Tag: Spam in blogs

changes to commenting

I got slammed again on the 4th of July with comment spam. This was what prompted me to set up MT-Blacklist in the first place. At least this time there were less than a third of the comment spams than last time. In any case, I decided to implement something I should have done in … Continue reading “changes to commenting”

I got slammed again on the 4th of July with comment spam. This was what prompted me to set up MT-Blacklist in the first place. At least this time there were less than a third of the comment spams than last time. In any case, I decided to implement something I should have done in the first place. From now on, you will need to register with TypeKey in order to comment on this blog. It’s very easy. When you click on the Sign In link, it will take you to the TypeKey site. If you have an account already, go ahead and log in and you will be returned to the entry you wish to comment on. If you don’t have an account, go ahead and create one. It’s free. As long as you are logged in, you will be able to comment on my blog to your heart’s content.

In the past, I was concerned that some folks might not comment if they had to log in. However, it’s more of a hassle for me to be constantly deleting comment spams that get by MT-Blacklist.

new look

Come check out the new look for my blog, if you aren’t already viewing it now.

Come check out the new look for my blog, if you aren’t already viewing it now. I went through all of the templates and really tweaked them to fit with what I wanted. I used the Color Schemer to tweak the colors, and I found it to be quite a handy free tool.

Also, from now on, I won’t be using CloseComments. I don’t have an easy way to open comments on older entries, and with over 350 entries, I’m not going to do it manually. I plan to let MT-Blacklist moderation catch the comment spam. If that doesn’t work, I’ll go back to closing comments older than fifteen days.

MT comment spam solutions

Comment spam giving you trouble? Try this.

The Digital Librarian has been comment spammed to the point of turning off comments, which is too bad, since I can’t leave a comment for a solution, so I’m writing this here.

I’ve been using a combination of CloseComments and MT-Blacklist since the begining of July, and I’ve had very few comment spams get through. In fact, I haven’t updated my Blacklist since the first part of August, and I might have had one comment spam get through (I can’t remember for sure when that happened). For anyone who has not upgraded to MovableType 3.0, this combination is one of the best for blocking comment spam.

closecomments

Yesterday I returned from spending the day with family to discover that I had been slammed with almost 350 comment spams from the same porn site.

Yesterday I returned from spending the day with family to discover that I had been slammed with almost 350 comment spams from the same porn site. Thankfully it was a quick fix. One entry into MT-Blacklist and I could delete the comments and rebuild the entries in just a few clicks. However, it was still frustrating to have to do this in the first place.

Last week, I discovered another MovableType plugin called CloseComments. You can set this to run everytime you re-build your main index, and it will close comments of older, inactive posts, depending on the variables you choose. I have mine set to close comments on posts older than 15 days and have been inactive for at least one day. I couldn’t get this to work at first, and last night gave me the motivation to figure it out.

The reason why it wasn’t working was that the database behind this blog was in the Berkeley DB format, and not the required SQL format. I didn’t know that there was an easy way to convert them until I did a few Google searches. I did the conversion process last night and in a few days, CloseComments should be doing its thing. Combine this with MT-Blacklist, and you’ll end up with very little comment spam.

Update 7/6/04: Make sure to check MT-Blacklist after the conversion process. I discovered this morning that my blacklist settings had been reset.

comment spam

Ugh. My blog comments were spammed while I was out of town this past week. The only way I’ve found to really prevent this from happening is to block all comments, which I do not want to do. Any other suggestions besides IP banning (which I’ve already done) will be very welcome.

Ugh. My blog comments were spammed while I was out of town this past week. The only way I’ve found to really prevent this from happening is to block all comments, which I do not want to do. Any other suggestions besides IP banning (which I’ve already done) will be very welcome.

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