There is what seems like a thousand plugins available to reduce comment spam from appearing on our blogs. If any single plugin worked, why would there be so many different ones, each attacking comment spam in a different way?
As I remarked in "Four Ways to Provide Convenience to Your Readers", a post at The Reader Appreciation Project, commenters go for the path of least resistance.
What comment reduction methods create resistance to real comments? Any form of CAPTCHA, including math problems. Anything that slows the commenting process down is resistance. Many potential commenters will choose not to comment rather than go through any process other than a normal form-filling process. Even though we don't want to discourage comments, we still have to do something about the comment spam.
Comment Moderation
The most effective way to filter comment spam is also the most time-consuming. If you have only one blog to deal with, comment moderation is probably the best solution, but only if you check your moderation queue frequently. The last thing you want a returning visitor who commented previously to see is that his or her comment is still awaiting approval.
Spam Blockers
There's a myriad of spam blocking plugins and services available to stop spam bots from ever touching your comment forms. The problem with all of them is that they also block legitimate visitors, even if the number of false positives is very low. In the past, I used a spam blocker for a short period of time. After getting email from a few people that said they were blocked, I got rid of it as fast as I could.
Spam Filters
I three spam filters on this blog. Since this is a WordPress blog, the spam filters may not be available for your particular blog. They are:
- The Simple Spam Filter for WordPress. This one contains a list of spam words and phrases to compare the comments with. If a commenter gets caught by this, a confirmation link pops up and all the commenter has to do is click it and the comment goes through. Spam bots won't click it.
- The Simple Trackback Validation Plugin. The plugin lets me control suspicious incoming trackbacks (and pingbacks).
- Akismet — it's bundled with WordPress. It's like a final catch-all for spam bots. The previous plugin sends suspicious trackbacks there so they're easy to check. Very few real comments end up in the queue.
I check these spam filters daily to make sure nothing is going awry. Are they perfect? No, but using filters is better than blocking. I've heard reports of success with WP-SpamFree, but I've never used it.
Human Spammers
The biggest problem with comment spam is no longer the spam bots. I rarely see them. The biggest problem is with human spammers. There are services in existence now that will pay people to visit blogs and leave comments. Sometimes it's very difficult to spot the human comment spam, so I always err on the side of the commenter.
The Final Word
If you value comments on your blog, you'll do what's necessary to keep the comments flowing. Anti-spam measures should be used with extreme caution because what keeps spammers away can also keep legitimate commenters away .
Comment spam must be filtered, however, or your blog will soon be overrun by it. As blog owners, it's our responsibility to use what's most effective on our blogs while still providing the path of least resistance for our legitimate commenters.
If you don't value comments, and your blog is a social blog, then why are you blogging?
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