Solution for comment-spam in WP based blogs
Four days ago I asked if anyone knew of any good WP plugin for spam protection. Users InvestorBlogger, Sergio, and Robert Irizarry suggested Spam Karma 2. Thank you guys!
I tried SK2 out and the SPAM has been reduced from over 300 comments per day to about 20 comments per day, which is a tremendous improvement. I would say 20 comments a day is very manageable.
Spam Karma 2
Good thing about Spam Karma 2 is that it allows you to configure it really rigorously. If you are getting too many spam comments you can set most of the filters to “strict”. I left most of them at “normal” state, and even at “normal” state it could reduce the spam from 300 to 20. Below is the preferences page for SK2, click to enlarge.
With Spam Karma, you don’t have to deactivate your Akismet plugin. It works with Akismet plugin just fine and even sends some comments to Akismet for moderation (especially if you set first time commenter’s comments to go for moderation).
Bad Behavior
Another useful plugin is Bad Behavior. This plugin allows you to block commenters from even trying to comment on your blog if they match the spammer criteria. Prevention is better than cure, right? This saying applies to Bad Behavior. Because it prevents bots from harvesting email addresses from your blog, and from auto filling your comment fields if they match bad behavior criteria.
I was not able to install Bad Behavior immediately, because my blog’s table names in the database are different from the default names that are set in WP. However I am planning to figure out a fix for it to install it on my blog. I recommend you to use this plugin if you are using normal default table names in your blog. Especially if you see a growing sign of spam comments in your blog.
Two layers of protection
So with prevention (BB) and cure (SK2 + Akismet), you should be able to eliminate 95% of the spam that your blog receives. Five percent SPAM that you get might pass these plugins because they might be user generated comments. Comments that have links in their signatures, comments that have few words (eg. Cool, thanks! mylinkdot com), comments that are off-topic etc.
Otherwise, I think these plugins are pretty much the solution for any WordPress based blogs that are suffering from comment-spam.
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By Reverse Funnel System Review on Jan 15, 2008
I’m using Spam Karma 2 in my blog and it works very good for me. Dont get now any spam comments.
By Sergio on Jan 15, 2008
hey! thanks to the maker of the plugin Dave (unknowngenius.com/blog/me/) and all the people who tested the spam karma, cheers and im glad to help you.
By Robert Irizarry on Jan 17, 2008
I’m glad you’re experiencing such good results with it! Even for a smaller blog like mine, it’s been a great addition.
BTW - I spent some time experimenting with Spam Karma’s settings but ultimately cranked them all up. I’ve run like this for over four months without impacting legitimate comments.
By xBrain on Jan 18, 2008
A Simple trivial solution to that stupid spam bot problem.
Do this
Notice which THEME YOU ARE USING .
Check using the Presentation tab of your WP-Admin
Go to the /wp-content/themes/ThemeYouAreUsing/
Edit Comments.php [File manager in CPANEL will allow you to do that]
Find /wp-comments-post.php
Rename it to something you like, say human-comment.php
Save it!Upload it.
If your site uses a Comment Popup, edit that one too! Same thing applies
Then go to / directory and rename the wp-comments-post.php to the thing you renamed it to be …for me human-content.php
Now…test it
type http://xbrain.biz/wp-comments-post.php in yr URL (use yr own url )
you must get a 404 error!
then see if the spammers still get to you!
No need edit htaccess or what not! And no need for Akismet too! Headaches!
By Make Money Online on Jan 23, 2008
Akismet with a captcha like you have should take care of 99% of your comment spam. Thats all I use and never have more than one thats get through per week.
By War Gold on Jan 24, 2008
xBrain is right on the money! We use a similar approach with our company blog, pretty much takes spam bots out the picture entirely. It’s then simply a question of manually monitoring content.
Retaining nofollow is the best way to avoid manual spammers, as it makes their practice virtually worthless.
By burs on Aug 2, 2008
I dont understand how is plugins deciding a post which spam or not spam? please tell me