Look, just F*** OFF!! 
16
Some of you may be oblivious to it, some of you may have noticed something, but I am fighting a war with spammers.
This place is getting about 75 spam comments a day and I am having to occasionally tweak my filter settings to keep on top of the deluge. Learning Movable Type has been a great help and I’ve had to take a crash course in writing PERL expressions to match the phrases used by the culprits.
Most are caught, but occasionally one or two get through the net so please don’t worry if it suddenly looks like I’m advertising online casinos that sell penis enlarging drugs.
Oh, and I’m trying out some new seasonal colour schemes so don’t be surprised if this place looks different now and again.
Do you have plug-ins against spam? Maybe you could check the anti-spam list of MT plug-ins right here? - MHC
And Six Apart has posted this Six Apart Guide to Comment Spam.
Hope these help, Tim.
Oh BTW I have a list of spam words that stops spambot commenting in my WordPress admin settings (well since my blog is member-only, the bloody comments get caught up in the moderation queue…) so if you want my list for you to include in your control panel I can send them to you via email…
Just let me know. - MHC
I’ve got three plug-ins at the moment and, since writing this and adding a few more words to the filter, things seem to be going better: I’ve had 55 spam comments and only 2 got through.
Thanks for the link to the guide - I had seen it and it’s in my "must read soon" list. - Timmargh
Oh so you have a filter where you can add words too… Well in the built-in filter in WP, I have a list as well. I’ve got a bijillion words in there at the moment.
The latest addition was for vacations in Orlando or something as idiotic as that. I mean a vacation in the Fiji, yes, most absolutely yes. But Orlando??????? Ewww.
Anyway if you want my list I can email it to you. - MHC
Yeah, I have a filter to send comments to me for moderation and a filter to immediately junk the comment.
Yes, please: email me your list and I’ll email you mine, if you’d like. - Timmargh
Cool! - MHC
i just go rid of all my spam problems in wordpress with a plugin called Hashcash - Melvin rivera
Yeah I’ve read some bloggers that dumped Movable Type for WordPress because it was better at blocking spam. Except Tim doesn’t like WordPress too much. But spam is getting ridiculous all right. >_< - MHC
To be honest I only tried WordPress once and that was waaaay back before I’d even got to grips with the way bogging systems worked, so I may give it a go in the future if this all becomes too much. At the moment, though, I’m not even breaking a sweat so I’m not giving up just yet.
If it gets really bad then I’ll consider turning on authentication or some kind of “type the numbers in this image” system. - Timmargh
Hi ,
I can certainly understand your mindset , so far somehow ive been luckly, not sure why but i havnt received any spam comments yet , maybe cause my site is so new?
anyway im with you on this.
Macbuckley - macbuckley
My blog is tiny in comparison but i still had to go members only (though a large factor in doing that was to stop proper posts getting stuck in the mod queue!) and even then i occasionally get a spam post in the mod queue
None of them ever make it through the queue and i hear whenever someone becomes a member by email.
I did contemplate installing anti spam plug ins and have downloaded them but so far when they get stuck in the queue i click on the WP spam radio button and it keeps them away for a while.
Spam is a huge problem and goes way beyond blogs. Don’t even get me started on email spam - even with anti spam software spy assassin which i get free from my webhost - was good for a few months but now it’s coming through my webmaster account on a regular basis and i’m having to bounce messages in mail again - stonysleep
I had a spam problem with my WordPress blog, Askimet killed it completely. - LobsterMan
Bored lonely housewife looking for online casinos and the enlarged penis of a Nigerian Prince horny xxx.
Hi Tim, yeah I noticed you had a few dodgy comments on your front page. Did you get that PERL syntax sorted in the end? - monkey_man
Looks like it it now has stopped. I sooo hate those parasites…
*Frothing at the mouth* Gahhhh… - MHC
monkey_man:I figured out some basic Perl expressions - seems to have done the job, tho’.
* touches wood (fnar!) *
MHC: the flow of spam hasn’t stopped, it’s just not making it past the filter any more - I did some serious tweaking a day or so ago. - Timmargh
Good to hear. I know that I added some spam words to my WP Blacklist myself in the last day or so. It seems to come in waves like a nauseating stench. :^P
Luckily they get caught in the moderation queue though and don’t show up in the comments. But it’s a funny thing: you get spam caught in the mod queue and you get emails telling you of the spam so in essence you get spammed twice. o_0 - MHC
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