Recently, a number spam bots have been managing to get past Akismet to leave nonsensical comments with no actual link. Instead the link has read http://link with no .com. It seems likely that these bots are attempting to get these fake comments accepted on blogs so that when the same bots leave comments with links, they’ll be 2nd time commenters. People have reported a great deal of frustration at having these comments show up and sit on their blogs until they get a chance to mark as spam.
Here’s how you can either send these comments to your moderation queue or even send them directly to your spam. If you are reasonably certain that no one else will be leaving a valid comment on your site with http://link, then you might as well sent it to spam. If you’re worried that a real comment might left with http://link in the link, field, then there’s a way to sent it to moderation instead.
Sending These Spam http://link Comments to Spam
There’s a manual way to send these comments to spam, at least until Akismet picks up on them.
1. Navigate to Settings -> Discussion.
2. Scroll down to Comment Blacklist. You’ll see a box that looks like the one below (click image to enlarge). Enter http://link and save (bottom of the page). This way, any comment that leaves http://link as its link will get sent straight to your spam area, it won’t show up in your comments and you won’t even have to moderate it.
Sending These Spam http://link Comments to Your Moderation Queue
Using this method will mean you still have to moderate the comments, but they won’t show up on your posts.
1. Navigate to Settings -> Discussion.
2. Scroll down to Comment Moderation. You’ll see a box that looks like the one below (click image to enlarge). Enter http://link and save (bottom of the page). This way, any comment that leaves http://link as its link will get sent straight to your spam area, it won’t show up in your comments and you won’t even have to moderate it.
Using This Method on Other Spam
Most Wordpress users rely on spam killing plugins to keep unwanted comments off our blog. But sometimes the plugins aren’t smart enough or haven’t yet adapted. You can use this method for all kinds of things.
Got regular commenter who always needs comments edited or at least looked over before they’re posted? If they always use the same e-mail address, just put it in the Moderation or Blacklist box, depending on the approach you want to take.
Got an unwelcome commenter from a particular IP address? Put the IP address in there. (Won’t stop them commenting from different IPs.)
Got a commenter who always uses the same offensive terms, such as “whore”? Put them in there.
These fields are a great way to either keep a tighter rein on your blog’s comments by moderating certain kinds or to set and forget and send some comments to spam every time.
Related posts:
