Spam Incomiiing!
Jun 12th, 07 | 16 remarksThose dirty spammers are getting too smart. Even with excellent anti-spam tools such as Akismet and Bad Behavior, keeping that junk at bay is a constant battle. This blog is just a babe compared to some, yet I’m getting hit with it regularly. In the past three months, Akismet has caught 330 341 spam attempts.
The latest tactic I’m seeing (which Akismet will not catch) is the one-word response such as “cool”, “interesting” or “nice”. Anyone else experiencing this? None of these words could be justifiably added to a blacklist, so how does one combat it?
Spamming is an enterprise I’ve never understood. Do these people actually make money? I realize we live in an ad-driven society… junk mail, television and radio commercials are all widely accepted. Even telemarketing seems to be tolerated better than email or comment spam. So what is it about spam that makes it so loathsome? Perhaps that it’s utterly unavoidable.
With TV, you can walk away during commercials. Radio, switch the station. And of course you have the option to turn either off any time. Telemarketing is annoying because you inevitably get roped into a conversation you never wanted to have - even if you’re good at saying no and being firm. But again, you have a choice. Just hang up, or don’t answer the phone in the first place.
Spam gives you no such choices. It appears in your inbox or post comments despite the best efforts of entire communities to keep it out, and you have to deal with it. Sure, it only takes 5 minutes, but next week it’ll be 10. You know it’s time you’ll never get back, and it pisses you off. Oh, maybe that’s just me. ;)
As a blogger, you have to try and preserve the integrity of the blog you’ve worked so hard on, but even if you could consistently shield your readers from junk comments by deleting them before they’re ever seen, it’s still unwanted contact and therefore intrusive.
By the way, thanks to Dodger for trying to alert me about a certain post that was is getting hit. I was out of town over the weekend and came home to find several one-word comments just crying out to be deleted. Two more came in last night. Why that post was targeted I don’t know… must’ve made an impression!
I am no plug-in developer, but could there be a way to automatically delete a comment if it is less than, say, 15 characters?
This is definitely a side of blogging that us readers don’t get to see. And I think you’re right about spam being so annoying because you don’t have much of a choice. You can just delete it, but that still takes up time!
Jun 12, 07 | 10:22 amI never thought about it before, but that’s a good suggestion. Might have to see if there’s something out there like that. Too bad I’m no plugin developer either or I’d write it up. ;)
Jun 12, 07 | 11:53 amI am having the opposite problem these days, a guy’s comments keep on being marked as spam even if he writes constructive comments.
Jun 12, 07 | 12:34 pmMirko, is it possible to add a specific user (by name, email or website) to a “Safe” list? Email would probably be best, since it’s not published.
Jun 12, 07 | 12:44 pmThat has happened to me a few times too Mirko. I couldn’t find a good explanation for it either… none of the comments contained multiple links, or blacklisted words, or known spamming domains. Funny thing is, twice it happened where the person tried posting a second comment that went through when the first didn’t. How’s that for a head-scratcher? :)
Jun 12, 07 | 2:09 pmLaurenMarie - another good idea. It would be great if Wordpress could include that functionality in a future update.
Jun 12, 07 | 2:10 pm[...] Sitemap « Spam Incomiiing! [...]
Jun 12, 07 | 3:17 pmHi Chariy,
In addition to Akismet, I would definitely check out a teeny tiny little-known plugin called Moderate Brief Comments. It sends short comments, including the one-word ones, straight into moderation.
You can download it here:
http://guff.szub.net/download/moderate-brief-comments.php
The author of the plugin wrote it after I posted the issue of brief spam comments on the Wordpress forums. So cool!
Here’s the post I wrote about it:
Jun 13, 07 | 1:31 amhttp://www.lifeclever.com/beat-wordpress-spam-with-two-plugins/
I feel bad for you buddy. I use to get a bit of spam before I installed the Akismet plugin and it was a pain to clear it all off. Hope things get better for you. ^_^
Jun 13, 07 | 6:22 amThanks so much for the links Chanpory! I echo the first two points of your article, and I’m gonna go grab that plugin right now. I’m surprised it isn’t more popular with all the spam in constant circulation. p.s. I love your site. :D
Also thanks Daniel, I appreciate it. :) It’s weird how only one post can be targeted. I speculate these people have lists they track, and when they find a blogger who doesn’t respond immediately, they tell all their friends, so more come to post their junk too. Ya think? LOL
Jun 13, 07 | 8:16 amCharity, I saw a comment on Chris G’s blog from a guy saying that he has automated a delete of any comments less than 10 words. Maybe you could ask Jack Spirko how he’s managed that?
Jul 10, 07 | 1:09 pmI’ll check that out, thanks Lauren. So far, the plugin recommended by Chanpory has been very effective - it even held for moderation one of my own one-word comments. Oops! LOL
Jul 10, 07 | 2:30 pmThough I have to admit… even bulk moderating them gets old after a while. :( A few minutes ago I just dumped 13 spam messages, immediately clicked over to my Dashboard and 4 more were waiting. *sigh*
Jul 10, 07 | 2:40 pmBut like email spam, it must work somewhere or else they would stop doing it. I wonder what those spammers think. An interview with one would sure be interesting…
Jul 10, 07 | 3:58 pmOh to be in the head of a spammer. A few years ago I worked for a company with a very colorful client who was all about “email marketing”, but everyone in the office knew he was a spammer. As I remember, the guy even had a couple lawyers helping him choose his wording and find loopholes, etc., so he wouldn’t get busted. He also told me once his response rate was 3%. I was surprised it was even that high, but then again it seems like a lot of hassle for such a small figure (comparatively speaking).
Jul 10, 07 | 4:44 pmIt’s right,spammers are getting more smart than before,they not send spam with many links on comment,instead with a ping back and add one or two links to a keyword which relevant with post.i think that is a software picked and auto added to comment.Akismet will not cautht this style of comment.My Akismet has caught only 226 spam attempts at this month,but before it usually more than 2000 spams.
Aug 23, 07 | 1:18 am