Hi rinamf,
Yes, the minimum comment length is 15 characters, which equates to approximately 3 words. This is not an unusual feature in anti-spam plugins.
That feature is not likely to cause a reduction in comments on your blog, unless they were extremely short, or submitted by spambots.
The minimum comment length feature has been put in place by design. A lot of people want to get a free link and write the minimum amount to get that free link. The minimum length setting is there to reduce spam by encouraging people to actually participate in the blog and say something meaningful, instead of just trying to get a freebie.?I’ve done quite a bit of blogging in my day, and it’s generally considered important to encourage and seek higher-quality conversation on a blog, which means people need to give more than one word answers. Which isn’t that hard if you think about it. If I find a blog I’m even moderately into, I’m happy to contribute more than that. When the kind of people who are quality commenters see a blog filled with one word responses it actually drives them away because it ends up just being a lot of noise with not much substance…they want to participate in a community where people are saying something meaningful. You may not realize it but that setting has probably encouraged some people on your blog to say more than they would have…and it will continue to do so over time. It’s increasing the quality of your blog, both to users, and to Google. (Believe it or not, not allowing those short responses will contribute to helping your site rank better in Google.)
You probably don’t know me or my background but I have been blogging professionally and doing internet marketing for a long time so I do know a thing or two in this area, and I promise you what I’m saying is truth, tried and true. ??
This particular feature was put in on purpose after years of experience in the area, and because it does so much more good than harm, I need to leave that feature in place. But with any good thing, there are frustrating aspects, I know.
As always, you have the freedom of choice, and if this is just too frustrating, then I completely understand and this plugin may not be the right one for you…you’re free choose another one if that is suited better for you. And that’s ok.
If you would like to see what comments have been blocked, please see FAQ #1. If you turn on Blocked Comment Logging Mode, you can see that the blocked comments are indeed spam.
If you have further feature or support requests, please submit them through the WP-SpamShield Support Page, as that’s the best way to get quick responses.
Have a good one.
– Scott
