May
7

Anti-Spam Counter Measure

2008 | Filed Under This blog 

Over the last few days Blog from Italy found itself slowing sinking under the weight of an ever increasing number of messages from people with funny Greek sounding names, who were peddling porn and a series of drugs I had never heard of. In other words, lots of spam.

Last night, to save this blog from the spam plight, I installed a spam counter measure plugin, which adds an extra field to the commenting system.

I know these things are annoying, but then so is loads of dumb spam. I have also avoided the ubiquitous captcha thingies, because I often have problems understanding what the blazes the letters and words are.

The anti-spam system I’ve put on this blog requires only a small amount of extra reading, and then one or two key presses. Very easy for us humans, but, so far, devilishly difficult for those nasty little spam spreading bots that buzz around the world wide web.

The new system seems to be doing its job, I’m pleased to say.

If you would like to know the name of the plugin I’m using, leave me a message, and I’ll reply via your email address. Although I may be reluctant to reply to anyone with a Greek sounding name, as I’m sure you’ll understand.

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Comments

5 Responses to “Anti-Spam Counter Measure”

  1. Rajab Bader on May 9th, 2008 6:43 pm

    Alex, aren’t you using Akismet? If yes, I think there is no need to use any other anti-spam tools.
    btw, are you attending the WordCamp Italy in Milan tomorrow?

  2. AlexR on May 12th, 2008 10:14 pm

    Hi Rajab,

    Sorry about the late reply. Yes, I am using Akismet, and it does work - except that I feel as though I should wade through the spam to ensure that no honest comments have become caught up - which has happened in the past.

    However the spam was becoming flood like, so I needed to keep it out of Akismet.

    I’m pleased to say that this has been achieved and now all I get is a few trackback spammy stuff.

    My maths is improving too!

    I did not, alas, make it to the WordCamp - I do have to devote some time to family life.

    Cheers,

    Alex

  3. Rajab Bader on May 14th, 2008 6:03 pm

    If you are getting tons of spam, this means that you are very well established in Google, because automate the process of finding blogs using Google;)

    btw, I’ve added you to my blogroll:
    http://www.seogladiator.com/blogroll/

  4. Rajab Bader on May 14th, 2008 6:09 pm

    Oooops! There is a typo in my previous comment. The last clause should read “, because spammers automate the process of finding blogs using Google”.

    Alex, have you ever considered installing the Edit-Comments Wordpress plugin? I think it is handy especially for us, readers.

  5. AlexR on May 14th, 2008 10:37 pm

    Rajab,

    I don’t get loads of spam, we now I don’t, I did get around 60 or so a day. Now it’s just trackback spam.

    As for the edit comments plugin - a good idea, but I think I already have too many plugins running! I’ll think about it.

    As for your ‘oooops’ - no worries - well all make typos! At least you spotted and corrected the missing subject!

    Best,

    Alex

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