I have heard a lot on the verdict about anti-spam plugins for WordPress and even after trying a lot of different plugins, I still come to the conclusion – you will see spam get through. Some plugins less than others, but still… there is always a factor that there will be spammers. It does not matter if you put captcha, a math question, or even a check mark, THERE WILL ALWAYS BE SPAM.
It is sad, but really, it keeps every blogger on their toes. Even with the best email spam blockers, spam DOES get through eventually.
Personally, I think it is annoying when spam comments on my blog comes in the hundreds. It is without a doubt that unfortunately Askimet for WordPress is not always doing a good job. I hate to say it, but I am not even sure if I can trust how much better paying for Askimet per month can help any blogger, even some of the top pro bloggers out there!
The problem is that there are people out there, just like everyday hackers devious and thinking on how they can reach you. Whether it is your email account, Instant messenger, social network account, or even your blog comments, they try it.
It could be different keywords, or even typing words a certain way. People still get Viagra and Cialis comments like crazy and it is because they are typed differently: spelled incorrectly, typed in l33t spee (upper case, lower case alternating letters), and even grouped with other keywords.
Bloggers literally have to make it part of their routine to block spammers in any sort of manner.
So far, I have heard that the GASP Plugin for WordPress is great for bloggers. Even though it is a plugin that requires your blog commenters to checkmark a box basically asking if they are a real person instead of a spammer, I have heard that a lot of bloggers have given feedback that their moderation queues have greatly reduced.
What is it about spam that is annoying to you? What kind of spam do you often moderate on your blog? What plugin or plugins do you use to try to reduce spam on your blog?
Hi Nile,
The reason G.A.S.P. exists is that when your blog gets popular with spammers you can get 1000s of spambot generated comments PER DAY. That is what was happening on my GrowMap blog and why that plugin is named after it. I agreed to support bloggers if Andy @CommentLuv would write it.
There will always be spam, but the reason GASP is better is that it blocks the automated comments so you only have to moderate those left manually. Better even a few dozen of those than 1000 spambot comments.
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I might be interested in jumping in on the GASP development. Right now I have forked Subscribe2 and it will become a full in-house newsletter that is compliant. Kim Castleberry knows of this and has been updated. As I introduce it in the next few weeks as WP Subscribe, I would love to see about even you testing it out, giving feedback as I develop it. I plan to roll out features in stages at the moment, so it will be pretty basic.
I do not use GASP, but I did have on my computer written up a tutorial for adding similar checkbox and using the natural WordPress settings for blacklisting words, URLs, and such.
I can't say that I have to weed through too much spam, as my blog is still in its infancy and not yet attracting that many comments as is. I've seen a lot of different anti-spam plugins used on blogs, the easiest and most convenient of which is the one which asks the person to check a box indicating that they are a real person. Thanks for giving me the heads up about the GASP plugin. I'm sure there must be others of this type as well, but I had no idea what the name was!
I am not sure what problem you are getting.Akismet is doing the right job for me.
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Same is the case with me. I have added Akismet plugin but, many spam comments appear in moderation queue. Fortunately, my blog has not yet grown to its heights and hence I don't have much headache. But, this will certainly become a pain once my blog gets decent traffic and comments.
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The types of spam I get rid from my blogs are those comments that don't provide insightful opinions or relevant know-how that is in relevance to my blog content. That's why I use Akismet plugin to help me separate out spam comments.
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Hi, Nile. I am not using Gasp myself because I am using Joomla as my site's CMS. But, I have a lot of blogger friends who are using it and are happy with the results. Knowing you, I expect to read an article here in the future giving us a comprehensive review of Gasp. 😉 Looking forward to it! 🙂
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I think the most annoying for me is trackback spam. I had stopped getting a load of it for awhile, and now it has found its way back into my comments again. I use GASP and Akismet to keep moderation down as much as possible, but there's still a good bit to moderate – I probably get over 100 spam comments a day, with the one or two legit commenters accidentally thrown into the mix that I have to fish out.
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I use gasp and akismet and I rarly see any automated spam. I use commenting as you do to give commentors a little bonus. I have also made a comment policy to avoid the "nice post" type comments. It works fine for now, and hope to do effective moderation even if I get more comments..I think moderation is important also for those commenting, since unmoderated comments shows spam comments and lower the bonus in the commentluv link..
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I don't allow comments if that person hasn't been approved for comments before (they show up in the pending) plus I use Akismet and spam never appears on the blog (maybe in the pending). But I do need to check the not approved and the spam log for real comments (it's pretty rare I see real comments in the spam, maybe once?). And a comment is automatically put in the queue if it's got 3 or more links (including their URL) in it.
I use a CAPTCHA just so I don't need to spend so much time looking through the spam logs; I get 3 a week instead of 30-60 a day.
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i would say – this is the best problem to have. Unless all your comments are spam but it won't happen if you have captchas or other antispam tools. many comments mean many readers so moderating them is just the "routine" customer service job
for me its really annoying , the comments are irrelevant even when they try to leave something educated.
I also use GASP and love it. I do not mind moderating comments. I think that it is a necessity. It keeps your blog “clean” and it keeps Google and your readers happy.
If I know that someone is just copying and pasting…. or if it looks automated, despite my anti-spam plugins.. I will erase, no problem.
So many people claim they do not want auto-comments, yet I see obvious posts that they ignore. I do not believe receiving a comment and getting the credit for it (via Google) is as important as keeping your blog spam and bot free.
Having a good anti-spam plugin really helps to aid in that whole process… and makes the job easier. It definitely means more to moderate.. in my opinion 🙂
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I have combine Akismet and a Captcha plugin on wordpress and the only real garbage is now trackbacks from sites that aren't linking to mine. On other CMS sites I do get spam and it only really bugs me when I get 50+ overnight and I have to find that SQL script that removes them all.
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I use an old WP plugin that I don't think is in development any more called WP Spam Free. It's rare that I have problems these days, but I guess the flip side is that I don't know how many people have problems commenting.
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I would like to start allowing comments for a ecommerce website for customers who would like to share a review of a purchase. I am a bit worried, once opening up comments up it willg et flooded like a old blog I had.
Is there a way to keep the spam comments down after say you get 50 -100 in moderation a day.how to stop this?thanks.
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My blog is just on blogger, not wordpress so I don't have any plugins. Their new spam catcher does pretty good. It doesn't post the spam and rarely lets regular comments into the spam section.
What I don't get about spam, is why I get so many spam comments with NO link. If it's by anonymous and there is no link in the comment either, then what was the point of the spam comment? I get those SO often.
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Good post. I have been seeing a lot of stuff get through Askimet lately. I may have to try out Gasp, is it easy to install like other wordpress plugins?
GASP is very easy to install – easier than some plugins – and easy to configure. You can change the wording by just typing in what you want it to say.
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I have been using GASP & my spam has gone from hundreds even though Akismet traps them I still had to sort through because Akismet would at times also trap valid comments. Each time I check my spam folder now it is always a big fat ZERO. I have only had 2 human left spam comments in the past month or so. I have even now \uninstalled Akismet because I simply don't need it plus it annoys me when it quarantines my visitors genuine comments
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Hi,
It is really annoying when spam comments on my blog comes in the hundreds. It is without a doubt that unfortunately WordPress is not always doing a good job.
Thanks & best regards,
Sana
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have added Akismet plugin but, many spam comments appear in moderation queue. Fortunately, my blog has not yet grown to its heights and hence I don’t have much headache.
Recently, I’ve gotten over 70+ comments in a short period of time (same day). They all look alike, and I think they are spam because most are too general and some have no relation to the content of my post! However what is baffling me, is the fact that no keywords are used in the name field, just things like Anna Konkaman, etc… And no link is attached. What can this kind of spam value to spammers?
From the one end it is really that annoying but important. It helps to reduce the spam ratio. And if your comment is relative then moderator will approve it.
I get a bit of spam on some of my 22 client WP sites and it doesn’t take long to clear them out but it is very annoying.
For me its not annoying to moderate comments as long as it is not spam. If you have lots of comments on your post it only means it captured the interest of your readers.