Possible spam in comments

[stacyzara]

Hi everyone. Hope this is the right place to ask this...

A couple of months ago we set up a Wordpress blog on our own domain. Everything works beautifully, at least as far as we can tell, but we keep receiving comments on our blog stating that it's not showing up properly. A couple of them I'm fairly sure are spam ("Had a problem pulling your site up in firefox, but after restarting worked fine" posted twice by two "different" people).

We've checked the blog from different computers, locations, and browsers, and never ran into a problem loading it.

I was just curious if anyone else is receiving comments like these? Is it a new spam tactic I'm just being introduced to, or could there really be something wrong with the way our site is loading?

Any input is immensely appreciated. Thanks in advance!!

[SEO Traffic Solutions]

Hi stacyzara

I wouldn't pay any attention to these rogue comments. There are software programs out there (that shall remain nameless) that allow you to enter in a generic comment and click submit. The software then goes out and finds hundreds of blogs to put this comment on. Obviously there is no way for these spammers to know what your post is about. So they put in generic comments like these saying that there is something wrong with your site, that it doesn't load properly on their phone, firefox etc. That way the comment doesn't immediately look like spam and decent folks like you are more willing to accept the comment. When of course it is a load of old flannel...i'm sure your site is fine. If you're still unsure, PM me and I will check it out.

The best way to combat these spammers is to put a captcha in your comments section so people have to prove they are human. Here is a free wordpress plugin that will do this for you:

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/simple-captcha/

[stacyzara]

SEO Traffic Solutions - Thanks for your reply. I was pretty sure that's what was going on. Just needed some validation :) Thanks again!

[C0ldf1re]

... The best way to combat these spammers is to put a captcha in your comments section so people have to prove they are human...

Hmmm... how about developing a plug-in for this forum to query users with a multiple-choice use-of-English test before allowing them to post? Most spammers can't speak English any better than a spam-bot can!

[claybutler]

"Wow, this is a such a fantastic post. You are truly a great human being for making such useful information available for free. You post helped settle a bet at work and my co-worker now owes me lunch! BTW I found you on Google, do you mind if I bookmark your site? I'll definitely come back soon! I couldn't find your RSS feed though, how do I subscribe? BTW what theme are you using? I really think your site looks amazing! I also noticed your site gets errors in Firefox, am I doing something wrong? Ha, Ha, LOL I'm such a newbie!"

There that's a montage of every spam comment you'll ever get.

Oh, and if you use the Akismet plugin these spam comments will almost never make it to the live site.

[stacyzara]

claybutler - Yea, we've gotten several of those. We have moderation enabled on our blog, so they have to go through me before they go live anyway. There's been a couple of times where I figured the comment was probably spam, but it was so positive I approved it anyway.

coldfire - The only problem with that is that a lot of native English speakers probably couldn't pass a use of English test...Hahaha. Just kidding...sort of.

Thanks to you both for your replies.

[RollerBall]

I don't get lots of comments on my own personal blog but I used to get lots of out and out spam. Since using Akismet I get none and every now and again when I go into dashboard I find a few more that have been automatically trashed. Presumably the idea behind these fairly innocuous comments is to get you to approve them so they can come back later using the same email address or whatever to plaster your site with their proper rubbish. My advice is even if you get apparently innocuous comments that are unrelated to your blog content or just plain stupid, don't approve them. Trash em immediately and move on ;-)

[stacyzara]

Rollerball - That's sound advice, thanks :) We did have to go back and mark a previously approved comment as spam because they did exactly what you're talking about.

[Dinghus]

Naow wate a minnit. Ef it wernt fore spam meh blogs woodnt haf nuttin!

[C0ldf1re]

... coldfire - The only problem with that is that a lot of native English speakers probably couldn't pass a use of English test...Hahaha. Just kidding...sort of...

There are some forums where a use-of-English test before posting would not only keep the spammers out, it would keep some of the Mods out too!

[Dinghus]

Customer:
Morning,

Waitress:
Morning.

Customer:
What have you got?

Waitress:
Well, there's egg and bacon,
egg sausage and bacon
Egg and spam
Egg, bacon and spam
Egg, bacon, sausage and spam
Spam, bacon, sausage and spam
Spam, egg, spam, spam, bacon and spam
Spam, sausage, spam, spam, spam, bacon, spam tomato and spam
Spam, spam, spam, egg and spam
Spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, baked beans, spam, spam, spam and spam.

(Choir: Spam! Spam! Spam! Spam! Lovely Spam! Lovely Spam!)

Or Lobster Thermidor aux crevettes with a mornay sauce
served in a provencale manner with shallots and aubergines
garnished with truffle pate, brandy and a fried egg on top and spam.

Wife:
Have you got anything without spam?

Waitress:
Well, the spam, eggs, sausage and spam
That's not got much spam in it

Wife:
I don't want any spam!

Customer:
Why can't she have eggs, bacon, spam and sausage?

Wife:
That's got spam in it!

Customer:
Hasn't got much spam in it as spam, eggs, sausage and spam has it?

(Choir: Spam! Spam! Spam!...)

Wife:
Could you do me eggs, bacon, spam and sausage without the spam, then?

Waitress:
Iiiiiiiiiiiich!!

Wife:
What do you mean 'Iiiiiiiiiich'? I don't like spam!

(Choir: Lovely spam! Wonderful spam!)

Waitress (to choir):
Shut up!

(Choir: Lovely spam! Wonderful spam!)

Waitress:
Shut Up! Bloody Vikings!
You can't have egg, bacon, spam and sausage without the spam.

Wife:
I don't like spam!

Customer:
Shush dear, don't have a fuss. I'll have your spam. I love it,
I'm having spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, baked beans,
spam, spam, spam, and spam!

(Choir: Spam! Spam! Spam! Spam! Lovely spam! Wonderful spam!)

Waitress:
Shut Up!! Baked beans are off.

Customer:
Well, could I have her spam instead of the baked beans then?

Waitress:
You mean spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam,
spam and spam?

Choir (intervening):
Spam! Spam! Spam! Spam!
Lovely spam! Wonderful spam!
Spam spa-a-a-a-a-am spam spa-a-a-a-a-am spam.
Lovely spam! Lovely spam! Lovely spam! Lovely spam!
Spam spam spam spam!

[C0ldf1re]

... There that's a montage of every spam comment you'll ever get...

Thanks for sharing. (Joke. Geddit?)

[BoothWizard]

hi Stacy,
I'm 99.9% sure it is spam, but whether it is or not, I would delete it.
Why?
Because it adds nothing of value to the post. If it is true, it's nice the person let you know, but why would any other readers want to read that comment? If other readers wouldn't get any value from the comment (and it would just take up their valuable time), then the answer is to DELETE the comment, whether it is "legitimate" or not!

[stacyzara]

BoothWizard - Thanks for your advice. Those comments have been deleted. I'm pretty sure they were spam anyway.

[Dinghus]

HEY! Great posts. Keep up the good work. But I couldn't get the site to open in IE 2. Is there a problem with that?

[astro]

Spam fair enough, but to what end? Just curious.

can I have the Parot sketch now please?

/astro

[TrafficProducer]

These may help

Automattic Kismet (http://akismet.com/) (Akismet for short) is a collaborative effort to make comment and trackback spam (http://www.acomputerportal.com/spam_filters.html) a non-issue and restore innocence to blogging, so you never have to worry about spam again.

WP-SpamFree (http://www.hybrid6.com/webgeek/plugins/wp-spamfree): An Anti-Spam Plugin for wordpress! Blog Spam Protection. It virtually eliminates comment spam, including trackback and pingback spam. Includes spam-free contact form feature as well.

Also it maybe possible to change to "NoFollow" links which will help reduce Splog, SPam in bLOGs

[stacyzara]

Dinghus - Hahaha

Astro - What do you mean "to what end?"

Traffic Producer - Thanks for the info and links :)

[stacyzara]

Hmmm, I was under the impression that all Wordpress installations automatically added "no follow" to user generated links (i.e. comments), and I swear when I first set it up I checked and the links were, indeed, no follow. I just went back and looked after reading Traffic Producer's post...and it doesn't look like they're no follow. Does anyone know if something through Wordpress has changed...or maybe it was something I did??

[claybutler]

WP is nofollow by default unless you install a dofollow plugin. All my blogs are dofollow (yes, I know that's not an attribute).

I've seen no difference in the level of spam in my blogs before and after dofollow. Comment spammers will spam anything. They are mostly pretty dumb and reckless individuals (and even dumber bots).

[C0ldf1re]

These may help... Automattic Kismet (http://akismet.com/) (Akismet for short)... WP-SpamFree (http://www.hybrid6.com/webgeek/plugins/wp-spamfree): An Anti-Spam Plugin...

Do you mean either/or or both at once?

[stacyzara]

claybutler - I thought the comment links were no follow, but now when I check the properties all I'm getting is Type: COM/File. Doesn't it normally have the "nofollow" somewhere in the properties of the link? I swear I thought it did before. I'm a little lost when it comes to using an installation like Wordpress. Shame it's not just basic HTML, I could handle that LOL

The no follow debate aside, if it was up to me I'd likely just leave it as is. Since it's not, however, I'm a little lost on why the links seem to have changed themselves to "do follow". We only have two plugins active on our wordpress install - "AddToAny: Share/Bookmark/Email Button" and "All in One SEO Pack". Is there something I've done to change the "no follow" status of the links? Is there a reason it's just not showing up in the properties for the link?

Any help is greatly appreciated. Sorry if this is something that's common sense to everyone else.

[TrafficProducer]

no follow... I do not use wordpress.com (http://wordpress.com/) or wordpress.org (http://wordpress.org/) directly myself, any more, so I can't help much with this, sorry.

If you dig about your wordpress account, (and help, any wordpress forum see> http://wordpress.org/support/ and How-To and Troubleshooting Wordpress [/URL]at> [URL]http://wordpress.org/support/forum/3 (http://wordpress.org/support/bb-login.php?re=%23postform) ), you may find something. Also I think you shoud be able to moderate posts, check before allowing them onto youe blog.

Check out the links above I hear that Automattic Kismet (http://akismet.com/) is very good at stopping splog spam and free plugin.

May own page may have something helpful, but I doubt this> Blogs. Blogging. BLOG. Video Blogs. Vlogs (http://www.acomputerportal.com/blogs.html)

[C0ldf1re]

... Also I think you shoud be able to moderate posts, check before allowing them onto youe blog...

Unfortunately, that is not popular with genuine commentors. They like instant gratification.

[astro]

Astro - What do you mean "to what end?"



If a person says nice post or something similar what is the gain spam wise?

[C0ldf1re]

If a person says nice post or something similar what is the gain spam wise?

The spam gain is when they drop in their backlink along with the useless comment.

[astro]

Ah!

Thanks.

[Social-Media]

As claybutler said, Akismet is your friend. If you're running a WP blog and you're NOT running Akismet then lookout. As soon as the spammers locate your blog you'll be dealing with all sorts of spam on a daily basis. Even if you're moderating all comments, you will STILL have to review each of them. Akismet will eliminate 99.9% of all of your spam comments. Then you only have to deal primarily with "real" comments and a well disguised spam comment just occasionally.

[C0ldf1re]

... we can control them by moderation.As we have to filter every comment before posting...

It takes so much time... and your readers like to see their comments posted instantly.

[mjtaylor]

It takes so much time... and your readers like to see their comments posted instantly.

Yes, and maybe not. ;) What readers like may not be best for your blog. And yes, moderation takes time, but I like this approach: allow comments to be followed but make it clear that you moderate comments and that only comments with actual value will be approved. It encourages quality commenting and community.

[C0ldf1re]

... moderation takes time, but I like this...

I've often wondered... When Moderators delete spam, do they do it with a groan, or with a gleeful snigger?

[Michandy]

Lol.. this happened to me too.. but in a different way.. I got a few comments asking me why I use Wordpress and not Blogengine..

[kgun]

Here is my way of dealing with spam and it has stopped almost completely:

I uncomment the second line in the code below for a day, week or two.



<?php
//if ($_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'] !== '127.0.0.1') die(header("Location: http://www.forumnorway.com/service.php"));


Where service.php contatins among other things the following code:


<?php
if(isset($_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER']))
echo ("You surfed from: " . $_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER']);
echo "<br />" ;
echo "<br />" ;
require_once('class.GetIp.php');
$client = new Client();
echo ("Via real IP address: " . $client->getIp());
echo "<br />" ;
echo "<br />" ;
echo ("IP address: " . $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR']);
echo "<br />" ;
echo "<br />" ;
echo ("Browser client: " . $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT']);
echo "<br />" ;
if(isset($_SERVER['REMOTE_HOST']))
echo ("Remote host: " . $_SERVER['REMOTE_HOST']);
echo "<br />" ;
echo ("Remote port: " . $_SERVER['REMOTE_PORT']);
echo "<br />" ;
echo "<br />" ;
if(isset($_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR']))
echo ("Forwarded for: " . ($_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR']));
echo "<br />" ;
if(isset($_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_HOST']))
echo ("Forwarded Host: " . ($_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_HOST']));
echo "<br />" ;
if(isset($_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_SERVER']))
echo ("Forwarded Server: " . ($_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_SERVER']));
echo "<br />" ;
?>


where class.GetIp.php is explained in further detail here:

http://www.webproworld.com/webmaster-forum/threads/97509-Getting-a-visitors-real-Ip-address.?p=497092&viewfull=1#post497092

There are obvious modifications, where you don't need to kill the page load with the die() function in the header that must be the first line after <?php.

[mjtaylor]

I've often wondered... When Moderators delete spam, do they do it with a groan, or with a gleeful snigger?

Groans are most common upon discovery of the spam. Now, banning repeat spammers? That gets a satisfied, if somewhat grim, smile.