akismet
Ok, I’ve just enabled the Akismet plugin that comes with the latest version of Wordpress. Apparently, this plugin will check each incoming comment to see if it looks like spam and, if so, stick it in a spam queue. The spam queue is separate from the normal moderation queue that holds comments from new visitors to this site until I can approve them. Akimet will automatically delete any comments sitting in the spam queue after 15 days unless I intercede to rescue them. Sounds good to me.
One thing I didn’t realise was that all the comments I have previously been marking as spam were still in the database. They were just hidden on the site. The Akismet plugin has detected all these spam comments and will delete them completely for me.
It seems that in the year that I’ve been running this blog I have received a grand total of 2394 spam comments and 124 genuine comments. 95% of the comments submitted to this site have been spam.
It occurs to me that, although the Akismet plugin will ease management of comment spam, it doesn’t address the bandwidth wasted by these spurious submissions. I wonder what proportion of the data streaming over the internet today is taken up by this illegal traffic.
Blue Witch says:
Yeah absolutely. I’m into my 2nd GB over my paid-for allowance this month, thanks to bloody spammers. MT has caught and junked all but a handful of the comments, but it grieves me that I’m going to have to fork out £3 for their unwelcome visits.
Blue Witch spoke at 13:54 UTC on August 26th, 2006 link