Over the past few months, the spamming on this site has gone completely out of control. It went from a simple few spam comments a day to almost 8000 a week. If it were not for the fact that you need a previously accepted comment in order for your new comment to show up, nobody would even be able to use the site anymore. These spam comments put me in a difficult position as they went from being obvious spam (i.e. gibberish links and language; easily blockable spam), to very difficult to recognize spam comments, that contain no links and prevent me from being able to tell what is spam and what isn't. These are extremely difficult to block and none of the spam plugins I have tried have worked so far. I have finally concluded that there are only two non-negotiable options left.
1) I will add captchas to the comment section, meaning you will need to enter a captcha in order to post a comment.
2) I will require everyone to register and be logged in, in order to comment.
Before I implement one of these, I would like feedback on which one is best for everyone.
EDIT: Based on the responses so far, I think I am going to combine both options and make a captcha for unregistered users, while registered ones will just be able to post comments without any inhibitions. This new system will take effect sometime tomorrow.
EDIT2: I decided to make captchas only for those comments that are marked as spam. This way the majority of you will never even see a captcha. I believe this most effectively solves the problem. This may be subject to change though so don't get used to it.
captchas will be better, its keep this blog open to all
ReplyDeletecaptcha is a good solution to solve spamming of bots. but is everyone needed to register to the site??
ReplyDeleteCaptcha seems better to me.
ReplyDeleteI like the captcha idea the best
ReplyDeleteRegistering seems easier to me. Captchas for every single comment would get annoying, although I don't comment too often. Whichever's fine though.
ReplyDeleteCaptcha is better.
ReplyDeletecaptcha I vote!
ReplyDeletei think captcha for non register members will be a good idea. i'm willing to register it makes little differences to me.
ReplyDeletedefinitely captcha
ReplyDeletecaptcha is goo idea..but i like more the register thing
ReplyDeleteSomething like a 4 digit captcha would probably suffice.
ReplyDeleteI think captcha would be better.
ReplyDeletecatchpa, but i wouldn't mind registering.
ReplyDeleteCaptchas are the only way
ReplyDeleteI'm fine with Registration and captcha. registration will probably remove a lot of commentators, but I'd register, personally.
ReplyDeletethe registering would be best route i believe
ReplyDeleteI don't comment enough that captchas would be a problem. Registration isn't a big deal either.
ReplyDeleteI'd rather register.
ReplyDeleteI don't mind captchas. I am weak to registration forms, though :P
ReplyDeleteDo both??? If people don't want to enter it in every time then they can just register.
ReplyDeletecaptchas is my vote unless you plan on making a forum for those who register
ReplyDeleteDo what you need to stop the spam. It's your site.
ReplyDeleteeither way is fine with me.
ReplyDeleteCaptchas are ok, but I'd prefer to register.
ReplyDeleteI think you should do both. not just one or the other.
ReplyDeleteI say captcha.
ReplyDeleteThe edit sounds good to me.
ReplyDeleteI'd prefer captchas. Allows for express posting and I prefer the available anonymity it offers.
ReplyDeleteJust be thankful you don't have my worries.
ReplyDeleteOne of my sites has a crazy senior spamming it. Long story but just be thank full that your spammers don't have any insider knowledge.
Plus to stop normal spammers you simply have to make it easier to spam someplace else, I need to keep the garbage out of sight no matter what.
I'd suggest giving a try to wordpress plugin "AVH First Defense Against Spam" with "Aksimet" - the first one checks ips against honeypot database and blocks comments from them instantly and Aksimet is just a second check, cause there are some comments that may get through AVH. At least that's what I'm using and I even resigned from the need to have at least one approved comment to post (for now it works). Though yeah, I have some ~150 spam comments a month.
ReplyDeleteCaptcha is the way to go...I think.
ReplyDeletei'd say put captcha on registration and make it so only registered members can comment, this way people wouldnt have to type captcha's but it wouls still be spamfree
ReplyDeleteYou use wordpress. Why don't You use Aksimet for spam filtering? I was using it myself back when i blogged and i worked just fine. It was doing nicely even after i stopped blogging and my blog was left for spammers...
ReplyDeleteI hope you don't require logging to post. I hope you could just put a checker. Either way, thanks for putting up with all the annoying brats and such for so long. =/
ReplyDelete@biribiri
ReplyDelete@Slts
I do use Aksimet and bad behavior currently, and I have tried several other combinations in the past. It is not working. I will consider your ideas but for now I will be using captcha.
try disqus plug in. if you're using WP platform.
ReplyDeletestop the bots!, captcha in select spam comments would prob work best
ReplyDeleteTry with EDIT2 for me.
ReplyDeleteid have to vote ageist captchas, mainly because i can hardly read some of them, and retrying to type them is aggravating, and some times, on a few sites a 1000 word comment gets erased because i misspell the damn captcha.
ReplyDeletebut sense you are putting them in, and i will be registered so i never have to deal with them, can you try to get a captcha that wont erase the comments you tried to post if its mispelled
captcha sounds good to me. Just chiming in to say that I support your decision
ReplyDeleteI don't really like captchas, but if there's no other way. :/
ReplyDeletei never though this site really was popular 0_0
ReplyDelete