I hear a lot of people complaining about comment spam on their Movable Type weblogs. Some people have disabled comments, others have moved to a weblog framework that supports accounts. One solution I don’t hear mentioned much is MT-Blacklist, a MT anti-spam plugin. It’s easy to install and very effective particularly when you use the Master Blacklist as a starting point. Comment spam has one important identifying characteristic: the URL. The whole point is to link to the site where they sell the porn or weight loss pills or whatever. I used to get about a dozen or so comment spams per day, now I get maybe 1 every week or two. And when I do get one, I blacklist it and don’t get it again. For reference, my site receives about 6,000 hits per day. Your results may vary if you have a more popular weblog.
Tags: Meta
