What’s All This Then!

I like getting comments as much the next blogger. But when they are full of useless links and repetitive statements that have nothing to do with my post, well, I’m getting a bit tired of having to delete a hundred or so each day. Akismet is doing a great job but I’ve need additional filters. So here’s what I’m working on:

One thing I noticed is that several spam comment come from the same IP address. So my first experimentations will involve blocking specific addresses. If you have your own domain, I understand that you can do edit your .htaccess file to block addresses and site names. I will elaborate further on this as soon as I figure it out. You can also do something similar by using PHP code to do the blocking. Again, more material for a post on my success or … experimentation.

Another solution comes by way of Project Honey Pot. Accordingly to their site:

“Project Honey Pot is the first and only distributed system for identifying spammers and the spambots they use to scrape addresses from your website. Using the Project Honey Pot system you can install addresses that are custom-tagged to the time and IP address of a visitor to your site. If one of these addresses begins receiving email we not only can tell that the messages are spam, but also the exact moment when the address was harvested and the IP address that gathered it.”

This method is said to work for anyone, whether they have their own domain or they have one of those free blogs such as blogger. I will write about the results of this one too.

There are several plug-ins specifically for WordPress users. I have Referrer Karma on my to-install list as one of the top solutions fighting for comment spammers.

So, lots of work ahead and I’ll keep you updated on my progress…

Remember… DEATH TO COMMENT SPAM

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A blogger that I respect recently wrote to me about my site’s design. She said that the layout didn’t work for her and “a more professional looking theme would be nice.” I have to agree wholeheartedly with her! I have sketched out a few designs for my sites and can’t wait to make them real. The only thing stopping me is this curse of having 24 hours in a day and 30 hours worth of activities to accomplish them all in. I am in awe of you bloggers that seem to effortlessly post the equivalent of “War And Peace” on a daily basis while changing the look of your blog as easily as you would your hair style. Amazing! For now, I’ll take the incremental approach and change one or two aspects of my site as I can. We’ll see what I can do this weekend. But don’t hold your breath because my time has already been spoke for.

Popularity: 14% [?]