Trying WP-SpamFree

end-blog-spam-button-01-blackThanks to a tip from David Esrati (who I’m not going to link to from this post because I’m taunting spammers and don’t want to inflict collateral damage on him), I’m testing out WP-SpamFree which is a really interesting antispam plugin for WordPress. I’ve used Akismet and Mollom before, and I’ve always been uncomfortable with externally hosted antispam systems. For some reason, I’m just not completely comfortable with relying on another server for this. I’d used Spam Karma 2 with great success, but since that went defunct I abandoned it as well.

Now, WP-SpamFree seems to offer an intelligent antispam system without relying on external servers or blacklists. I’m giving it a shot. So far, it’s been pretty successful.

Let’s see how well it does. Bring it.

8 thoughts on “Trying WP-SpamFree”

  1. hrm. not sure I’m comfortable with how WP-SpamFree handles spam – it just nukes them outright. There were 2 valid human comments that would have never been seen if I hadn’t enabled the debug log file, which included these:

    :: COMMENT BEGIN ::
    2009-04-28 (Tue) 03:04:09
    comment_post_ID: 3090
    comment_author: Alan Levine
    comment_author_url: http://cogdogblog.com
    comment_content:
    I used it for a while a few months back but I had a few visitors unable to comment due to some javascript issue but my memory is now fuzzy. Akismit has been doing well on my fleet
    :: COMMENT END ::

    :: COMMENT BEGIN ::
    2009-04-28 (Tue) 03:53:12
    comment_post_ID: 3090
    comment_author: David Esrati
    comment_author_url: http://www.thenextwave.biz
    comment_content:
    Thanks for testing this D’Arcy. I know you get more comment spam than anyone I know (since you complain about it all-the-fracking-time).
    Hope it works. SK2 was da’bomb. Miss it a lot.
    Let’s hope we’ve got a new favorite.
    comment_type: comment
    :: COMMENT END ::

    I’ve enabled a backup cookie setting method that may work (I have no idea – I just checked a box that sounded promising). If it’s still nuking valid comments, WP-SpamFree is gone. I’d rather deal with a bit of spam than have real comments evaporating.

  3. Although everyone hates the “type the scrambled word in the box” function, it seems to be a good way to detect automated or “spam” responses. Good luck with the search for the best practice of eliminating those unwanted responses.

    1. hrm. not sure if this was a spam comment or not. I’ll assume that “digital media college” was your given name. Your parents have a cruel sense of humour.

      I hate captcha. Hate it. I’d rather deal with spam than inflict Captcha on the people that are trying to communicate via comments.

  4. Thanks for testing this D’Arcy. I know you get more comment spam than anyone I know (since you complain about it all-the-fracking-time).
    Hope it works. SK2 was da’bomb. Miss it a lot.
    Let’s hope we’ve got a new favorite.

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