Josh

#2326

Okay. So, since I started getting involved in the WordPress.org community, my spam rate has skyrocketed. I mean, I’m getting about 200 a day now. Are they actually taking the time to comment? Or do they have automatic programs which “inject” spam somehow??

Also, any ideas on what would be a good plugin to combat this?

Gendji

#19798

I use Spam Free WordPress

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/spam-free-wordpress/

That is if it is comment spam, the Author also has a solution

if it’s pingback and trackback spam,

http://www.toddlahman.com/spam-free-wordpress/

Josh

#19799

Okay, that was really informative. Thank you.

So, I’m guessing it’s trackback and ping spam.

But do I want to shut it down completely? I mean, I know I have a few of these which are legitimate. I want to allow the non-spam trackbacks and pings, don’t I?

Forgive my “green-ness” in this issue.

Gendji

#19800

I think your “green-ness” on the subject has the same level as mine 🙂

I just read about “the problems” in regard to spam that can occur if you use

pingback and trackback with WordPress, that made me decide to disable it.

So i haven’t researched any further if it is possible and how to allow

legit pings and trackbacks.

Josh

#19801

Haha.. well, I certainly admire your honesty!! Didn’t mean to make you disable your plugin though.

I’m sure we will get some more voices in here soon.

Meanwhile, I’ll do some research.

Gendji

#19802

No worries, i didn’t disable the plugin, i disabled pingback and trackback.

Spam Free WordPress is still in place 🙂

Prasanna SP

#19803

Are you using akismet? Akismet with recaptcha is the perfect pair to prevent spam comments and even trackbacks and pingbacks.

Josh

#19804

I do have akismet. It is installed and connecting properly (all tests are green in the admin panel).

I’m thinking it’s pingbacks because the comments are auto-marked as spam and are not displayed until I approve them. So, it’s good they aren’t making their way onto the live site.

However, it’s time consuming do go in and pick through all the spam comments for ones that might actually belong (especially if it’s a first comment from someone legitimate).

Is there a setting I’m missing somewhere in akismet which will allow me further control? All I see is the “stats” section under the dashboard; and the “configuration” screen under plugins.

Prasanna SP

#19806

In Discussion Settings, uncheck “Allow link notifications from other blogs (pingbacks and trackbacks.)” to reduce pingbacks.

Well, at least it is working in my case.

And about comment spams, uncheck “An administrator must always approve the comment” and in “Hold a comment in the queue if it contains”, select 2 – 3 or more links,

Then install recaptcha. Spam bots fails to pierce through recaptcha. But its a black hole for manual spammers.