I use Akismet to fight blog spam. These past few days I’ve been getting a lot of spam comments. Yesterday morning alone, I found 61 spam comments caught by Akismet overnight. So far, of the 869 spam comments that Akismet has caught, there have been only a few that were able to get through.
Even though Akismet has been doing a good job, I wanted to eliminate as much spam comments as I could. Then last night, while I was browsing and searching for Wordpress plugins, I came across a particular plugin called Challenge.
Challenge is a WordPress plugin based on and improved over Steve Herod’s “Did you pass math?” plugin, Challenge restricts comment spam by throwing the commenter a challenge. The default challenge is an addition and multiplication math question.
I’m sure this is not something new for some of you guys coz I’ve seen it implemented it in your blogs. Some use an image with a random string of characters that you have to type in a blank box. I just wanted to share my experience and what I’ve learned from it. Since I implemented this plugin, I haven’t got a spam comment. If you still get spam comments in your blog, try the Challenge plugin and see if it works for you.
Click here to download the Challenge plugin.
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October 23rd, 2006 at 3:56 am
@cruise – hindi naman sa paborito but lately i’ve been getting more spam comments. good for you if you don’t get any spam on your blog.
:D
October 22nd, 2006 at 12:25 pm
bakit kaya paborito ka ng mga spams? buti wala akong spams, gamit ko lang haloscan sa blogger comment, sa email naman yung gmail kaya nya ilagay sa spam folders yung mga spam.
October 22nd, 2006 at 2:16 am
@ade – Akismet does a really good job. the spam comments are amusing at times but for me, it’s a waste of time. and the less spam i get the better.
@jhay – yeah, try this plugin. i read about yuga’s wp-comment hack and i’m also hesitant to try it on this blog. probably on a test blog.
you’ll have to give me time to do this meme coz i still owe another friend who tagged me last week. most likely i’ll do them at the same time.
@deuts – really? do you have any plugins that are known to conflict with the Challenge plugin? did you follow the install instructions carefully? why don’t you try to use it in a different theme and use that theme for your blog. i tried leaving a comment on one of your entries. i didn’t see any math challenge question but after i hit the submit button i got this message “Do you know math? Answer the question first before writing your comment!” i guess that’s what causes the problems. i think you didn’t install it properly and the math question doesn’t show up. try to go through the instructions again and see if you missed something.
October 21st, 2006 at 11:10 pm
tried installing this plugin in mine, and I’m afraid it’s not working well. i’ve read in the plugin homepage, and it states that it has or might have conflicting issues with certain plugins like wp-postratings and other plugins that use javascript to insert elements into the post and comment areas. I’m not exactly sure how to remedy this situation, and it is my opinion that I badly need this plugin because of so many spam comments akismet and spam karma2 catch everyday.
October 21st, 2006 at 2:41 am
I agree with Ade. Spammers are quite the funny retards. hehe
BTW: I’m tagging you Jaypee. :D
http://jrocas.com.ph/20-questions-20-answers/
October 21st, 2006 at 1:08 am
Well, Akismet works fine for me. In fact, I find the spam messages caught in Akismet’s queue amusing.
October 21st, 2006 at 12:59 am
Good plugin, maybe I’ll give it a try. I’m still hesitant to implement yuga’s wp-comments hack, I’m quite unsure if I’ll do it right. lol
October 21st, 2006 at 12:25 am
@ash – yup i did. you can find lots of themes at themes.wordpress.net or when you login to your dashboard, at the bottom of the main page, Wordpress News section, you can see the newest plugins and themes for Wordpress.
nothing new actually. we’ll be having our baby shower next weekend. i hope i can get good photos so i can post them here.
i’m not sure but i guess it’s okay if you use them both at the same time. i’ve read from other people’s blogs about the using two different spam control plugins. really? i’m your biggest fan then. hehe. if that’s the case, you better try and use the Challenge plugin and see if it minimizes the amount of spam that you get. yup, you have to read first before you answer the question. hehe
October 20th, 2006 at 11:42 pm
so you just changed your theme again? it’s cool. where do you get themes? i also wanna change mine.
anyway, it’s been quite long. what’s up? i am using akismet as well and spam karma. i don’t know if it makes sense to use them both. and can you imagine this? i have 2210 spams against only 293 comments. and guess what, most of the comments came from you. and your the top on the list. perhaps i must give you something. let me think of what. :)
btw, my first challenge is 6 and 7. i just looked at the numbers and i thought it was multiplication. so i multiplied them and my comments was lost… now that’s the challenge here. you have to know how to read first before doing the math… ;)
October 20th, 2006 at 6:37 pm
@gbert – ok lang ako. ikaw? how was your vacation sa bacolod? thanks for the compliment. i know, you have to check the comments considered as spam coz sometimes they are legit ones that are mistakenly tagged as spam.
@rose – hehe..thanks! kung hindi mo kaya sagutan ang math question, ask mo si liena or si kirstan. just kidding! yeah, why don’t you use it sa blog mo so that it would minimize the spam comments that you get. ingat ka din!
October 20th, 2006 at 12:54 pm
wow! nice plugin,atleast i can practice my not-so-good in math skills hehe!! buti madali lang yung tanong sa kin..
3+2 daw.. ..hehe! musta na!!
thanks for sharing,. ako din kailangan ko din ata nito, ang dami kong spam.. buti ba kung naluluto sila (joke!!)
ingats!
October 20th, 2006 at 8:03 am
musta jayps? i like your new layout better… and i am just glad i know how to add… hahaha i like wordpress coz one of the features include filtering out the spams but sometimes i still double check coz there are legitimate comments being included…
October 19th, 2006 at 11:38 pm
@deuts – that could be a problem. hehe. anyways, you can always use a calculator. you should try it. you’re welcome.
October 19th, 2006 at 11:15 pm
what if you (commenter) don’t know math? tough question ei, really must be a problem….LOL
But I might try this plugin sometime. thanks for the tip!
October 19th, 2006 at 8:07 pm
@leon – yeah it does. but by implementing this plugin, it prevents spam comments instead of solely relying on Akismet to catch them.
October 19th, 2006 at 7:57 pm
I see you have it implemented on your blog. Aren’t Wordpress blogs supposed to have comment verification built in?