Comment Spam Be Gone
I have talked about how to keep the comment bots from leaving a ton of spam comments on your WordPress blog before. That method works but it is a little clumsy because you need to edit core WordPress files and if you forget to do it again when you upgrade your blog your comments can break or you will be flooded once again with comment spam. I always wanted to take that method and create a plugin out of it, but it looks like I have been beaten to it with the creation of WP-SpamFree.
I personally was using the method I described in my previous post on my webmaster blog that kept it off my blog so I did not have to sort through the comments and delete them.
That is when I found WP-SpamFree. WP-SpamFree uses a combination of Javascript and Cookies to prevent automated comment spam from being left. While it works on a different principle than the method I described in my method, it relies on the fact that many automated comment bots cannot handle Javascript and cookies. It is an effective combination. I have been running it on my webmaster blog for just over two weeks and the number of comment spam that I have received has dropped to nearly zero. Looking at the web server log files I can tell that the comment spam I have received has been from actual people visiting the site and leaving it, not from automated comment bots.
Installation is as easy as any other WordPress plugin. Simply download the plugin and unzip it. You will need to upload it to your WordPress blog into the plugins folder. Once it has been uploaded simply activate it in your WordPress administration section by clicking Activate on the plugins page. Once it is activated you will see a WP-SpamFree menu available on the Plugins section. Here you can configure the plugin and set some additional settings to deal with trackback and pingback spam as well as some contact form settings.
If your WordPress blog is swimming in automated comment spam give the WP-SpamFree plugin a try. It might make a world of difference in the amount of comment spam you have to sort through.
Comments
Stephan Miller
But the human comment spam is almost worse. When someone leaves only one sentence or when they kind of make sense but not really. Or when they ask a question that was answered in a post. I have been getting more of these lately. Akismet has worked fine for me for a couple of years, but then again, I guess I can never be sure how many legitimate comments may have made their way into the spam bin, because I just delete them.
incognito
I know your solution avoids captcha and questions, but I'm just curious why? I've found that captcha works great. And since i went to school the math questions are easy. Since one of your features is no captcha or questions needed, maybe you can address why you prefer to use something that avoids challenging the commenter. Gross picture, btw.
Lee Robertson
True the human spam is almost worse, but the automated comment spam can be overwhelming because there can be so much of it. We have been getting a lot of one line comments here at Epiblogger lately and sometimes they sit awaiting moderation for a day or two before we decide if they are legitimate comments or not. Interestingly enough, your comment was caught by Akismat and was marked as spam! Don't know how that happened, but because the WP-SpamFree plugin stopped so many other automated spam comments I actually saw yours and marked it as not spam. If WP-SpamFree was not here your comment would probably have been marked as spam and deleted and since Akismat "learns" all your comments on WordPress blogs could end up being marked as spam. It helped save your great comment today!
Lee Robertson
Your right captcha's work to stop automated comment spam. The reason I prefer to not have a captcha on the comment form is because I want to make it as easy as possible for people to comment. Some people if they see a captcha will not leave a comment. It is like that extra field is just to much for them to handle. If I was to use a captcha on the comment form, I would go for one of the simple math question captchas because I think the are easier for people to do. I personally dislike image captchas. I get them wrong all the time on sites. The automated comment spam was starting to get out of control here at Epiblogger and at my webmaster blog and I was considering a captcha to prevent it, I just prefer the non-captcha methods. That being said we do use a simple math captcha here on our contact form and it works fine to prevent automated contact form spam. Oh and it is a gross photo isn't it! I wanted something that really showed how disgusted I am with comment spammers.
David North
I swear by <a href="http://akismet.com/">Akismet</a> no need for captcha and amazingly accurate!
Lee Robertson
I think people are missing the point. Akismet catches it, but if you have 200-300 automated spam comments do you ever look through them to see if a good comment got caught by mistake? If so how much time do you spend in a day looking through the spam folder at automated comments? WP-SpamFree does not allow automated spam from entering into your blog administration. That way Akismet can do its job and you can actually take the time to look for good comments and approve them.
Captain Falcon
I hate spam! It is horrible!
Dewaldt Huysamen
I believe comment spam sucks, but my Akismet does the trick for me.
Barlam Enterprises
Good post, however i find using recaptcha works fine and only the more sophisticated bots can crack it with captcha outsourcing. <abbr><em>Barlam Enterprises’s last blog post..<a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/azwebdesign/~3/thNTL0O_jEM/intel-cache-poisoning-bug-could-be-troublesome-for-linux-xen-environments" rel="nofollow">Intel Cache Poisoning Bug Could Be Troublesome for Linux Xen Environments</a></abbr></em>