ddhr.org - Math for spam

Date: 2006 | 07 | 05

Math for spam (4)

Jul 5, 2006

I just enabled a new plugin: Math Comment Spam Protection. It puts a simple math problem before the comment box. If it's not filled in, a comment can't be posted. This should effectively eliminate all spam, seeing that it's being used in conjunction with Akismet. Spam thankfully doesn't get through Akismet's filters, but Akismet occasionally filters out some legitimate comments, so I'm somewhat forced to go through all my spam comments every now and then to make sure there weren't any mistakes. This should hopefully cut down on the volume of spam comments that comes in. We'll see. #technology

Comments

Dave

Jul 14, 2006

Before this plugin, I was getting around 10-12 spam comments per day. This isn't much in the grand scheme of things, but it meant sifting through about 50 comments every few days.

Now, I'm down to 4-5 per day, and these are trackbacks, which won't be eliminated with this method. There's probably a relatively simple method or plugin to fix this problem, but I'm not too concerned. Math Comment Spam Protection cut my spam in half. Not bad.

Wendy

Aug 14, 2006

btw...I thought the Math problems were there just to eliminate the mathematically-challeneged from posting comments...hehe...

Shara

Aug 14, 2006

Will it let you post even if you get the math problem wrong? I will try it.

Interesting. You actually have to be correct. I don't know why I find that interesting, but I do. And do you choose the comment that pops up and tells you to go back and try again, or is that standard with the plugin?

Dave

Aug 14, 2006

The plugin is pretty simple: It displays a little math problem and checks to see if your answer matches up with its answer.

I changed the error page to my liking.