We all get it, and all hate it. SPAM! Well,WordPress has 3 simple ways to cut down on the spam that gets through.
1. If you are self-hosted, make sure and activate the plugin Akismet. You will need to grab an API key from the Akismet site. They ask for a small donation or fee if you are using it on a commercial site, but it’s well worth it!
2. Another great way to cut down on spam it to go to this setting in > general > discussion. Two is a good number to leave in, but you can test the waters. Why this works so well is that spammers often leave several links in their comments. Normal comments do not, nor should they!
3. And last but not least
1- This is a great place if you want certain works to flag a comment, whether they are in the comment itself, or the URL or email. At least these will be flagged and moderated and you can always check to make sure something of value isn’t being help.
2- This is kind of the same as 1, but a bit more stringent. Any words you list will be marked as spam. This is a perfect place to “blacklist” offensive commenters or someone that just won’t give up, who uses the same name, URL, email or IP address over and over.
NOTE: I’ve noticed also that on some commenting systems, for example the one I use here, Livefyre, also helps with the spam as well. I have Akismet activated as well, and the double dose really helps a lot.
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Thank you, Bob. I used to install Akismet until they charge.. Now I use Anti-Captcha and it block off spam quite well also.
Great to hear first-hand experience on other spam plugins. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Bob,
I’m glad you posted on how to utilize the spam protection built in WordPress. So many people skip right over those boxes. One word I I always add to the Comment Blacklist box is uggboots.
I encourage others to also check “A comment is held for moderation.”
quick question. I see my latest conversation goes to my About page. Is there something I need to do to show my latest post instead of a page?
@ReginaSmola yeah, that happens sometimes, not sure why. It’s really weird when it does. Wonder if jmatthicks might be able to help us there…
@ReginaSmola thanks great tip one the uggboots… will do that myself.
And actually I have never moderated a comment on any of my blogs. In my workshops I go over this and look at several variables. I understand the reason to do it, but also know how many people get frustrated with a moderated comment, especially if the blogger isn’t around to approve it.
There’s always pros and cons….
This post was an informative one. Looking forward for more informative post. Thanks for sharing.
Fine alternative antispam plugin:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/antispam-bee/
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Do you advocate the use of [at] and [dot] instead of “@” and “.com”?