Dealing With Spam Comments On Multiple Blogs

[JDSalinger]

Hi Guys,

I am starting to have an issue with spam on my blog comments where the boys from Russia are sending me all kinds of spam messages. I know I am not alone, but what I would like to know is what are some good low cost ways to fight this problem across many blogs?

What are you guys doing to combat this problem?

[kkchoon]

If you are using wordpress, there are some plugin to counter this problem, especially the default akismet plugin.

[SeanSupplee]

Using wordpress? captcha plugin works wonders.

[JDSalinger]

Thanks for the responses.

I thought akismet was a captcha plugin. Is there a difference between the two? Also, is that what the plugins are called: "akismet" and "captcha"?

[Pat Jackson]

I haven't tried any of the captcha plugins, however, I have been using this to combat spam comments;

WordPress › WP-Ban WordPress Plugins

It lets you block individual ip's or a whole group of ip's. You could probably block a whole country if you wanted to.

Every time I get a spam comment I put the ip on my "ban" list.

[bgmacaw]

1. Use Akismet, it's installed automatically with WordPress
2. Moderate all comments
3. Use a CAPTCHA plugin to block many auto-comment programs.

[JDSalinger]

Another question:

Can you use the same API on multiple Wordpress blogs or is this problematic?

Pat,

I had tried to use some type of code to just block out Russia altogether, but it did not take. I think it is a good idea to add those ips; however, spammers will have tons of them and it seems you are still having to go in and daily add them. I suppose you could just block a country's ip's outright, but then couldn't the spammers just use an ip outside of their country to spam like using a proxy like the product hide my ip does?

[Pat Jackson]

Yeah, they probably could. However, I have noticed a lot of the spam comments I'm getting are from very similar ip's which is why I got that plugin in the first place.

Additionally, most of these comments are automatically generated so a captcha plugin would probably help a lot as well.

I doubt these guys are specifically targeting your site, but rather, they are just trying to get their comments on as many blogs as possible so I don't think them changing their ip's would be a problem.

I'm going to install a captcha plugin on all of my blogs right now, now that I think about it.

[Pat Jackson]

Originally Posted by bgmacaw

3. Use a CAPTCHA plugin to block many auto-comment programs.

Does the "simple-captcha" plugin do the job or is there a better one?

[JDSalinger]

In addition, can you use the same API on all your wordpress blogs or are there some reasons why that would be a bad idea?

[BIG Mike]

Originally Posted by JDSalinger

Another question:

Can you use the same API on multiple Wordpress blogs or is this problematic?

Pat,

I had tried to use some type of code to just block out Russia altogether, but it did not take. I think it is a good idea to add those ips; however, spammers will have tons of them and it seems you are still having to go in and daily add them. I suppose you could just block a country's ip's outright, but then couldn't the spammers just use an ip outside of their country to spam like using a proxy like the product hide my ip does?

They're probably using Proxies to get around blocking IP's geographically - it's done all the time.

Using a combination of CAPTCHA (this is losing it's effectiveness due to services like Decaptcha), email confirmation and comment moderation is really the only way to stop the spam from being displayed. It won't stop the efforts to spam your blog, but will discourage it considerably.

Many years ago I ran a locksmith business when going to university. Whenever I'd run into a smartass customer who'd insist that if someone wanted to break in, no amount of security would stop them, I'd always agree wholeheartedly.

And then I'd comment, "The goal isn't so much to keep them out, but rather to get them to look for an easier target, like your neighbors, who don't use deadbolts or alarm systems."

The same is true for spammers - there are so many easy targets out there, they won't bother with the difficult ones.

[Clyde Dennis]

Originally Posted by BIG Mike

They're probably using Proxies to get around blocking IP's geographically - it's done all the time.

Using a combination of CAPTCHA (this is losing it's effectiveness due to services like Decaptcha), email confirmation and comment moderation is really the only way to stop the spam from being displayed. It won't stop the efforts to spam your blog, but will discourage it considerably.

Many years ago I ran a locksmith business when going to university. Whenever I'd run into a smartass customer who'd insist that if someone wanted to break in, no amount of security would stop them, I'd always agree wholeheartedly.

And then I'd comment, "The goal isn't so much to keep them out, but rather to get them to look for an easier target, like your neighbors, who don't use deadbolts or alarm systems."

The same is true for spammers - there are so many easy targets out there, they won't bother with the difficult ones.

Getting the evil doers to leave you alone by encouraging them to look for softer, easier targets. Brilliant!

[jasonmorgan]

read up on .htaccess, it's your friend.

I currently block Russia and China. I used to block most of the planet but I've grown nicer and now allow that random traffic from Zimbabwe and Turkey.