Just a brief post to say that I’ve added an extra thing for my comments as I was getting fed up with the amount of spam comments.
I’ve already installed Akismet but that still means having to go through the comments and check that a real one hasn’t been trapped.
Peter’s Custom Anti Spam Image Plugin for WordPress works a treat. It’s easy to install and there’s an extra “captcha” word to type in that a real human will have no problem with. You can add your own words to the list, just being careful to make sure that they’re not too long (no more than 6 or 7 letters).
The only thing missing is an audio equivalent so that visually impaired people can get the word spelled out for them. I’ll be on the lookout for that.
If you’re running a WordPress blog, this is a “must have” plugin. Get it for free from here.
Thanks for the post. What you could do is create a series of mp3 files with numbers corresponding to the word list. Then, stick them all in a folder and have the image link to them. Yeah, I know, I should really provide a framework for this. But hey, these things take years for amateur coders like me!
Image captcha’s are fairly easy to break these days. Google “captcha security” and you’ll find some good info about it. I wrote a tutorial on a numbers captcha which you might be interested in though:
http://robmalon.com/howto-eliminate-wordpress-trackback-comment-and-pingback-spam/
In short, it creates an equation to be answered instead of an image which can be read and reproduced verbatim. Give it a try if you’re still having problems. And drop by and leave a comment with questions if you need help with it. Not sure what version of wordpress you’re using here.
Thanks for the tip on adding a captcha picture. I gave up a long time ago trying to filter thru my akismet box and just started trashing all the comments that were flagged as spam. Maybe adding this feature will ensure that I actually see comments I want to keep!
I’ve found that askimet is a royal pain. looking for a better way to manage my comments… is this still holding up well?
Yes, the combination of Akismet (which initially caught your comment) and Peter’s system is still working well for me.
Trev
Akismet is a good anti spam program to use. But there is nothing worst than deleting good comments becuase they have been labled as spam, so I always check. Thanks for sharing on the use of the captch word, if they are as easy to see as yours, then I will for sure add it.
The problem I have with Akismet is that it seems to block many real comments. It does an amazing job of keeping the spam down, but I also get many comments in there that look nothing like spam. I wish that there was a way to turn it down a little bit.
Hi Dave
I guess the another option would be to find an anti spam that “learns” your own preferences – much like the Bayesian spam filters for email.
Not searched for one as I’m happy with this system at the moment.
Trev
Thanks for the quick reply, I have been looking around a little bit. But Akismet is so far the best I have used, even if marks some as spam. I think all in all I would rather have it block more then it needs to, as its easy to go into the folder and add the wrongfully blocked comments – way better then going through deleting 50+ spam comments daily.
I found this article searching for an auto version of the captcha code. I myself sometimes have problems with the captchas, andI have perfect vision. Some are just very difficult to read! I also like the way there is an audio option to listen to your blogs, very cool
Hi Jeff
I know what you mean – I usually get more captchas wrong than I get right. And the air turns blue when one of my friends encounters them.
It’s also annoying when the extra squiggles look a bit like a possible letter or number but the computer sitting in judgement disagrees.
At least newer programs like reCaptcha allow you to press “refresh” when you can’t work them out – if I’m bored one day, I might try adding that into a blog.
The audio is done with a free service called Odiogo and is easy to add to a blog – their site gives full instructions.
Trev
There is a new anti-spam plugin called SpiderSquash available here: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/spidersquash/
Instead of using image verification or text analysis, this plugin analyzes the request headers sent by clients in order to detect “bots.” It uses a global blocking database, so that once a bad bot is detected, it is blocked on all sites using the plugin.