Man, I’m getting really sick of this. The comment spam is getting out of hand, so I’ve been forced to escalate my defenses. At first, I could just delete the spams as they came in. They they became too numerous to handle, so I started blacklisting IP addresses. Then the spammers started randomizing their IPs, so I set up MT-Blacklist, and started blacklisting URLs. Well, even that’s not working, because they just add new URLs.
My latest technique? I’ve removed the URL and Email fields from the comments form. I’m hoping that if they can’t link to their websites, they won’t waste their time spamming my site.
Of course, I can’t stop them from putting a URL into the comment itself, so the last logical step here will be to turn off auto-linking, which is a feature I like.
If even that doesn’t stop them, then I’m stuck. I may be forced at that point to upgrade to MT3 for the superior spam-blocking features. :(
I'm a 30-year-old 
Surely somebody’s made some sort of CAPTCHA plugin for MT? It’s an extra step, but it might be worth it.
November 11th, 2004 at 3:16 pm
Are you dealing with an auto-spammer or somebody actually acessing the page to do it?
Maybe a CAPTCHA plugin for MT is around, and that at least would help with an auto-spamming script. It’s an extra step for legitimate users, but not a terribly burdenous one.
November 11th, 2004 at 3:19 pm
I think (but I’m not sure) that they’re doing it by hand. I’ve done what I can to discourage robots, including renaming the comment script, and hiding it on the permalink page, instead of giving it it’s own URL.
November 11th, 2004 at 3:45 pm
Effika - good idea about the CAPTCHA thing. I had seem something like that for MT, but rejected it because I didn’t want to punish legitimate users. Still, if it’s that, or disabling comments altogether, that might be worth it.
November 11th, 2004 at 3:46 pm
The CAPTCHA sounds like a good idea, and I think I’ve read about it being available somewhere. I certainly don’t mind having to do such things, and I understand the need.
By the way, I have some \/Iag.RA for sale if anyone wants some. And some propecia. Oh, and can I interest you in a mortgage? I have great rates!!
*ducks*
November 11th, 2004 at 4:31 pm
Oh, yeah. I almost forgot: get rid of your POST button on comments. Force a preview. It requires a legit commenter to submit twice, but it’s not too bad, and will cut back the spam.
November 11th, 2004 at 4:32 pm