WordPress Blogs: How WordPress Blogs: How to Stop Spam

It’s a fact, if you have a WordPress blog with open comments, then you will get spam postings.

Almost 90% of comments on blogs are spammers. Sad but true. Wordpress Spam can be a big problem for your blogcan be a big problem for your blog.

People often add comments to blogs just to get back links and visitors to their own blogs. They may not have any interest at all in your post all in your post.

S f th t ill t t Some of these commenters will try to camouflage this while others blatantly comment away without a care in the comment away without a care in the world.

Of course there are readers who sincerely want to make valid comments on your blogs.

They want to add their contributions or l if i t t Th t t dd clarify a point or two. They want to add

value to your blog.

The problem is how do you weed out the quality commenters from the… well… less quality ones.

Well, you will be glad to discover that th i d d t li h thi there are indeed ways to accomplish this without pulling your hair out or actually closing comments on your blog closing comments on your blog completely.

WordPress has some built-in tools that will help. They won’t solve the problem completely, but they will make it manageablemanageable.

To set up these tools, login to your WordPress blog Go to Settings then to WordPress blog. Go to Settings, then to your Discussion Panel, Moderation.

Close older post commentsSettings > Discussion Panel > Other

comment settingsCheck the tick box “Automatically close

comments on articles older than 60 days”.Many spammers and bots will target these

older posts. By blocking them, you will discourage the spammers and save discourage the spammers and save yourself the time of digging though all of your older postyour older post.

Limit the links allowed in commentsControl the number of links allowed in

comments. I suggest setting this to one link to lessen spam.

Settings > Discussion Panel > Comment M d tiModeration

Spam WordsWhen a comment contains any of these

words in its content, name, URL, e-mail, or IP, it will be held in the moderation queue. One word or IP per line. It will match inside words so “press” will match match inside words, so press will match “WordPress”.

Settings > Discussion Panel > Comment Settings > Discussion Panel > Comment Moderation

Comment BlacklistWhen a comment contains any of these

words in its content, name, URL, e-mail, or IP, it will be marked as spam. One word or IP per line. It will match inside words, so “press” will match “WordPress”so press will match WordPress .

You want to be careful not to put simple words in here alsowords in here also.

Settings > Discussion Panel > Comment BlacklistBlacklist

You may want to moderate all comments to be on the safe side. If you do, then your visitors may wonder why their comments haven’t shown up and try comments haven’t shown up and try again. You will have to decide how this works out for you by trial and errorworks out for you by trial and error.

You can pre-approve old commenters to cut back on confusion and give them more cut back on confusion and give them more control.

Using CAPTCHAS can prevent spam, but not totally. Keep in mind that some valid commenters will get annoyed and may be discourageddiscouraged.

There are plugins that use math to put off spammers but these too are not without spammers but these too are not without issues. You will have to decide if you want to go through this route or not.to go through this route or not.

Here are a few plugins that can help you manage spam on your WordPress blogs:g p y g

AkismetThis is the most popular plugin to fight

spam. It is free for everyone except those that make over $500 per month with their blog. In that case, the fee is $5 each monthmonth.

It works by comparing comments submitted to your blog to all other spam ip addresses, email, text and links and can usually recognize spamusually recognize spam.

You will need an application key to run this plugin Visit WordPress com to get the this plugin. Visit WordPress.com to get the key. Register if you don’t already have an account.account.

Look in the Akismet panel to find false/negative where legitimate comments are flagged as spam

Why not to use Akismet?It could repeatly block regular users

Al ith d d h iAlgorithy made need changingYou have to see how it works for you then

decide for yourselfdecide for yourself.

The AVH First Defense Against SpamThis plugin gives you the ability to block

spammers before any content is served by identifying them at the Project Honey Pot, a local blacklist or the local IP cache. Visitors trying to post a comment are Visitors trying to post a comment are checked at stopforumspam.com. Stop Forum Spam is not used to check before Forum Spam is not used to check before content is served due to the amount of requests, which overloads their infrastructure.

Block Spam By Math ReloadedThis plugin protects your WordPress 3.x

login, comments, and new user/new blog signup process against spambots with a simple math question. This plugin adds an extra layer of protection against comment extra layer of protection against comment spam and spam blog creation bots. While nothing is 100% fool proof the concept nothing is 100% fool proof the concept has been proven many times in various forms in the past.

Block Spam By Math Reloaded combines the features of WPMU Block Spam By Math and the original Block Spam By Math into one plugin that supports the WordPressone plugin that supports the WordPress3.x and Buddypress 1.2.7 platforms.

User Spam RemoverUser Spam Remover is a plugin for

WordPress that automatically removes spam user registrations and other old, never-used user accounts. It also blocks the notification e mail that WordPressthe notification e-mail that WordPressnormally sends to the administrator whenever a new user registers (annoying whenever a new user registers (annoying when that registration is spam!) and logs it instead.

The plugin adds a configuration panel so that all of these options can be turned on or off, and it logs and fully backs up all user accounts that it deletes so that you user accounts that it deletes, so that you can restore them if you need to.

Features:Features:Automatically deletes user registration

spam and other orphaned never-used spam and other orphaned, never-used accounts.

Very simple, enable and go! It does not interfere with the normal user registration process in any way. So, it doesn’t add captchas or activation or anything else captchas or activation or anything else —you’re free to use it alongside a pluginthat does if you likethat does, if you like.

Blocks notification e-mail that WordPressnormally sends to the administrator every normally sends to the administrator every time a new user registers (instead, logs this event).

Fully configurable, with grace period for new accounts and optional username whitelist.

Fully logs all actions and backs up all user accounts that it deletes so that you can seamlessly restore them if you ever need seamlessly restore them if you ever need to.

Now you have the knowledge and tools needed to fight spam. When you allow visitors interact with your blog you build a community This strengthens your blog community. This strengthens your blog appeal and success.

You have the power to attract people to your blog and succeed in your endeavors. So blog away without fear.

WordPress TisTake your blog to the next level with WordPress Power Guide.

Learn more on how to stop Wordpress spam here:spam here:

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