One of the biggest challenges that bloggers face today is spam. Blog comment spam eats up huge chunks of time and resources and there’s no end in sight. In an attempt to get a handle on comment spam, or at least manage it, bloggers have tried various tools and actions and I thought it would be fun to push back a little; on the inconvenience aspect anyway.
Let me start by saying there are some reasonable actions to take against spam, like spam fighting plugins and moderating blog comments. The problem is that nothing seems to effectively squash the headache of clearing our spam boxes daily. So what’s one to do? Get a little crazy, that’s what…
Hangout (HOA) Video – Crazy Things Spam Makes Bloggers Do
Banning IP Addresses
Taking the time to ban IP addresses, emails and keywords might have a feel-good effect, for a minute, but is it really helping? This seems like an easy task until you’re faced with hundreds or even thousands of blog comments each day. Then what?
Turning off trackbacks
This one isn’t all that extreme and I imagine it can help reduce comment spam since 98% of trackbacks are spam. Personally, I want to know when that 2% that are actually linking back are doing so. I’d hate to deny a legitimate link to a generous blogger going to the trouble to mention a post because spam made me do it. That would just be crazy, right?
UPDATE: Just hours after this post went live I had a legitimate trackback request come through. Yeah, people talk about us. lol Thank you to BlogWorld & New Media Expo for including us in 25 Brilliant Bloggers Talk About Google+ Hangouts.
Captchas
Captchas are stupid. Do you know what CAPTCHA satnds for? “Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart” I told you it was stupid. What are these letters ILli|1vXOPS0Zv and are they upper or lower case? You see, it’s almost designed to make humans feel stupid.
Captchas might even get you sued. Yep, true story, read about it on Wikipedia.
A much better solution is G.A.S.P. (GrowMap Anti-Spambot Plugin) by Gail Gardner. Sometimes the simplest solusions are pure genious and that’s exactly what GASP is. By the way, G.A.S.P. is built right into Comment Luv Premium.
One last thing on Captchas, I found this funny page while researching this post and wanted to share the laugh: 15 of the Meanest CAPTCHAs ever.
Writing Comment Policies
I’m guilty of this one… We write elaborate comment policies like it’s actually going to change behavior. I’m sure anyone that studies psychology thinks that’s funny as hell. I think it’s funny when bloggers go on a rampage and act offended when no one reads it. Who hasn’t read, or even written, that post. lol
Going No-follow
How many times have we watched a frustrated blogger go no-follow across the board in an attempt to stop the comment spam they are dealing with? Have you ever seen it fix, or even help, the problem? Yeah, me neither. (BTW, there are better reasons to go no-follow but I’ll go into that on another post)
Third Party Blog Commenting Systems
Okay, this has to be the craziest step against spam that I can think of short of just turning off comments (below). And truthfully, this one might actually work; but at what cost? You go through a lot of work getting setup to get less reader interaction? I think anytime you require someone to register and login to comment on your blog you are risking a less comments. I think that’s why it’s often blogs that are already established that tend to switch to comment platforms like Disqus and Livefyre. In fact, one blogger friend of mine, Mitch Mitchell, dubbed these third party blog commenting platforms as “Systems of the Elite.”
Closing Blog Comments
This is beyond crazy, its madness! lol Turning off comments on a blog is, in my extremely expertated (wth?) opinion, is shutting down the blog. Like I said in the video (which should be going viral very soon) a blog is interactive and without comments it’s no longer a blog, it’s just another website.
Two Word Names
Alright, here we go… I left my pet peeve for last. I like my name. The problem is that Brian Hawkins is just too common. Years ago I had to register brianDhawkins.com because BrianHawkins.com is already taken.
Okay, so what does all this mean? It means I have spent years branding my FULL name into this incredibly famous super hero of a blogger and now… bam, bloggers all over the net decide that’s just too many words. Anyone using more than two words for their name must be a spammer, right? Be sure to watch the video; Mitch and I like to debate issues like this. Lol
Am I Crazy?
Am I the crazy blogger here? Are these perfectly normal steps to take against spammers? What do you do to help prevent spam? Has blog comment spam made you a Crazy Blogger?
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The WP Ban plugin went crazy on my blog and started banning me! So I got rid of that and just rely on GASP from CommentLuv Premium. I uninstalled Akismet long time ago just like you Brian.
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Ileane recently posted..5 Warning Signs You’re Not Ready To Start Guest Blogging
I Ileane, I think that’s the same plugin that got me a little bit ago. There was an update available and once I updated it I couldn’t log back into my blog. I spent half the day trying to get in to disable it. It took a while to get the contact info of the programmer that made it and get the fix. I think I ended up deleting or renaming a file using the file manager in cPanel. That was a rough day.
Hi Brian
I Don’t know whats going on with my blog, i recently setup this blog and it has very less traffic still i get hundreds of spam comments on daily basis. Since my blog is do follow, i think this could be the reason for the same.
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Tauseef Alam recently posted..Hostmantis [Review] – Cheap Linux Shared Hosting Provider
Hundreds of spam comments a day on a new blog sounds like more than do-follow Tauseef, there has to be more to it. I wonder if your blog is on some kind of spammer list or something.
Yesterday I had 54 comments from a single spammer (See here for a funny pic of it http://4u2bn.com/pl10 ) so something like that everyday could easily shoot you into the hundreds. When you get a bunch of spam from the same IP address, it’s absolutely worth blocking the IP address, email and URL.
Very informative post, had not heard about the captchu’s possibly getting you sued. Thanks for sharing. A lot to think about here.
Hi Lisa, I think the risk of being sued for something like that is pretty slim but, what do I know, I’m just a trucker. lol It was a fun post to write and I really enjoyed make the video. Both went way too long but I tend to be a little long-winded.
Hi Brian,
Commentluv was the best plugin i have seen but i never thought what CAPTCHA means,thanks for this meaningful post.
Do you have CommentLuv Premium Aditya? You can actually get the Premium version for $21 on the 23rd. Right now it’s like $97 but Andy’s offering a 1 year anniversary special. If you are a newsletter subscriber you’ll be seeing a reminder in a bit because I want every blogger to enjoy this huge sale.
No Brian i don’t have a premium version yet.But with this deal i am sure i cannot let it go.Thanks for letting me know.
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Aditya recently posted..MLM Software Delhi Noida India
I still use Akismet and naturally I also the GASP portion of CommentLuv Premium. They take care of most of the spammers but unfortunately human spammers who don’t or won’t take the time to leave a good comment will still get through. Luckily there isn’t too many of them and they are quite easily taken care of. If it’s just a crappy comment I just delete it. If it’s a comment that hasn’t adhered to my comment policy I send them to Akismet. You see, my comment policy does serve a purpose:D
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Sire recently posted..How To Turn Your WordPress Blog Into A Web App
Hi Sire, We’ll never get rid of the human spammers, at least not the smarter ones. You know, I didn’t even know we could use both Akismet and GASP until Mitch mentioned it in the hangout. Have you had a chance to watch any yet?
Yep, I started using them both the moment GASP became available, even though the whole idea of GASP was to get rid of Akismet. Personally I didn’t see the point of that as all GASP did was get rid of robotic spam.
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Sire recently posted..Getting The Most Out Of CommentLuv Premium
Hello Brian,
After reading your post, I understood that you worked hard to reach this stage. You have given a great writeup on what bloggers to wade off spammers. Though it made me laugh, the truth is that the bloggers have to try everything under the Sun to protect the credibility of their blogs. I completely agree with all the points you have written here.
Thanks and Regards,
Rajkumar Jonnala
Thanks Rajkumar, I try to add a little humor with most posts.
I think that in a perfect world you are exactly right about blog commenting. Without a way to communicate and get feedback from your readers, what is the point, really? Unfortunately, I think it can become necessary at times, as so, so many people abuse comments, spam nonsense, and just generally drive the quality of sites down. Comments should be substantial and continue the conversation, not just blindly saying how great a blog post is, which clearly advertises “I did not read this, but I want the comment backlink for my own purposes”. It’s a two way street. We need to benefit EACH OTHER when blogging, and commenting on other blogs.
Thanks Paul, well said. The funny thing is that this particular post seems to be attracting even more spammers than usual. I’ve been clearing spam comments all day long. I have to wonder if it’s the word spam or spammer that attracts them. lol Last November I wrote a post, Top Ten Blog Commenting Tips – Don’t Look Like A Spammer, that was hammered with hundreds of spam comments.
Now I know what CAPTCHA means, although designed to make us feel stupid, I think when completing them that the person who wrote them is stupid because the words in italics are so hard to read and it`s easy to misread it and have to do it again, hopefully more of those who use them will be sued eh!
Hi Freddy, I may have been a little facetious with the Captcha comments but they truly are annoying. Nothing like pissing off our readers in case they are spammers, I’m sure they’ll understand. lol
Ah, I felt my name was being used in vain and it led me here. lol
You know, I don’t have to read comment policies because the way I write comments has never violated a single one. However, I have read some and the only one I ever violated was when Sire had one that stated you had to write at least 20 words for a comment to be approved. As an opening statement that works fine, but he he responds with a short comment and you want to respond back just to that the limit suddenly didn’t work all that well. I’m not sure if he’s still using it.
The 3-word name thing might seem like it’s intrusive but truth be told, almost no one us using 3-word names when compared to the amount of spam that comes through with 3 words in the name. That and the keyword names, which ends up driving the word count higher; ugh. At least I do look in the spam filter to see if there are any legitimate comments in there.
And you know how much I hate both captcha & 3rd party comment systems with a passion. I’m thinking my little policy is nothing when compared to the rest. And if you ever start writing 5 blogs and having to deal with multiple sources of spam, you’ll understand me. lol
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Mitch Mitchell recently posted..Commenting On Similarly Themed And Niched Blogs
Actually Mitch, that was never in my comment policy at all. I introduced that when the feature came up in CommentLuv Premium. Yes I when replying I do at times leave short answers but then as the boss that is my prerogative
Anyway, since then I’m pretty sure I have reduced it to 10 words, even though for the main part the 20 word limit did improve the comments.
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Sire recently posted..How To Buy A Lottery Ticket Using PayPal
It’s semantics Sire, since if you didn’t write 20 words it came up and told you to go back and add more content. To me, written or not, that’s a comment policy. lol
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Mitch Mitchell recently posted..Are Your Social Media Standards Too Strict?
I suppose it all depends how you look at it.
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Sire recently posted..How To Turn Your WordPress Blog Into A Web App
Truthfully Mitch, your setup doesn’t bother me that much. I go into moderation for a few and that’s no different than many blogs. The blogs that kill me are the ones that give a stop/notice to go back and shorten your name. As my pics above show, that causes any social sharing (CommentLuv Premium) to reset to zero. I try to remember where to use only 2 words but I have one of those browser filler inner whatyamacallit doodads (technical name) that helps me forget. lol
I forgot to mention I have come up with a clever solution to your two word policy, since that’s what I do – solve problems. You’ll see in a few when I get over to your blog. lol
Brian, I think it is very difficult to control spam, but as you say we can manage it. I use G.A.S.P. also and it works great for me. I agree with Mitch’s statement about Seth’s blog it is hard to say he has a blog.
I think his real intention is to sell books which is ok, but maybe he never intends for anyone to communicate on his site.
Everyone has a preference so I can not talk bad about it.
I enjoyed the video and I am becoming a fan. thanks
Michael Belk recently posted..Too Much Info. (TMI); Social media annoyances (Part 2)
Thanks Michael, and thanks for watching our video. We have a ton of fun doing those. One day I should secretly record our “off air” handouts and you would really see some fun! lol We’ve literally went on for hours.
Yeah, I agree with Mitch on that too, Seth isn’t really a blogger. With that said, I kind of like the guy and he’s doing very well.
Spammers can’t be blocked easily. First most of them use proxies, for ban on IP wont work in most cases. Captcha, well there are at least 20 websites that offer chaptcha recognition and spamming software in most cases support those. Tell me how comment policies will stop spammers as they actually do not visit your website?! Spammers don’t care about do-follow and no-follow, they bombard everything. Spam protection plugins – what a joke! I think spammers have outsmart all the technology and I personally don’t have a solution that works.
Ouch Carl, you don’t paint a very pretty picture. lol So what’s a blogger to do? Get crazy, right. That’s kind of my point.
Yup, spam comments are amazingly annoying. I’ve yet to make the big leap from Akismet to GASP and I’ve had some false positives recently.
I’ve long since given up on allowing trackbacks.
Hi Rob, I get the same thing every now and then; a great comment goes into the spam box for no apparent reason. I makes me wonder how many legitimate comments were squashed by the spam filters and I missed them completely.
I with Brian on this one.
I hate spammers and do take of them. For some reason I have great success with the Akismet plugin.
GASP is also great.
Also, I never read the comment policies since I blindly follow them already
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Samuel recently posted..Top WordPress Plugins To Reach The Top!
i am completely agree with the author that we generally block the ip to avoid spams.Thanks for sharing this article
Your article mere focus is to block those who scam, i like that idea. I hate spammers..
shey recently posted..Putra FM 90.7 Malaysia Radio Online
Awww, shoot. I’ll have to start allowing three names, now, just for you!
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Holly Jahangiri recently posted..It Really IS a All a Matter of Perspective!
Hi Holly, I just seen this. lol Don’t mind me, I’m a complainer. lol I’ve actually stopped trying 3 words on blogs altogether, especially on blogs with CommentLuv Premium, because you lose the share icons if you have to go back and try again.
I have a relatively new blog which is part of my car valeting website. I get around 20 spam comments a day which is rather annoying. I have installed commentluv. I was looking for advise on a plugin to attempt to block some of this, so I will have a look at GASP.
As a blog commenter I’m not keen on CAPTCHA as i find it very difficult to read the letters or numbers so can take a few attempts to get the answer correct!
Is GASP available on its own
Richard recently posted..(Car Detailing) Restoring Faded Headlights
This has been a great read and very enlightening for someone who is about to start on her own personal blog – namely me. I did not know that we can be sued for captchas. I am reading up on this.
Reese recently posted..Gas Skimming: A Pain at the Pump
hi brian,
thanks for this awesome article. It is really very tough to keep away the spam from your website. but all the tricks you mentioned above are really helpful to keep spam away. i think commentluv or captcha are helpful plugin for this spams.
Spammers are really pain in the arse and thanks for letting me know about GASP, i should have started using it earlier.
Lionel recently posted..Linear Algebra and Its Applications by David C. Lay 3rd Edition
CommentLuv with GASP does a pretty good job, but you still have to screen humans, and turning off trackbacks really doesn’t lose you anything. I’m still DoFollow but interested in your opinion about going NoFollow. I did NOT know what CAPTCHA meant, and yeah, it’s dumb. Squiddo makes you do a CAPTCHA for every move and it makes me nuts.
Yeah… Really.
I am getting original comments as well as spam comments. Due to spams it become hard to read out all the comments and approve wisely.
I am gonna be use CAPTCHA
Yes comment spam is such a hassle and time consuming. It can be frustrating and make you want to resort to going no-follow. thanks….
Blogger first evaluate these threats will happening when blog site on the web,So above guides will avoid to stop those unnecessary things.
Hundred of spammers spams daily. Even I have a blog, these spammers also comments on my site. It irritates me.
For me a Simple Captcha along with Akismet works great………..!!
Many bloggers have come up with these crazy ideas on how to manage spam comments, but spammers are so persistent. And bloggers need to be smarter.