SPAM seems to be a problem wherever you go on the internet. Unless you’ve never used email before, you’ve probably received at least one SPAM email. You know those unwanted emails that try to sell you performance enhancing drugs, get rich quick schemes, and phishing scams.
You would never expect to see this kind of thing appear in blogs. Unfortunately, if the default blog settings allow comments to appear, the SPAMMERS will have a field day with it. They post the same kind of stuff that gets sent via email.
One tool that helps fight SPAM is to require admin approval for any comment. Enabling this filter helps prevent the end user from being exposed to SPAM, but the administrator must still deal with the SPAM comments.
Another tool that helps WordPress bloggers fight SPAM is the Akismet plugin. This is a wonderful tool that in my experience has kept up with the attempts of SPAMMERS to fool the system.
One more tool that I plan to utilize soon is the CAPTCHA mechanism that tries to determine if the user is human or a robot before it accepts a comment or Form submission. I’ve heard about some that aren’t so smart so robots can work around them. Before I commit, I’ll be evaluating the available plugins for the most effective solution.
Special thanks goes out to the developer of Akismet. You have done a wonderful job of detecting and blocking SPAM in WordPress.
If my blog ever gets as popular as your commercial limit, I would be happy to pay.
Till next time, I’ll be evaluating the latest WordPress SPAM fighting solutions
