I’m spam free (for now!) You can be too…
Posted in December 19, 2004 ¬ 12:00 amh.Tanya (aka NetChick)
Take that, you stupid comment spammers!!!!!!!
Heheheh… 
YAY! I went from about 100 spammed comments a day, submitted by about 10 spammers over the last few months, to absolutely none after I made my changes. I think this time, they’ll stick.
What did I do? Several things:
- changed the name of both my comment.php and post.php pages (and all relevant code pointing to these pages)
- added in a check-box in the comments to screw up some robots (by adding in an extra step that would be different from other comment sections, I make it less likely their automated code will work) which also has a validator to ensure the box is checked
- disabled a href links in my code, which breaks all the extra links many spammers include in their comments to improve their PageRank on search engines such as Google, which is why most are spamming in the first place
- added in extra code into my post.php which denies comments from being posted at all, if the poster’s URL include words I’ve specified. This is very important! Works great with B2, B2evolution, and WordPress blogs or, any PHP-based blog for that matter. If you want this code, I’ll be happy to send it to you — Email me by clicking on the ‘chick mail’ on the side of this page.
- extended my allowed multiple comments timer to 120 seconds from the previous 30 seconds between comments
Have you had problems with spammers, which was solved by something I’ve missed in this list? I’m sure we’d all love to hear about it…
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I just emailed your info address looking for a little more info, thought I’d post here just incase your info address is a dead end.
As I use a combination of my own code, and that of B2 (which is no longer supported for new features) and hosted on my own URL/hosting firm, I don’t have BL. That said, BL only goes so far, because most of the spammers are using trojaned systems or proxies, which are impossible to keep up with.
Yup, Spammers……. Yuk! On my Blog, I used a few of these also, but the Black List seems to work the best. I think I foild the bots also with some plugins? My SPAM has being cut to “0″……. But that was a couple of days ago….. *keep my fingers crossed*
I love the pop-up window / check box you have, great idea
I’m glad I don’t have that problem yet…because… what the hell does that all mean?
I verify that I’m not a spammer!
I verify that I’m not a spammer!
I verify that I’m not a spammer!
I verify that I’m not a spammer!
I verify that I’m not a spammer!
I verify that I’m not a spammer!
I verify that I’m not a spammer!
I verify that I’m not a spammer!
I verify that I’m not a spammer!
Ha Ha!
LOL you guys… Especially Vern. Very funny. (Sorry I had to edit yours V, but you had not only searchable words and promotion of their URL in the comment, but also the work email address!!)
Richard: Ya, I know I’ll always have one or two to deal with per week, but wow, was it nice not to wake up to 200+ comment spams this morning!
Lol – every once in a while, I post on your Blog, and then I live in fear of the phone ringing.
This happened to be one of those days.
wow. you very smart!
I use MT’s Blacklist which is working pretty good. Spammers still get through (until they are added to the BL of course) but if they try to post for a blog entry other than todays, they are put in a ‘waiting to be approved’ holding bin. From here I can simply add them to my BL with a click of a button.
Damn spammers… I wish a skilled hacker would use their power for good… and bring down the server farms of those damn spammers…
The problem with posting your solutions is the (perhaps minor) chance that a spammer will read it and find ways around it.
The pop-up doesn’t seem to work on my version of Firefox (running on Linux) but then it’s an older version (pre-1.0) and I got around it by opening your comments in a new tab.
Get the Finest [EDIT TO REMOVE SEARCHABLE KEYWORDS]!
We only sell premium watches. There’s no battery in these replicas just
like the real ones since they charge themselves as you move. The second hand
moves JUST like the real ones, too. These original watches sell in stores
for thousands of dollars. We sell them for much less.
- Replicated to the Smallest Detail
- 98% Perfectly Accurate Markings
- Signature Green Sticker w/ Serial Number on Watch Back
- Magnified Quickset Date
- Includes all Proper Markings
[EDIT]
All of which may be overcome as spammers get smarter. This is a problem which there is no 100% effective solution other than cutting off comments entirely. I’m enabling comments in the new year, so I get to finally learn first-hand what everybody else has had to learn.
There are some good ideas out there, and WP and Movable Type have the option to require approval once, then after that, all comments by that person are automatically approved. That’s the route I’m going, because that way the person’s email address becomes their password, and they wouldn’t need to type it in again if they clicked the “remember me” option, so we’ll see how that goes.
Hey Gill! …That’s why I wasn’t specific with my source code — The spammers aren’t actually reading my blog anyhow. They’re seriously NOT that intelligent.
Glad you found a work-around with firefox! I’ve designed primarily for IE and later vs. of Netscape (ack!)
Hmmm, I haven’t had any problems at all with spammers… yet.
Perhaps it’s a benefit to having my own code and not using one of the ‘off-the-shelf’ bloggers?