Comments: Litterbugs

We used to manage a large piece of property right down the street from a McDonald’s and Taco Bell. On the other side of us was a large theater complex. Multitasker that I am, each morning I would walk our dog and pick-up the trash left behind. Litter happens offline.

Maybe your blog is getting the online version of litter – spam comments. In some ways, that’s a sign that you’ve arrived. it happens to everyone eventually. So multitask. When you check your stats or write a new post, pick up the trash (spam). Spam happens online.

Maybe you’re looking for a way to stop – or at least slow down – spam. Make sure the fence you build doesn’t also keep out comments.

Ed Kohler shares How to Combat Blog Spam with some good suggestions in the post and in the comments, including information on CAPTCHA.

I’ve heard great things about the Akismet plug-in, though I don’t use it myself. Akismet is available for WordPress (here) or MovableType 3.2 or higher (here under "Other…").

What techniques do you have to battle the online litterbugs?

Photo on Flickr by Kevin "The Rocketeer" Trotman

technorati tags: Akismet

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  • http://www.stevefarber.com Steve Farber

    Funny…just moments ago I was cursing at the screen while deleting a ton of spam from my comments data base. (Does that mean I’ve arrived?)
    My Movable Type prefs are set to disallow HTML in the comments, and that seems to keep most of the spammy stuff from posting on my site (or it’s just a coincidence). More and more are getting through lately, though, and I’d love to hear about any programs or plug-ins that’ll pick up more of that trash for me. (Akismet for Movable Type? Man, I have NO IDEA how to interpret the installation instructions!)

  • http://www.converstations.com Mike Sansone

    Steve, I’d love to say “Welcome to the Big Leagues,” but I think you’ve been there for awhile:-)
    Smart thinking on disallowing HTML in comments, though that protects your readers more than your blog.
    For a high-profile blog site, a CAPTCHA is almost a must-have. Moderation is a heavy workload. Clean-up can add frustration to the workload.
    I’ll be looking at Akismet in the next day or two and report back here.

  • http://www.sbishere.com/ Greg Balanko-Dickson

    I use Askimet and it is outstanding. I just checked and so far it has blocked 11513 spam comemnts. You can leave a comment without registering and it does not use CAPTCHA.
    I do moderate a users ‘first’ comment just to be extra safe that spam does not make it through. Askimet works great.

  • http://www.converstations.com Mike Sansone

    Good insight and numbers, Greg. Were there hurdles during the install? I know you use WordPress, right?

  • http://overtonecomm.blogspot.com/ Kami Huyse

    I have a blogger blog, so instead of moderating comments, the only way to that someone has left a comment, I use Haloscan. This way my comments and trackbacks are hosted on their server, and they have a handy way to take care of comments and even download them.

  • http://www.converstations.com Mike Sansone

    Kami, I’ve heard that Haloscan does a great job of holding back spam. Haloscan pops up in a separate window. Any feedback – positive or negative- on that features?

  • http://www.misschat.net chat

    hi. I must say congratulations! Wonderful changes and new opportunities. All these people are glad for you.. me too

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