be held in the moderation queue. One word or IP per line.
   > It will match inside words, so “press” will match “WordPress” – In this text
   > box you can add your own spam words which will filter the comments when posted.
   > For an extensive and updated list of frequently used spam words and phrases
   > click the link to the article on Spam Words; consider adding these to your 
   > own list.
 *  Thread Starter [phinx](https://wordpress.org/support/users/phinx/)
 * (@phinx)
 * [16 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/comments-randomly-going-into-moderation/#post-1261514)
 * Michael, thanks so much for your quick response, it really is an urgent issue
   that could damage my blog if people think they’re being targeted for censorship.
 * The comments that were held did not have any links in them and I don’t have any
   entries in that filter to send any comments into moderation.
 * What else could it be?
 *  [esmi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/esmi/)
 * (@esmi)
 * [16 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/comments-randomly-going-into-moderation/#post-1261519)
 * Are you running Aksimet? It could be that 1 or 2 of your members have ended up
   on Akismet’s spam list.
 *  Thread Starter [phinx](https://wordpress.org/support/users/phinx/)
 * (@phinx)
 * [16 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/comments-randomly-going-into-moderation/#post-1261587)
 * Thanks esmi, I am running Akismet, maybe that’s what’s acting up but it shows
   no spams being caught. The comments are just sent into moderation, needing to
   be approved, not treated as spam. I’ll try disabling Akismet that but not sure
   that’s the problem.
 * Anyone have any other ideas on what else might be doing this?

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

The topic ‘Comments randomly going into moderation’ is closed to new replies.

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 4 replies
 * 3 participants
 * Last reply from: [phinx](https://wordpress.org/support/users/phinx/)
 * Last activity: [16 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/comments-randomly-going-into-moderation/#post-1261587)
 * Status: not resolved

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