Auto Comment spam
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Hello, In would, if I may like to revisit an old question I raised a few weeks back re robot Spam in the comments section.
The reply back then was the system would learn and eventually block the user. That’s fine, in theory, but in practice, I’m not so sure.
Blocking (email visible only to moderators and staff) or (email visible only to moderators and staff) or her@xyz .com is fruitless as the spam is originating from one IP source by a robot which is simply generating dozens of fresh addresses.
So have the same ‘person’ same message (more or less) same IP, same telegram account but different ‘people’ all from the same provider, in my case, mostly Yahoo.
Yahoo of course are unable – more likely unwilling – to act as if they removed all bots they would lose 80% of their customer base!
So much for background – I expect most user have the same situation anyway, so to my question:
Given that for the past few months, every ones of the probably now close to thousands of emails I receive comes from the same IP address, is there a way to shut down / block that IP address instead of wasting time blocking each fake user attached to a Yahoo or Gmail account?
I am possibly going to create confusion now by asking another question.
The increases in spam SEEM to coincide with visitor increase from sometimes places I’ve never heard of. Am I correct in assuming this is not a coincidence, and in fact the ROBOT has also visited the site and generated a ‘hit?’
If so, how can I shut these out please?
Cheers Bic
WP.com: Yes
Correct account: YesThe blog I need help with is: (visible only to moderators and staff)
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Given that for the past few months, every ones of the probably now close to thousands of emails I receive comes from the same IP address, is there a way to shut down / block that IP address instead of wasting time blocking each fake user attached to a Yahoo or Gmail account?
Since IP addresses are dynamic, blocking the address would most likely not work. Also, other users who are currently on the same IP address might inadvertently be blocked as well. However, can you provide a link to one of these comments, and we’ll see what we find on our end. We may be able to see the accounts on that IP that are spamming and possibly block them. We’ll have our Terms of Service Team take a look.
The increases in spam SEEM to coincide with visitor increase from sometimes places I’ve never heard of. Am I correct in assuming this is not a coincidence, and in fact the ROBOT has also visited the site and generated a ‘hit?’
It’s definitely possible, but we may be able to know more once we take a look at the source of the comments.
Thanks! -
Oh wow, you’ve changed the editor format – momentary lack of understanding, hopefully the below is a quote:
However, can you provide a link to one of these comments, and we’ll see what we find on our end.
https://wordpress.com/comments/spam/aim2dchinabusinessnews.wordpress.com
Hmmm, maybe embed doesn’t work here, please let me know if this is what you are looking / asking for.
As and aside, re blocking entire IP, frankly, for me, I wouldn’t care. In fact I would be happy to block all free, public emails, such as Gmail, Yahoo etc ( I think I’ve said that!)
Ummm, I’ve modified the tags below, hope that’s a OK, I am not looking for any more spam!
Cheers
P
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For what it’s worth, you can also add individual IP addresses to the block list in your comment settings! I took the liberty of adding the IP address for the two spam comments you indicated were there now (same one for both) and let’s hope that helps if they do tend to come from the same source.
You can technically also block entire words (and this would usually apply to email addresses too), so something like “yahoo” would normally catch/block comments from someone with a Yahoo email address, or with Yahoo in the text.
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For what it’s worth, you can also add individual IP addresses to the block list in your comment settings
For me that is worth many times its character count in gold.
Cheers mate, that is brilliant.
For a ghost you’re pretty switched on.Maybe you can add that wrinkle to the news letter or what ever it is you call it.
I’m sure many others will find it equally valuable.Like wise the addition of the block editor here, hut sadly for me, on a slow connection, it takes much longer to load than the old system. Same as the blog post editor. Is it a bigger app than before?
Anyway, again, thx, I’m now off to my settings with a huge knife~
Bic
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The increases in spam SEEM to coincide with visitor increase from sometimes places I’ve never heard of. Am I correct in assuming this is not a coincidence, and in fact the ROBOT has also visited the site and generated a ‘hit?’
It’s definitely possible, but we may be able to know more once we take a look at the source of the comments.
Just following up on your reply -in red.
I know one swallow doth not a summer make, but now, day 2 and no spam. So the black list seems to be working.
However, I am still not convinced the SPAM BOT is not still at large.
I have a rather old post, not terribly interesting, yet, some time back, it suddenly became “popular.”
This popularity always coincided with a bot comment attack.
3 or 4 different “hits” from weird places = 3 or 4 spam comments.I see this page is again hit, albeit sans comment. So I am guessing the robot is still active, just blocked from commenting.
So, my question(s) now; what was the result of looking at the source of the spam comments please? (as above) Are a large % of hits generated from the same IP as the comment spam? Can I take any action to counter that please?
Cheers
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Hi there:
Looking over your account and past threads, these comments are going to your spam folder, is that correct? If so, that means our system is working.
As IP addresses and email addresses used (because spammers will spoof both) will continually change, trying to piecemeal blocks to IP addresses, etc., will work for a short period then fail when the spammers move on to the next variants. It’s akin to trying to bail water out of a sinking ship with a thimble.
Also, note that the vast majority of this spam is automated and spammers are always working to find new ways to get around our spam filtering. Their end goal is to not target specific sites but to get their comments posted. You can read more about why spammers comment here:
https://docs.akismet.com/general/spam-facts/
In the end, if you don’t want comments you can disable them. Or if you don’t want the email notification of a pending comment, you can also disable those. I recommend that you just review and trash any comments in your spam folder or wait 14 days and we’ll trash them automatically. Akismet is always learning so if you come across a piece of spam that Akismet misses, marking it as spam will help Akismet learn and not miss similar spam in the future. Simply deleting a comment won’t train the Akismet system.
If you see things getting through that you’ve marked as spam, please get back in touch with a few example comments and we’ll be happy to look into this further.
I hope that clarifies things!
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Hello @heroponriki, thanks for your reply.
You have clearly taken some time to think about and formulate it, very detailed.
I very much appreciate that.
But, sadly that wasn’t the question I asked.
Never mind.
Maybe someone else and pick the ball up and score?Again
thx -
I work with the Akismet team, so I know a lot about how spam filtering works.
The “source” you’re referring to is the IP address and no, there isn’t anything you can do to combat it or view anything you don’t already have in your comments dashboard.
Other support staff don’t have the same training in spam and spam prevention that I have, so I have more insight into these things.
I hope that clarifies things!
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Hello again, thanks for your explanation.
I do not doubt your qualifications (and don’t care much either to be frank.)
My concern was you appeared to be focused on comment SPAM which was not my question.1/ yep, I KNOW that is an IP address.
2/ I am also familiar with how spam works.
3/ I am no longer focused on the SPAM comments (in case you’re confused)
4/ My question related to a previous reply to part 2 question re web traffic.(in red)So, are you saying: WordPress is
(a) unable to ID the origins of so called “hits” appearing in my stats.
(b ) cannot determine if the majority of them are not coming from the same IP address that produced comment spam?
(c) cannot block that IP from site visitsProbably a yes or no answer is what I am seeking.
If (a) (b) (c) = yes, then move on, else explore methods to activate (c)P
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I haven’t worked on the Akismet team, but I can say spammers are sneaky, so they (the Akismet team I mean) won’t share the methods they use to identify a spammer and block them accross many sites — not even with most of the support team like me. But I do know the system tries to learn from moderation actions taken.
If you’ve having a couple of days without spam and blocking that IP has done the trick, well done. If something gets through spam again, be sure to mark it as such so Akismet can keep learning. And, you’re always welcome to tinker with your own rules, too.
https://wordpress.com/support/settings/discussion-settings/#comment-moderationCheers!
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Hello, @supernovia, love your opening para~
Thank you too for your input, but again, comment spam is not a concern or question any more. But cheers for the “tinkering” link – that will be useful – I sometimes field issues from acquaintances with WP.
I am wondering if “the system” is maybe only showing my initial question and not my replies? So, people who take time to answer may not seeing the full thread? Perhaps I should rephrase the question in a new post.
I can do, to a degree, do what I want in my own site, but as that is hosted in EU with tough privacy laws, they will not give me data and of course, they a e not in the business of checking their clients sites. Their support is limited to their own service
WordPress however, is a “closed shop” (assuming they host their sites on their own servers ) so I was hoping they could be both the investigators and executioners!
However, maybe that is moot as I gave the “spam expert” a sort of ultimatum.
I have not heard from them so guess the answer is yes. (counter intuitive I know~)
What I was hoping for can not be done in which case I shall move on.Stab safe
p -
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@supernovia, hehe sure, I was just a bit peeved the whoever it was seemed to misunderstand my question, then, when i pointed it out -politely for me – they doubled down and played the “I’m an expert card” which I found arrogant and patronising.
I’m no genius, but no fool either, I’ve build a business around web security etc, but WordPress is a hobby so I lack knowledge there.
Anyway, I am considering shifting my WP site to my main hosting next year, possibly using WP.org – not sure yet.
Thanks for your support.
bic
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