Comments on: Comment Spammers: 1, Open Conversation: 0

By: Robin Good

Robin Good — Tue, 22 Mar 2005 00:27:58 +0000

There is absolutely no need to do this to significantly calm down comment spam.

My site (http://www.masternewmedia.org/) is a good example of it, and while I have been plagued by the problem over a year ago, I am now sleeping without worries.

All that is required is a simple numeric password and you will see 95% of your comment spam disappear.

No registration ever needed.

Keep the conversation open!

By: randfish

randfish — Mon, 21 Mar 2005 19:37:51 +0000

The registration keeps wanting to add a “g” onto the end of my username, but other than that it seems painless. I can’t think of a reason why a blog wouldn’t have comment registration required – it’s better for the UI in the long run anyway as you tend to weed out those who have no dedication whatsoever to the community. I think it’s a plus for users and to foil spammers.

By: deadprogrammer

deadprogrammer — Sun, 20 Mar 2005 17:16:29 +0000

I've had very good results with a CAPTCHA plugin for Wordpress in my blog. It cuts off 100% of comment spam. Also a hack that creates threaded discussions with email notification is very useful.

By: GoogleGuy

GoogleGuy — Sun, 20 Mar 2005 17:16:07 +0000

It took me about a minute to sign up, so the one-time friction really isn’t very bad.

By: Mike Mo

Mike Mo — Sun, 20 Mar 2005 15:03:16 +0000

Ok, I registered and now I forgot what I was to say but I will say this.
Die spammers.

By: rustybrick

rustybrick — Sun, 20 Mar 2005 14:47:59 +0000

Mr. Battele, that is a shame. I went to the extreme of requiring people to type in a security access code before being able to comment.

How are you handling trackback spam? Blacklist can only do so much...

By: Scot Hacker

Scot Hacker — Sun, 20 Mar 2005 07:50:43 +0000

Fortunately, any friction thrown into the openness of conversation is in the form of a one-time registration. Once registered, people can use the same login on any TypeKey-enabled weblog, after which sign-in becomes a one-click affair. So hopefully the openness of conversation will not be affected much.