Comment Spam Avalanche
Back to the comment spam issue. I recalibrated the settings in Movable Type and opened up comments in April. Unbeknowst to me (and contrary to my configurations), MT put all of the comments in a moderation queue that wasn’t obvious (at least, to me). I found this stash today and the picture wasn’t pretty. I had a total of about 6,400 comment spam that queued up since mid-April (and I think MT auto-deleted about 1,000 more). I did a “quick” pass (took about 2 hours) through this queue and came up with about 45 legitimate comments, or well less than 1%. So, what do you think–should I close comments? Tighten them up further? (when I required authentication, I got numerous reports that the MT tools didn’t work). Slog through this heavy spamfest for the nuggets? (many of the comments were terrific) I recalibrated the filters again and we’ll see how that goes for a bit. But it may be that I’ll have to take more drastic measures.
One last gripe. I still don’t understand why MT doesn’t do more to auto-kill comment spam. Here’s a tip: if the comment contains the word “ringtone,” KILL IT. MT should also allow comments to be sorted/filtered by score.
Comments are open on this post, but if you don’t get scored as “not spam,” watch out! If the comment gets buried in the comment spam pile, all hope may be lost…
I suspect that I have had at least one comment eaten…. I know I commented on the diploma privilege post.
I thought it might of just been the “fly-over state” filter. 😉
This plugin has massively cut down on my spams. I think I’ve gotten maybe 13 total since installing it 3 months ago.