Thread: Why am I still getting spam comments on my blog?

I've got a blog that was getting a ton of spam comments. Askismet was catching all of them and sticking them in the spam folder, but I liked to to through the spam folder to check for legit comments (false positives). I was getting so much spam that I gave up on that. Anyway, I added a math question that you have to answer to submit a comment, and for a while, I got no more of this automated junk spam. But now I'm getting a ton again.
They all end up in the spam folder, so it's not ending up on my blog posts, but it prevents me from checking through the folder for legit comments.
Any idea how they are getting by the math question? I can't believe these are all manual spammers, are they? I'm assuming it's some automated program...

You may need to hire a moderator for your comments or require registration before you allow someone to post a comment.

Any idea how they are getting by the math question?

They are getting past the math question, using an automated program. There are scripts out there that do that.

You might try another form of captcha.

Some captcha's are better than others. You could also try using something else like Bad Behavior, it works very well to stop those kind of blog spammers and bots etc.

If you're using wordpress, there's a BB plugin here :
WordPress › Bad Behavior �> WordPress Plugins

There is a whitelist available if you need one, and any real visitors who get flagged as a spammer have the opportunity to see why they are blocked and can try to fix the problem themselves.
Bad Behavior Screenshots

You will need to test it out a little though, don't just install it and leave it at that.

I have a blog and experienced the same issue and I also implemented that math question, but I actually added two math questions. I later found out that it was an automated software that people were using. Spammers will honestly do everything they can to spam.

I have also experienced the same issues.

I gave up checking the spam folder for legitimate comments because I almost never found any. When you do a search using what looks like the legitimate comments, you will likely find out that they are also spam.

Don't worry about finding false positives in the spam folder. If you are using Akismet, that does not happen very often. Just focus on moderating the comments awaiting approval. I find that about 80% of those are also spam.

My understanding is that Akismet uses the data it gathers about spam reports related to particular email addresses to flag spam. I think that Gmail does the same thing.

So if a comment is sent to the spam box by Akismet, it is because the email is associated with previous spam reports. Hence, there is no need to look at the rejected comments. In fact, some spammers will post the odd legitimate comment and complain to you to try and get you to vote it out of the spam box.

Every time you find a spam comment that has not been caught and is awaiting approval, be sure to click the Spam link, rather than the Delete link. That reports it as spam to Akismet. It also automatically moves the comment into the Spam bucket.

Originally Posted by TopDogger

I have also experienced the same issues.

I gave up checking the spam folder for legitimate comments because I almost never found any. When you do a search using what looks like the legitimate comments, you will likely find out that they are also spam.

Don't worry about finding false positives in the spam folder. If you are using Akismet, that does not happen very often. Just focus on moderating the comments awaiting approval. I find that about 80% of those are also spam.

Just to clarify, all of this spam is ending up where it belongs, in the spam folder. But there is so much that I don't want to go through it. As you say, I probably don't miss any legit comments, or very few, so it's not a big deal. It just bugs me that I get any, when I put in a math captcha to try to block the spam programs in the first place. I also use bad behavior. I just wish I didn't see all the spam because it reminds me of the blogs I come across that have been spammed to death, and how much of the internet is becoming a spam cesspool (in my opinion).
Anyway, thanks for all the input!

To not see the spam at all, I'd just block the regular offenders in your sites .htaccess file, or some other kind IP blocking script so the spammers can't even load your site in the first place. I use ZB-Block on some sites and my own custom PHP firewall script to keep out junk like bots, spammers and exploit scanners.

Take a look at Will's post here -> Blocking Web Hosting Centers , which lists a large number of hosting company ranges. This should help cut down on a whole heap of bots and spammers who operate from cheap dedicated servers and vps hosting accounts.