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November 23rd, 2007

Fairly dull post about blog comments

This is not that interesting, but then it is Friday and none of you are reading anyway. Happy Thanksgiving, by the way, to readers from the USA.

Blog comments. As I mentioned the other day I’ve been having some problems knowing what to allow and what not to allow on the SPCK threads. There is much righteous anger which I’d like to allow, but on the other hand I don’t want to get into trouble. I’m still in the process of writing a clearer comment policy which should make the boundaries a bit clearer.

The other issue I face at the moment is comment spam. Lots and lots and lots of it. A few months ago I put some miraculous measures into place which halved the amount of spam I get overnight. I can’t tell you what those were in case the spammers are reading. Unfortunately the situation with spam has, over the last 10 days in particular got significantly worse. I’d say I now average well over one spam comment a minute – at times it is about 100 an hour. I’ve always accepted that wasting hours scrolling through spam is just a part of writing a blog you have to live with, but the amount of time it takes to go through them all is beginning to get ridiculous. I have reactivated the ‘Akismet’ anti spam device, which does a very good job of not letting very much spam though at all. The problem with it is that I have found that it marks a reasonable number of legitimate comments as spam too, meaning that you still have to go through all of the spam comments. I’m not alone in this unfortunately.

As I see it there are 3 options for the Cartoon Blog comments:

  1. Allow comments as they are, but we must all accept that the Akismet device will eat about 5-10% of them, so those ones will never see the light of day
  2. Make everyone fill in one of those CAPTCHA things – in other words a series of numbers or letters that you, the commenter, have to type in.
  3. Give you the option to register, so that if you are logged in you can be sure your comment will get through. I know some people don’t like having to register for more and more things, so I’d still like to make it optional if I go this route.

Any thoughts welcomed. Which option do you find best on your blog? (As a side issue I’d also be interested to know whether certain blog platforms perform better then others when it comes to comment spam. Do you Blogger / Typepad / Movable Type users find that your anti-comment-spam measures work for you?)

Meanwhile other bloggers in the UK Christian sort of world are debating whether to have comments at all. Adrian Warnock has done away with comments, owing to the amount of time it takes to moderate them. Peter Kirk sees this as a refusal to be accountable, and a debate has sprung forth in his comment section and also at Methodist Dave Warnock’s blog. Dave is an unrelated Warnock, in case you were wondering. See also Dave’s post ‘Do blog comments work?‘.

All in all a bit of a kerfuffle, but there are some interesting points being made for those who are interested in such things.

In the meantime if any comments posted here don’t appear after 12 hours or so send me an e-mail and I’ll try to fish them out of the fiery comment furnace.

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This is a single post on the Cartoon Blog by Dave posted on Friday, November 23rd, 2007 at 10:19 am. Click here to read all of the latest posts. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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33 Responses to “Fairly dull post about blog comments”


  1. jody says:

    Hi Dave

    well I use blogger and it does the letters and numbers thingy that seems to be fine, and also when I have to do that on others blogs I am happy to do so, not irritating at all (ahem, okay it is sometimes when I can’t work out whether it is a g or a 9)

    I would be happy to register, but am perhaps a register junkie – will have to repent of that later I suppose.

    re: whether bloggers should have comments. What a ridiculous idea it is not to have comments, it then becomes no better to read a blog than to watch ‘Trisha’ at which I have been known to shout at the screen in frustration at them not being able to hear the wonderful (!?) advice that I am trying to give them.

    likewise if I am to read a blog (I have one in mind) which is so strict in its allowance of comments so as to moderate even middle of the road comments (imho), really what is the point – isn’t it meant to be a sort of dialogue?

    November 23rd, 2007 at 10:29 am
  2. chris clark says:

    I suspect CAPTCHA idea will be make it easiest to make sure people comment. I get really cross or give up if I have to register for things ( In need to repent the other way). I would of course register for best blog (yours) but would other less committee Dave W junkies!

    November 23rd, 2007 at 10:41 am
  3. Peter Kirk says:

    Thanks for the link. This subject may seem dull, but my post about it has proved by far the most read.

    I use both Akismet and Peter’s Custom Anti-Spam, a captcha check, on WordPress. And I don’t seem to have any problems. Akismet shows me only what gets through the captcha check but it thinks is spam, but there is not very much of that and it is almost always really spam – although I did have a problem with a commenter from China as Akismet probably assumes all comments from China are spam! But I have already discovered that people have wildly different experiences with the same combination of checks, I don’t know why, just one of those things.

    November 23rd, 2007 at 11:00 am
  4. John says:

    I run my blog on Pivot and that has excellent antispam facilities. Basically, I don’t get any spam comments and seem to lose very few comments. (Although I never had the traffic you enjoy!)

    Pivot uses a combination of techniques, including a Javascript hash that foils most robots and a stupid humans-only question thing (commonly, things like “what are the first two letters of the word ‘spam’?”). It’s better than a captcha because it’s not a second page, just another field to fill in on the comments form.

    Sadly, even captchas aren’t foolproof but, for my money, they’re probably the best solution from those you suggest. Losing real comments always seems like a Bad Thing to me.

    pax et bonum

    November 23rd, 2007 at 11:12 am
  5. Al says:

    Morning!

    I found that Bad Behavior did wonders for my comment spam. I thought I was going to have to go with a captcha but now I don’t have to.

    The problem with Akismet is that it dumps all the spam into the moderation queue, which then means you still have to wade through it all to pick out the real comments. Bad Behaviour tries to spot spam bots and blackholes their comments before they enter the database, which means there’s a lot less crap in the moderation queue to weed through.

    Akismet seems to catch anything that Bad Behaviour misses.

    It works well on my very low volume blog. Which is low volume because I don’t post on it.

    Good luck!

    November 23rd, 2007 at 11:19 am
  6. James says:

    I don’t comment often, but I think I’d rather a log in which my computer will save than a capthca that has to be entered every time.

    Of course, as a regular reader, I’m probably more predisposed to registering than some.

    November 23rd, 2007 at 11:37 am
  7. Richard says:

    I’m using WordPress, and the latest version of Spam Karma, coupled with Bad Behaviour seems to keep things under control. One of the other sites is using Akismet instead, which seems to work just as well.

    I’ve got no problems with either a CAPTCHA or having to register if that is what you decide.

    November 23rd, 2007 at 12:13 pm
  8. Phill says:

    You could try putting a human test in, such as “what is the answer to 3 + 8?”. Or, “What word completes the following sentence? – ‘The Cartoon ____ By Dave Walker’”.

    I’m sure there are WordPress plugins available to do such things. There are always things like this you could try!

    November 23rd, 2007 at 12:14 pm
  9. Chris says:

    As you know, Dave, there are a couple of anti-spam measures on wiblog.com. I find the nature of those CAPTCHAs to be easier (and more fun) to use than the traditional is-that-a-1-or-a-capital-i thing with many sites have.

    Give me a shout if you need a hand with sorting out your quandary.

    November 23rd, 2007 at 1:12 pm
  10. Chris says:

    Vote 1 CAPTCHA

    November 23rd, 2007 at 1:21 pm
  11. Aaron Orear says:

    I never have troubles with spam comments, but then my readership is probably about one millionth of yours. Actually, if a lot of spambots posted comments, it’d drive my stats up and cause me great joy. For a while.

    I’d vote the letter-number thing for registration-fearful sorts, and the registration for those addicts (like myself) who consider the Cartoon Blog a cherished way of life rather than just an interesting read.

    November 23rd, 2007 at 1:39 pm
  12. Huw says:

    Hi Dave: I use WordPress on two blogs both with Askimet in place plus a captcha plugin (link below).

    http://www.theblog.ca/?p=21

    It’s a very effective combo. I’ve only have Askimet eat a couple of posts in the time that I’ve been using it. But it’s caught thousands of spam.

    November 23rd, 2007 at 1:52 pm
  13. Ruth Parsons says:

    Sorry to hear you’ve had problems, Dave. I’d be happy to register as this Blog is a very enjoyable daily port-of-call. Love the book, btw.
    Thanks for all you do for us!

    November 23rd, 2007 at 2:17 pm
  14. Anne says:

    Dave,
    I have my own WordPress blog, and I maintain several others for individuals and organizations, both church and secular. All of these reside on my server, which I lease from some folks in Atlanta. The amount of “crud” (including email and blog spam, people trying to hack in as “Root,” people trying to exploit blog and shopping-cart software, and whatever else) seems to rise and fall in some kind of cycle that I don’t comprehend even after five years of doing this.

    You might find a three-pronged approach works best. Akismet seems to be terrific about the spam even though it does generate some false positives. So it could be your first line of defense. Second, you could request that people register before commenting, assigning them the rank of “subscriber.” People love your blog, and I don’t think anybody would have an issue with subscribing. I’m already “subscribed” via an RSS feed on my homepage, and I suspect many others are, too. And finally, a captcha modification could catch even more “stuff.”

    None of this is bulletproof, so you’ll still be sifting through junk. Just maybe not so much junk.

    November 23rd, 2007 at 2:43 pm
  15. Sue says:

    I think i’d prefer Captcha to registering. Its such a pain having to register for stuff and remember who you are and what your password is. (mind you remembering who I am is always a problem first thing in the morning anyway, never mind on the internet:-)

    Sue.

    November 23rd, 2007 at 3:00 pm
  16. Ann says:

    Whatever works for you and stops spam – I am for that.

    November 23rd, 2007 at 3:48 pm
  17. Moyra says:

    I’d willingly register for any blog I read regularly or fill in CAPTCHA thingys.

    Being a very small-time blogger, I don’t get much in the way of spam or problems, but I’d hate to lose some of my favourite blogs just because of a spam problem.

    Whatever works for you..

    November 23rd, 2007 at 5:36 pm
  18. Doug Chaplin says:

    I’d go for a CAPTCHA. I’m thinking of adding one, although so far I still find Akismet manageable to glance through for real comments. There does seem to be a lot more spam around at the moment – both email and blog varieties. Perhaps it’s the Christmas rush.

    November 23rd, 2007 at 5:56 pm
  19. Dave Warnock says:

    Thanks for the link

    A combination of captcha or login would be nice. ie need to type captcha unless you login when captcha no longer needed.

    I found the typepad captcha stopped nearly all comment spam. I use moderation for trackbacks (but few people use them except for spam).

    November 23rd, 2007 at 7:18 pm
  20. Rev Sam says:

    I use Haloscan. No registering, no captcha, and I can count the number of spam comments this year on one hand.

    November 23rd, 2007 at 9:07 pm
  21. Penny says:

    I’d prefer a CAPTCHA. The wibsite questions are fun (eg “what colour is the summer sky” with options that don’t include grey). I probably wouldn’t register.

    November 23rd, 2007 at 9:16 pm
  22. deeleea says:

    I have an MT blog which handles spam really well. Occasionally a few get through but they’re easily dealt with. I keep a pretty tight rein on how long I leave comments open for. When I notice the spam going up I close comments for that post and any previous keeping the number of open ones down to 15 or so.

    November 23rd, 2007 at 10:54 pm
  23. MadPriest says:

    Yes, Dave. Go for the CAPTCHA option.
    I have found that spam blooms disappear once you block them for a while. You should be able to go back to open commenting (if you want) quite soon.

    November 24th, 2007 at 8:18 am
  24. Matt W says:

    I probably don’t get your volume of SPAM yet (I guess 200-250 a day), and I use Akismet combined with scanning the “spam” for false negatives once a day.

    November 24th, 2007 at 11:21 am
  25. Matt W says:

    PS I am playing with a plugins Registration Blacklist and Comment Timeout to manage false Russian accounts and stopping spam on old posts.

    November 24th, 2007 at 11:24 am
  26. Dave says:

    It looks as if the CAPTCHA (why is it in capitals I wonder) option is the most popular, apart from amongst those it isn’t.

    If WordPress has a drawback (and it does have one or two) it is that closing old posts so they can’t be commented on is a bit of a drag. One has to do it post by post. I have tried a plugin (possibly the one you are trying Matt, I can’t remember) to close all old comments threads, but it was a bit unconfigurable and it caused me a problem (can’t remember what exactly) so I removed it.

    November 24th, 2007 at 11:33 am
  27. Dave says:

    OK, am experimenting with the Comment Timeout plugin, and also one called Link Limits which limits UBB links and also the number of links.

    Nobody panic.

    November 24th, 2007 at 11:50 am
  28. hopeeternal says:

    I use Akismet and have noticed more spam in recent weeks too though nothing like the traffic you have had. I expect it is a case of the more you post the more you attract? Would be such a shame not to be able to leave comments – and some of yours are so good! I hate the idea of having to log in to comment and usually don’t. The CAPTCHA seems the best idea of all and so simple to use – until the automated spammers find a way round it, that is.

    November 24th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
  29. Dave Warnock says:

    We are panicking. Panicking I tell you. Send help quick.

    November 24th, 2007 at 4:23 pm
  30. ED says:

    Hi Dave,
    Just thought you’d like to know that LegalRX drugstore offers all pharmas you need to restore your health for a little price.
    We manage through the whole planet with buyers from America, Europe, and Asia.
    Now you got no need to seek drug-store at your local area.
    We bring high-quality meds to all parts of the planet.

    Only kidding. Go captcha.

    November 25th, 2007 at 4:48 pm
  31. Dave says:

    ED – you’re lucky. My automated systems might have kicked in and banished you to outer darkness.

    I have to say that the Comment Timeout plugin along with the Link Limits plugin are making a huge difference. It is looking as if I might not need to take any extra measures like a CATHETER.

    Everyone continue not to panic though, just in case.

    November 25th, 2007 at 7:04 pm
  32. MarkB says:

    CAPTCHA works OK… the most annoying thing about it is that I have to fill on out if I want to comment on my OWN Blog. As for not allowing comments… this defeats the purpose for me… IMHO a Blog without comments is not a Blog… there has to be interaction.

    November 25th, 2007 at 8:06 pm
  33. Canadian says:

    Blogs that don’t allow comments are simply Unspeakably Wrong. (Just keep a diary if you don’t want a dialogue.)

    As for registering to post comments, I personally won’t register to comment on a blog. No comment I might have in mind is important enough for me to take that extra step, and besides I won’t be able to remember the password anyway.

    I don’t have a problem with typing in letters or doing little arithmetic problems. I assume that’s what you mean by CAPTCHA.

    November 28th, 2007 at 7:24 pm