I have been receiving a lot of comment spam on my blog.
I have always received spam comments, but for some reason, the frequency had really picked up in intensity the last few weeks. I have comment moderation turned on, so I was always able to mark them as spam—so they’d never appear on my actual blog—but it was seriously annoying to be receiving 15+ notification emails per day for comments that were nothing more than gibberish, links, and other spam.
Desperate for relief, I went to the WordPress plugin section and typed “spam” in the search box, and found a plugin that touts its spam-blocking capabilities. Sold. So, now it’s installed, and I have not received a single spam comment in two days. WOOT WOOT!
For those who are interested in the plugin for their own blogs, I’ll give a little PSA! The plugin is called WP-SpamShield. As long as it’s not blocking comments it shouldn’t? I’m loving it.
But I AM paranoid that it’s blocking comments it shouldn’t. I don’t want to beg for comments or anything, but hey, if a few of you wouldn’t mind testing it out for me? I’d really appreciate it. I just want to make sure your messages are getting through to me as they should. So… leave a comment and tell me something fun—a random fact about yourself. Maybe it’s the place you’d go in the world if you could go anywhere. Maybe it’s that you sucked your thumb until you were 5. Maybe it’s that your favorite food is tuna (um, eww). Maybe you wore purple socks today. WHATEVER your little heart desires, just tell me.
This could be fun. :)
Update after only 5 minutes of “testing” WP-SpamShield: As I feared, it IS blocking EVERYONE from commenting on my blog. So, bye-bye WP-SpamShield. You were too good to be true. So fellow WordPress bloggers, I do NOT recommend WP-SpamShield. I’m now trying out the Akismet plugin instead. Keep your random facts coming, y’all. I’ll keep you posted on the results!
P.S. If you’ve tried commenting on my blog over the last two days and it told you “Hmmm, your comment seems a bit spammy. We’re not real big on spam around here. Please go back and try again.” I’M SORRY! That was not me, it was the plugin talking.
19 Responses to Nixing the Spammers
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About
I'm Heather. I'm 33 and have been married to Michael for seven years. Together, we have two beautiful little girls we love more than anything, and a miniature dachshund who drives us crazy. I'm a full-time working mom who has very little time for my own "stuff" these days, like home improvement, cooking/baking, cake decorating, and photography. Despite the team not making the playoffs since 1999, I'm STILL a Buffalo Bills fan, which I think speaks to my loyalty AND sense of humor. I can't wait to pick up the pace with travel again some day... you know, when we're done being ruled by tiny fists. Welcome to my blog.
Testing, Testing, 1…2…3…. :)
Hey there! This is a test, this is only a test =)
I miss blogging. I love nail polish. I’m obessed with hot chocolate even in summer. And I hate that my daughter refuses to wear headbands when I have SO MANY cute ones!
Have a good evening =)
Rachael
Leaving a comment for you to make sure your spam blocking plugin isn’t blocking non spam. :) Speaking of spam … I remember eating fried spam sandwiches as a kid.
In grade 8 I found it amusing that most of my friends had à crush on my older brother. I found a picture of him with his shirt off and made copies.
I made 60$ that year.
And then my brother found out.
My parents made me shore my profits.
Jerks.
Testing spam filter…
I can say the alphabet backwards faster than I can say it forward.
I have been having huge amounts of spam comments lately, too, but I haven’t made the switch to WordPress yet, so I can’t use that plugin. Sad face. At least you can benefit from it!
I’ve been a reader since Road to the Aisle days, and I love to travel. Your trips have given me great tips to use for my own travels. Cheers!
I tried leaving a comment the other day on your Mother’s Day post and got the spam blocker. Random tidbit? My husband and I are obsessed with cruising and just went on our 10th one together this year!
I cannot get my 3 year old to keep her clothes on in the house to save my life – and sometimes not even outside. At least she will wear her underwear (most of the time). On the upside I have lots of pictures that will serve as blackmail material for the teenage years. Like the naked headstand on the couch pose.
Giving this a try for you. My favorite color is blue. My daughter is 4. I love everything bagels and sushi and cheese and… okay, I love FOOD! :-)
Thanks for all of the “test” comments, guys! Akismet appears to be working BEAUTIFULLY, yay! All spam in my spam folder, and all of your great comments coming through just fine. Some of these made me laugh out loud, so kudos to all!
My little fam and I get to go home today after camping out at my parents for the past three days!!! San Diego can have its bad days/weeks just like every other place…
Also, my favorite Owen words this week (so my 21-month old son) are “flutterby” and “bison.” I don’t know why, but they always make me laugh!
Hi Heather! I have 2 kids, Logan (2.5) and Bella (soon to be 4 months). Bella made national news in January since due to a heavy snowstorm, we didn’t make it to the hospital and I gave birth to her on a sled!
A late commenter here. Since I am feeling hungry at the moment, I will just say I love Thai cuisine and wish I had some. I enjoy your blog.
Testing as well to see if my reply will go into a black hole!
Hi Heather,
I’m really sorry to hear WP-SpamShield was giving you some issues. There was a bug with a recent version that was doing that, and is fixed in the newest version. I’m always available for tech support, so if you ever do decide to try it out again, and it gives you issues, you can let me know and I’m here to help. Most people are really happy with it and I want to make sure it’s working for everyone. So far I’ve been able to fix 100% of the problems
that have been brought to my attention.
Anyway, thanks for your time. Have a good one!
– Scott
Hi Scott!
I sometimes forget that with WordPress plugins, there are often times VERY accessible developers behind them! I’m sorry that I didn’t reach out to you to report the problems I was having. Lesson learned! Thanks for dropping by and telling me about the bug. I do have a few minor problems with Askimet and its compatibility with my theme, so I may give WP-SpamShield another try! As feedback, one of the things I didn’t like was that I couldn’t tell what was being held as spam… because there was no way to check my “spam” comments. With Askismet, everything that is filtered out as spam is held under the spam tab, so I can periodically go in there to make sure nothing was held that shouldn’t have been. Is that something WP-SpamShield can do?
Scott, I just tested WP-SpamShield again and had the same problem. I tried to comment and it told me my comment was too spammy.
Hi Heather! No worries. :) Yes, absolutely, my goal is to help people. You’re very welcome. Ok, not a problem. There actually IS a way to tell what has been blocked…there is something called “Blocked Comment Logging Mode” that will let you see what’s been blocked. It works a little differently than Akisment. Akismet actually stores the spam comments in the main WordPress database which bloat your database with garbage info, slowing your site down. WP-SpamShield only keeps the info if you have the logging turned on, and it keeps in a separate file that isn’t accessed by your site, and making it more secure and won’t slow your site down. If you have a few moments and would like to turn that logging mode on, try to post a comment, and then email me the log, I can look into the problem for you. If it’s affecting you it may be affecting someone else too, so I of course will want to fix that. :) If you don’t feel like doing that, I totally understand…there are probably better things you can do with your time. :) Have a good one!