Why am I getting deluged with obvious spam?

  • Unknown's avatar
    propertyownersnetwork · Member ·

    I am getting deluged with obvious spam. Have you turned off your spam filter?

    The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

  • Unknown's avatar
    timethief · Member ·

    Are you referring to this blog? http://lightinthedarkparanormal.wordpress.com/
    If not then what is the URL of the blog you are referring to?

  • Unknown's avatar
    propertyownersnetwork · Member ·

    Yes, sorry about that. Here’s an example of another one that came in just now. Each one has an exotic first name, phony URL, an unlikely email address, and one grossly misspelled word in the text of a generic, rather stupid message coming in as a Comment on one of my posts…

    New comment waiting approval on Light in the Dark Paranormal

    Demelza commented on A Sad Fate

    I am sad to report that the Piotrowski house in Florissant has been in foreclosure, and recently sold back to the bank. As a …

    Of the panoply of website I’ve pored over this has the most veircaty.

    Approve Trash | Mark as Spam

    More information about Demelza

    IP: 186.95.41.198, 186-95-41-198.genericrev.cantv.net
    E-mail: (email visible only to moderators and staff)
    URL: http://wnewiurhpru.com
    Whois: http://whois.arin.net/rest/ip/186.95.41.198

    Thanks for flying with WordPress.com

  • Unknown's avatar
    timethief · Member ·

    Aksimet is a learning engine. If you get spam that slips by Akismet then mark it as spam (do not delete it) and over time Akismet will learn it’s spam. On the spam that Akismet catches on it takes only seconds to click “empty spam” and you don’t even have to click “empty spam” if you don’t want to. Akismet will maintain comments it has caught for 30 days from the time they were received, and then it will delete the comment automatically.

    There is no such thing as eliminating all spam but Akismet works very well. Set up comment moderation, if you have not already done so, because allowing anonymous commenting on your blog is like putting out the welcome mat for spammers.

    This page > Settings > Discussion is where you set up defaults for comments. http://en.support.wordpress.com/settings/discussion-settings/

    I reduce spam by using this setting:

    3. Automatically close comments on articles older than __ days – This setting can be used to have comments closed on articles that are X days old. As an example, if you only want articles to accept comments for 30 days you would check the box and type 30 into the text field. http://en.support.wordpress.com/settings/discussion-settings/#other-comment-settings

    And I moderate comments too. Comment moderation http://en.support.wordpress.com/settings/discussion-settings/#comment-moderation

    Discussion Settings
    Other comment settings
    _Comment author must fill out name and e-mail
    _Users must be registered and logged in to comment

    Here’s a reality check. The vast and overwhelming majority of all so-called information on the internet is spam. Over 80% of all so-called comments submitted to .wordpress.com blogs every day are spam.

    See here for comment blacklisting http://en.support.wordpress.com/settings/discussion-settings/#comment-blacklist

    Also, do not put IP addresses in the blacklist. IP addresses are no longer unique, and you might end up blocking legitimate visitors. In fact for over a decade only about 30% of us have IPs that trace back to any individual computer. Also, all they would have to do is go to a wi-fi hot spot, or connect via a different ISP and they could get around that.

  • Unknown's avatar
    timethief · Member ·

    Spam comes in waves. Spam can be posted by bots and there are also people who are paid to submit spam comments. If you approve a single spam comment on a post the original spammer will hammer that post and will sell the URL to other spammers and phishers who will do the same. if you approve comments with links in them the spammers will do the same thing.

    I am so picky about exactly which comments I will approve that I have posted a commenting policy. I am also keenly aware that approving dumb comments makes me and my blog look dumb and negatively affects page ranking and search positioning so my comments are clean. I have also blogged for many years and can spot pingback and trackback spam.

  • Unknown's avatar
    propertyownersnetwork · Member ·

    timethief, thanks for your help! I do moderate; that’s how I caught these.
    I just wonder what the spammers hope to gain when they are moderated besides causing me to waste my time. Aha, maybe that’s why you have a “commenting policy.” If the stupid spammers read that I’m never going to publish their idiot messages, then why would they waste their time posting this nonsense. Thanks again.

  • Unknown's avatar
    timethief · Member ·

    I think some people may get paid by the number of sites they spam but I do not really know if that is so. Spamming is big business and there are suckers being reeled in every minute. Best wishes to you.

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