I’ve changed the the way my comments work, if you make a comment on the site it now appears instantly - instead of getting placed into a moderation queue. People used to wonder why comments didn’t appear right away, well now they do. Wonder no more! Ahem.

The reason I did everything via the moderation queue was comment spam, I get 100 plus spams on average a month - some months over 200. I’ve taken three steps to reduce the likelyhood of spam hitting my site, if you run WordPress I suggest you do the same. Movable Type is so insecure that spammers are killing servers that run MT, WordPress is nothing like that bad but some steps are required to help keep it safe:

1
Spambots know the default name of WP files and use them, so change the file names to anything you like. A full guide for this can be found over on the WP support Forums.

2
Close the ability to post comments on your older blog enteries. I use a one week window, it is too short and I’m going to change this to 3 or 4 weeks, I suggest you do the same. Automatically closing comments is a WP Plugin, you can download it from theubergeeks.net/index.php?p=192

Optional: I use the auto close comments script from wiki.wordpress.org/Auto%20shutoff%20comments

3
Install a spam blacklister. I reccomend Farooks as it is so easy to install and use - plus it works like a charm. Download, unzip, upload to your server, click install, click activate - Done. Nice eh. The spam blocker will check any comments for known spammer urls, emails, phrases and automatically moderate them or delete them. You can get Farooks Blacklister from sm.farook.org/index.php?p=149

Optional: I’m also going to try Dr Dave’s Spam Karma Plugin too. OK, I’ve installed Spam Karma though no clue yet on how effective it is. If you want an easy way to block spam use Farooks, if you’re happier to tinker then try unknowngenius.com/blog/wordpress/spam-karma/

Note: Nothing is 100% safe, aside from using 100% Comment Moderation.

WP have updated information on comment spams from here.

Related Posts: