Terri Webster Schrandt
Blogging

Polldaddy URL on Blog Comments

67 Comments

Have you ever felt as if you were being shadowed? I recently felt this way when a strange url began appearing next to comments I’d made on several blogs I’d visited.

Terri Webster Schrandt
Image Courtesy of Terri Webster Schrandt

I thought my computer had contracted malware, a virus, or worse. But a lovely Happiness Engineer at WP told me it was a link for visitors to rate either comments or blog posts. The url is associated with Polldaddy, a service of WP’s parent company, Automattic.

And the culprit is:

https://polldaddy.com/js/rating/rating.js

If this url is appearing next to comments on your blog, it’s because your Ratings feature is activated. There are two ways to disable it. Go to your WP admin panel and (1) click Settings > Ratings > Comments, or (2) click Feedback > Ratings > Settings. Then uncheck the box next to ‘Show Ratings on’ Comments.

If you already have this feature disabled on your blog, but the url shows on comments you’ve made on others’ blogs, it’s because they haven’t disabled it. The link will not appear next to comments on your blog.

Happy blogging! ❤

67 thoughts on “Polldaddy URL on Blog Comments”

  7. Tina thank you for this, I have seen it added next to comments on other peoples comments, but not noticed it against my own, so I would think mine is not active, but I thank you for showing me how to go and check it.. Love and Hugs for a great weekend.. xx Sue

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  8. Thanks for explaining this, Tina. I’ve been seeing these for a while when some people leave comments, and I’ve been ignoring them. Who has time to “rate” comments. Really? OMG. Haha. I did pop over to make sure mine are off – thank goodness. Excellent post 😀

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  11. Oh! I had seen the polldaddy links on some blogs and wondered what that was about. I had just ignored it, thinking it was advertising. Good to know the explanation behind it! I just made sure I don’t have the feature enabled on my blog. Thanks Tina!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  14. Thanks FBI PQ. I was wondering why I see that URL on over half the blogs I comment on. Now I know! Do you see it when commenting on my blog? I hope not. LOL ❤ xx Good work Sherlocke! 🙂 xxx

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  15. I currently DO use the feedback function from time to time – and DID when I followed Chris’s original advice on his earlier post about how to get rid of the darned link (which, as I said in response to your comment on my blog, worked for ONLY a while before the blasted thing was back again).

    Right NOW I’m waiting for permissions on a graphic so I can’t disable feedback until I publish the post, in any case. I’m pretty sure the answer would be NO if the link didn’t work and she couldn’t see the post on which I wanted to use it.

    ALSO, I’m not sure that the Happiness Engineers are able to stay out in front of the consequences of all their “improvements.” I now take everything they say about this particular problem with a BIG grain of salt. Getting rid of the link by disabling feedback may well work – at least for a while – but I’m not sure it’s worth giving up the other feature to see *IF* that does it for me in the long run.

    Maybe I’ll post a sidebar widget saying “IGNORE polldaddy comment links – WordPress glitch” Then again, I know that hardly anyone ever reads what I post there, so maybe not. 🙂

    It’s these little things that make blogging a toleration for me ::groan:: Otherwise it would be pure pleasure.

    If I eventually decide to stop blogging and free up a great deal of time for other endeavors (and I DO think about it), it will be directly because of the increased time required by being forced to deal with and work around the ongoing WordPress glitches and changes as time goes by, claiming that they are “improving” the platform. NOT for me. 😦

    Frustrating that they don’t DEBUG the code that causes certain standard features to conflict with the workings of others, however – choosing instead to advise temporary workarounds.

    Meanwhile, I punt – with the time I have available. Good luck to you and everyone who does choose to disable the feedback function. I truly hope that gets the job done for you.

    Meanwhile, don’t click on any polldaddy links on ANY of my comments lol – there’s only garbage at the end of that click.
    xx,
    mgh
    (Madelyn Griffith-Haynie – ADDandSoMuchMORE dot com)
    ADD/EFD Coach Training Field founder; ADD Coaching co-founder
    “It takes a village to transform a world!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. You will see them on comments on other people’s blogs when THEY have not disabled the ratings. There won’t be any on yours though unless you have inadvertently changed it again.

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

          1. Logical suggestion, AI – thanks for your concern.

            Not about this particular problem (which is truly a minor annoyance to me) – but their response to some other issues that were intermittent was decidedly unhelpful, and the back and forth quite time-consuming. I’m otherwise too busy to be their unpaid beta tester – unless I were willing to forego bathing and sleeping. 🙂

            My belief is that things happen when new code is added, or oopses during “maintenance” – and, with one notable exception, the timing of when they get straightened out generally bears no relationship to the timing of my complaint.

            But thanks for the suggestion. ❤
            xx,
            mgh

            Liked by 2 people

            Reply

    2. I hear you, Madelyn. The WP Gremlin is persistent. Seems we no sooner eliminate one glitch before another appears. I hope you don’t stop blogging. Your articles are very informative and you would be missed. Perhaps shorter posts to free up more time? ❤

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. I wish I COULD figure out how to shorten them further, Tina. I already leave out so much important background in each post that I worry that they will read too much like another of those “just do THIS” articles unless I can include enough information to increase understanding as people read (along with the “human interest” comments that, hopefully, makes the darned things readable).

        Maybe I’ll need to go down to posting only once a week – but I’d still be pulled to spend time reading and commenting.

        BUT, as I said, it’s working around the Gremlin glitches that is the hateful part – I truly enjoy almost everything else, and would sorely miss the community interaction. And YOU!
        xx,
        mgh

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

        1. Your replies came through, Madelyn, but for some reason ended up in my spam folder. I check that folder every day, so no worries. I know what you mean about leaving out vital information, so your idea of changing to a once-a-week post might be the solution. I would miss you too, my friend. I hope it doesn’t come to that. And I do wish we could wave a magic wand and be done with those Gremlin glitches 🙂 ❤

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply

  18. Hopefully your bringing this up will help more people get rid of the infuriating link. Although as some people – Madelyn Griffith-Haynie for example – have said, they need it for feedback on their own posts. But I have never clicked the link as at first I thought it was malware.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  22. Pingback: A Festival of Leaves and Some #FREE #Photos | Second Wind Leisure Perspectives
  23. Pingback: Friday Roundup – 3rd November | Stevie Turner, Indie Author.
  25. Pingback: Readers, likes and comments | From guestwriters
  26. Pingback: Readers, likes and comments | From guestwriters

Please note that when you visit, like, comment on, and share my blog posts, you are agreeing with the storage and handling of your data by WordPress. Please read the privacy statement in the above menu. Namaste, my friends ❤️

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.