That’s my goal at least. Right about now it feels like this blog managed to get on a spam list that is just flooding my email box with new registrations and comments. 99.9% of them seem to be spam. Up until now, I’ve used Akismet and it’s been a great savior from spam. But even then I rarely got spammed, and rarely had Akismet spam to delete because of it. That seems to have changed, and it looks like I’m not the only one.
Maybe it is just seasonal. Maybe the spammers out there got bored sitting in there basements and invented some new method that is getting around what has been working. Who knows. But I’m starting to get really annoyed and looking for a new method of getting around the spam.
I’ve decided to give a couple of things a try, in addition to Akismet. I’ll try one at a time, and see what happens.
I’m going to take a look at the following and I’ll write back later whether or not I see it helping with each individual one:
Worst Offenders
Bad Behavior
Spam Karma
SpamValve is also a possibility, but it sounds like more of a server thing and I’d have to talk to my Sys Admin about that.
I also might try ‘Did You Pass Math?’. It’s standards compliant comment check that asks you to solve a basic math problem and can be found here.
In all honesty, I am considering whether to try the math comment check first. It seems like it would be a workable solution, yet I hate making things any more complicated for commenters.
So, cross your fingers for me as I prepare to battle spammers.
~Nicole
I’ve recently released a stand alone Worst Offenders plugin (release history) which enables you to stay current with the latest Akismet release, so do be sure to use the current version – and remember that all feedback is useful 🙂
The one flaw in the “did you pass maths” plugin is that it cannot stop trackback and pingback spam, but it’s a very effective solution to comment spam, so certainly worth considering.