As you might have noticed if you’ve visited my site I’ve been inundated by spam from a Chinese company offering knockoff copies of the winter equivalent of Crocs rubber shoes. Their trick, evidently, is to just getting human readers to type the Captcha codes.
So I’ve turned on an Akismet-based spam filter instead to see if a) it works any better to block the bootie spammers but also to see if b) it doesn’t filter anyone else. I’m doing this reluctantly since, for instance, Akismet blocks me when I type “realadultsex.com” in other people’s comment boxes! But other methods haven’t worked and I’m guessing the bootie spammers aren’t going to stop so…
I’ve got a couple of other options if this method proves to be more hassle to you than it’s worth. If you get completely stuck trying to comment please email my Gmail account, where my username is TalkingFigleaf. Extra credit if you put the words “I got filtered” in the title.
My apologies for any inconvenience.
figleaf
Update: Ok, so Akismet blocks me as spam when I comment on this site! That plus it seemed really, really slow. So I set the tool to use TypePad AntiSpam instead. That not only let my own comments through despite the “provocative” URL but did so in about 1/10th the time. Again, let me know if you have problems commenting. But I feel more confident about that.
Update: I’m going to (vaguely) miss the eerily prescient reCaptcha keywords from the old anti-spam feature. But I know it was a hassle for a lot of would-be commenters. The new system doesn’t make you jump through that hoop any longer.
I always wonder who would
Submitted by Holly Pervocracy (not verified) on Fri, 2010-01-15 00:22.I always wonder who would actually click the links embedded in the babble in a randomly-generated inappropriately-placed spam comment, say to themselves “that’s quite a deal,” type in their credit card, and commit to a purchase. It seems like an unthinkable chain of events.
I have a pair of (real) Ugg slippers and they’re super comfy around the house, but I wouldn’t wear them out where people could see.
For what it’s worth, I found
Submitted by Bertha (not verified) on Fri, 2010-01-15 12:04.For what it’s worth, I found a Wordpress hack that will add a whitelist feature to Akismet (http://www.dellanave.com/blog/2006/11/27/akismet-with-local-whitelist/). There may be something similar available for TypePad.
Unfortunately it only works if a) the web site has the hack installed, and b) you contact them first to get whitelisted. It’s far from an optimal solution. The worst thing about spammers is how much harder they’ve made it for real people to just communicate.
[I knew there were workarounds for Akismet’s prissiness but items #a and #b have been showstoppers for me in the past. At least for now TypePad’s version is more concerned with actual spam so I’m sticking with them. Thanks for the tip, though, Bertha. If I do have to switch back I’ll check it out. —fl]
I have said elsewhere that as
Submitted by Nightfall (not verified) on Fri, 2010-01-15 15:59.I have said elsewhere that as spamming becomes more advanced, it may end up with the majority of ‘net-related communications being between spambots futilely attempting to coerce each other into buying stuff.
...Also, I was going to post
Submitted by Nightfall (not verified) on Fri, 2010-01-15 16:10....Also, I was going to post to the “destigmatization is killing the porn industry” entry, but there’s no option to add comments to that one.
I feel your pain. I wish
Submitted by The Beautiful Kind (not verified) on Fri, 2010-01-15 16:42.I feel your pain. I wish commenting was easier, but it’s getting harder and harder, due to spammers and wonky captcha programs. I’m dealing with that on my site now – my designer installed captcha, which I hate, but I hate child porn spam more. Sigh.