Why isn't blog spam prevented by just adding a javascript handler that won't let the comment fields contain a 'www' or 'http' anywhere in the field? Seems like a simple fix to a growing problem. Sure, my name won't link to my blog/site, but is that a big deal?
Scott
· 1 year ago
I don't want to require registration. I hate when I see that on other blogs. BTW, I don't think that'll help much. I get several registrations a day from spammers with .pl email addresses. I bet these monkeys would gladly register.
Blocking countries would probably have some impact. That might be worth a try.
Kyle
· 1 year ago
The ultimate irony here is that your link back to the tool that the spammers used to target your blog now returns you as the top result for this exact post.
I wonder if seeing "Attack of the Comment Monkeys" will deter any of the monkeys.
This won't solve the problem, but a simple captcha plugin like "Did You Pass Math?" http://www.herod.net/dypm/ might outsmart some monkeys.
Scott
· 1 year ago
HAHA, that's awesome. I do hope they see it.
I have used the Did you pass math captcha previously. I even published some modifications to it to fix some annoyances with it.
It may not be exactly what you are looking for, but it does help to keep the monkeys away.
Scott
· 1 year ago
Thanks for that Vlad. Clearly that was written with these same concerns in mind. I'll give that a go.
Vlad
· 1 year ago
Scott,
I meant to leave the link to the latest version of Lucia's plugin. The new version allows you to "dofollow" trackbacks immediately. Check your e-mail.
Jayson
· 1 year ago
You can always make it so users have to post 3, 5 or 10 times before getting a link back, I'm not sure if that would decrease the spam though.
John Hunter
· 1 year ago
One plugin that I like is DoFollow by Kimmo Suominen. It allows you to nofollow individual posts. So you can just nofollow some comments while following most. It is as simple as just clicking a link (so easier than some of the other plugins methods of doing this).
It doesn't really do the things you were hoping for though. Maybe they would add the features you like?
Chris O'Byrne
· 1 year ago
Okay, this may be a dumb question, but why not just go back to using nofollow and make a post that let's all of the idiot spammers know their efforts will be futile. You can always quietly go back to dofollow and then the people that you care about receiving the benefits will receive them. Is this a possibility?
coldfusion
· 1 year ago
Difficult decision to make as to whether to turn off dofollow.
I'd go with John Hunters comment and turn it off for a while to get rid of the spammers and then introduce again quietly after some time.
Chris O'Byrne
· 1 year ago
@coldfusion: I believe that was MY suggestion to turn off the dofollow for a while... :)
Chris O'Byrne
· 1 year ago
That's okay, coldfusion, I do it all the time!
I've really struggled myself with this whole dofollow/nofollow thing. Maybe if Google had never made a big deal about it in the first place and just let things develop naturally we wouldn't have this situation with spammers. My own website uses the plugin to disable the nofollow, but I have purposely not advertised that fact to prevent the spam infestation.
Mikel
· 1 year ago
The same situation happened to me on a blog I used to run. I get lots of spam and lots of what looks like clean comments but very different from the post's subject. What they are actually doing is creating some related content around the link to give it a stronger value.Or at least that is what they are trying. And Akismet is not that great when it comes to stop spam. It stops also lots of really useful comments so is a tricky situation. I am not sure what to do next.
Scott
· 1 year ago
Robert, thanks for kind words.
I think these monkeys can do math and fill in CAPTCHAs, and judging by the hundreds and hundreds of registrations I get from people in eastern europe, they can register as well.
Besides, I believe pretty strongly that requiring registration on a blog is a comment kiss of death. I'd much rather clean up a hundred spam posts than turn away a single real commenter because of hoops to jump through.
All Comments
Looks like this post is now # 1 on that search.
Why isn't blog spam prevented by just adding a javascript handler that won't let the comment fields contain a 'www' or 'http' anywhere in the field? Seems like a simple fix to a growing problem. Sure, my name won't link to my blog/site, but is that a big deal?
Blocking countries would probably have some impact. That might be worth a try.
I wonder if seeing "Attack of the Comment Monkeys" will deter any of the monkeys.
This won't solve the problem, but a simple captcha plugin like "Did You Pass Math?" http://www.herod.net/dypm/
might outsmart some monkeys.
I have used the Did you pass math captcha previously. I even published some modifications to it to fix some annoyances with it.
http://www.jangro.com/a/2007/02/01/buh-bye-aski...
Once I put SK2 back in and started reviewing all comments, that became unnecessary.
I have been using Lucia's Linky Love
It may not be exactly what you are looking for, but it does help to keep the monkeys away.
I meant to leave the link to the latest version of Lucia's plugin. The new version allows you to "dofollow" trackbacks immediately. Check your e-mail.
It doesn't really do the things you were hoping for though. Maybe they would add the features you like?
I'd go with John Hunters comment and turn it off for a while to get rid of the spammers and then introduce again quietly after some time.
I've really struggled myself with this whole dofollow/nofollow thing. Maybe if Google had never made a big deal about it in the first place and just let things develop naturally we wouldn't have this situation with spammers. My own website uses the plugin to disable the nofollow, but I have purposely not advertised that fact to prevent the spam infestation.
I am not sure what to do next.
I think these monkeys can do math and fill in CAPTCHAs, and judging by the hundreds and hundreds of registrations I get from people in eastern europe, they can register as well.
Besides, I believe pretty strongly that requiring registration on a blog is a comment kiss of death. I'd much rather clean up a hundred spam posts than turn away a single real commenter because of hoops to jump through.