Those of you who don't run websites, forums, or blogs may be unaware of one of the most painful aspects of doing so. It turns out there are thousands of people (and more importantly computers) who like to take advantage of any possible method of getting their message and/or links in front of your eyes. They post on forums, pull emails from websites, and most importantly in my case, spam the comments section of any blog that allows it.
I enjoy the comments section of the blog. It's one of the best ways for readers to interact with me, and more importantly, each other. I still read every single comment posted on the blog (that doesn't end up in the spam filter.) However, I get two kinds of complaints from users. The first is that the spam filters aren't tight enough. Not only does this require me to delete each spam comment manually, but it also means if you are subscribed to a thread that all the spam comments on that thread go through to your email box. (Now you can see why internet trolls do such a thing.) The second problem is that the spam filters are too tight, and legitimate comments either get held for moderation (and thus slow down the conversation) or get put into the spam folder. People REALLY don't like that after typing out a lengthy, thoughtful comment. As my settings are currently set up, any post with the following words in it or with 2 or more links is automatically held for moderation:
hydrocodone
и
anal
tits
rape
diary
meloxicam
claritin
allergic
cell phone
tattoo
Nexium
sex
weight loss
pill
tablet
dysfuncton
hcl
guafenison
casino
slots
oxycodone
ointment
pharmacy
mammals
exchange rates
reese
Chronic pain
cheap
Generic
lyrics
celebrity
pussy
baby names
nude
Generic
legal download
percocet
prescription
Payday
Forex
side effects
This blog
Your site
your article
layout
web-site
webpage
website
weblog
this subject
fat loss
weight
prepaid
The following words/phrases send a comment automatically to the spam folder (which I do NOT go through):
zolpidem
lista
webmaster
SEO
water on mars
Shemale
celexa
lesbian
Cymbalta
Trazodone
Topamax
fentermine
Ephedrine
Singulair
sex video
tartrate
Erectile
Citalopram
wellbutrin
Diazepam
Venlafaxine
xenical
plavix
Phentermine
Nifedipine
Ultram
carisoprodol
gay men
penis
sexpics
levitra
Ephedra
heparin
Zoloft
adderall
paxil
tramadol
teen-celebs
Amphetamine
Cialis
viagra
Ambien
Currency exchange rate
xanax
lexapro
Prescription medication
foreign exchange rates
Soma
Christina aguilera
valium
fioricet
fake nude
f***
propecia
Amoxicillin
Aside from these issues, my spam comment filter program, Akismet, also has its own black box protocols it uses in determining if a comment is spam or not. This is a serious issue in that I currently get about 1000 spam comments per week on the website and about 120 legitimate comments. I'd love to hear any unique solutions you may have to this issue, but as I see it now, the options to deal with this problem are limited to the following:
1) Turn off all comments
2) Turn off all comments on a post after a certain period of time – 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, 1 year etc. The longer the period, the more spam there is, but most spam is on older posts.
3) Continue to tweak the filters, but make them less restrictive so fewer comments are legitimately held.
4) Continue to tweak the filters, but make them more restrictive so fewer spam comments get emailed to thread subscribers.
5) Eliminate the subscribe to thread option (each user can obviously do this himself automatically).
6) Have users email me when a comment is inappropriately held. It's relatively easy to fish them out of the spam folder if I have a name or some other term I can use to search for the legitimate comment in there.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on any changes you would like to see to deal with this problem or any suggestions you have for eliminating words or adding words to the spam list. Take the poll or sound off in the comments section!
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WCI, whichever option you choose, please do not use options 1 or 2. I learn a lot from the comments section and the discussions that arise from them. I also refer back to many of the older posts as well.
Thanks again and keep up the great work!
How about using one of those things with the camouflage letters to weed out some of the spammers? I also have seen some websites that make you check (and not check) a series of boxes to confirm you’re a real person.
I think shutting off comments after 6 months would have minimal detriment if you ask me. I do read old posts but rarely comment on old ones simple due to age of the post itself.
How about adding a ‘captcha’ verification to allow a comment to be posted? That eliminates all the bots and probably most of the human spammers.
Some of the bigger sites, allow the user/reader to mark a comment as spam. I think this is a nice feature, 1) It is probably quicker 2)You don’t have to moderate every individual post 3)a comment that might be held for moderation, would be posted and then the readers could mark it as spam (triggering further review or removal of the post).
As the site grows, it isn’t going to be the best use of your time filtering spam…For that matter, it isn’t the best use of anyone’s time to constantly, manually filter SPAM. I think the readers are willing to help, we just need the tools or ability to do that.
The issue isn’t deleting the spam manually. The few that slip through are easily recognized and deleted. The problem is when they slip through everyone subscribed to that thread gets an email.
I had the same problem. Installed Akismet four weeks ago and it works really well.
Had Akismet for years. This is above and beyond Akismet.
Some other ideas…
Maybe a captcha would help, though I think some spam bots can break the basic ones.
Email verification to post.
Add a human verification question, maybe something a doctor should know to keep out those pesky wholelife insurance salesmen as well.
Moderate registration to see if it looks legit
Have you checked out Bad Behavior? I have a friend who likes it.
Keep the comments! Tighten up the time frame til closing, I think even 1 week would be fine; if someone really feels the need to comment after that, they can just email you and you can add it on. Likewise, if a post doesn’t show up, a commenter can contact you. Captcha would be minimal effort for at least some gain. Now I know why all my comments about adipose/priapism/SSRIs/etc never got posted. Just kidding.
Agree that requiring email verification should help a lot. Visitors really wanting to contribute will mostly be OK going through this process once. If only “registered” visitors can post, less spam.
How about having people register before being able to post?
The issue with registration is that # 1, someone has to monitor that process and # 2, I hate having to register to post comments on blogs. I usually just go away, which kind of hurts the discussion.
I had the same problem with a blog I maintained for a school society during my undergrad. I used Akismet as well, and that definitely helped but wasn’t a perfect fix.
Some of the programs these spammers use are set to comb the web and only find blogs that allow “follow” links in comments (as opposed to “nofollow” links, which will not add to the page rank of the external site to which the spammers are linking). It’s another imperfect fix, but I found that automatically adding a “nofollow” tag to any external links in comments cut down on legitimate spam. I don’t remember if Akismet has a checkbox to do this without adding code, but the code should be pretty easy to find online for WordPress.
As others have mentioned, a captcha might also help.
Mine are all no-follow already.
Comments are necessary. Especially when the post is about some variation of life insurance…
I have lots of problems with spam and my site is a lot smaller than yours 🙁
I found a plugin that has worked really well though: anti-spam by webvitaly
Otherwise, I see a lot of the other big blogs switching to Disqus, probably the best solution for you IMO since it’s easy to use and very customizable. Might be a bit of a pain to switch though.
I agree that I find the comments section valuable. Personally I don’t comment on older posts, figuring no one is reading it at that point anyway.
Comments are good – what about one of those do this simple math puzzle 2 + 3 = ??? to comment – don’t those work pretty effectively?
Oops – forgot to add, I hate it when old posts are locked to comments. Any old post that’s publicly available on the Internet, thanks to Google and linking, and what not, can become a new post to someone who comes across it, and finds it still relevant to their present situation.
Another solution is allow certain users to be moderators and help you with the spam?
But, I agree with most above, do not get rid of the comments. The discussions are great.
I would like to strongly agree w/the users above – please keep the comments section, and please do not lock it after a 6 month period.
Your website content is phenomenal and impacts the lives of countless physicians across the country daily. It is truly appreciated and the comments section extends the timelessness of your posts and allows us to participate in a community of other like-minded individuals (think of all the Whole Life discussions!).
What you do matters, and I’ll take a few spam emails if it means I have the ability to participate in your site
Keep up the great work!
Hilarious that your comment was held for moderation.
Have you tried using Growmap Anti-Spam Plugin (GASP?): https://wordpress.org/plugins/growmap-anti-spambot-plugin/ I use it on my site and it does a very good job of filtering spam without being too annoying (no CAPTCHA, just a simple “check this box if you are not a spammer”).
Well, I’ve installed AntiSpam Bee in addition to Akismet. We’ll see how it goes. I tried a test comment from myself, and it was flagged as spam, so it appears to be pretty strong!
If you have comments that don’t show up, send me an email (right afterward) and I’ll fish them out of the spam filter.
Have you looked into Disqus instead of WordPress comments?
Honestly, I’m trying to minimize the hassle for real commenters. I hate using Disqus myself, so I hate to subject others to it. I took off Antispam Bee today and am trying a CAPTCHA combined with akismet. We’ll see if it works better as I’m now sending several legit comments a day to the spam folder.
But the debate income tax forms that iss going on here?
What, then, the C corporation sells this building, the $900, 000 capital gain like the one
described in this article. The air rights were appraised at the time.
To apply for installment payments, you must file a tax return for the
client.
Kind of ironic that this post got comment spam through the filters. I’ll leave this one just for fun.
I had to chuckle that you included the no-no list. Thanks for all you do and the work you put in.
Please keep comments on!