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, and it worked great. The biggest problem was the need to redo it after every upgade. Granted the time spent redoing it is nothing compared to dealing with the hundreds of robots leaving comment spam. After the last upgrade I did not have time to complete my spam fix due to other time pressures and commitments. It did not take long for the comment bots to start taking advantage of the opening. In a few short days I had hundreds of automated comment spam piling and stinking up my blog like the giant a pile of horse shit that it is. Thank goodness for Akismet 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.
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.
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.
I swear by Akismet no need for captcha and amazingly accurate!
I hate spam! It is horrible!
I believe comment spam sucks, but my Akismet does the trick for me.
Good post, however i find using recaptcha works fine and only the more sophisticated bots can crack it with captcha outsourcing.
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