Webs’ Random Ideas

Just upgraded Wordpress, let me know of issues and whatnot. I think everything went okay though…

Just to let everyone know I put in some new spam defense you should know about. So if you have trouble commentating please email me at [webs05admin] [@] [gmail] [dot] [com]. It’s a nifty piece of code entitled “Bad Behavior“. Cool thing about the program is it’s all coded with PHP, so it can be ported to any website that can handle PHP code. As the website states:

Bad Behavior was designed and built by watching actual spambots which harvested email addresses, posted comment spam, and used fake referrers. By logging their entire HTTP requests and comparing them to HTTP requests of legitimate users, it is possible to detect most spambots. Bad Behavior blocks spambots with a short error message. It also has three configurable User-Agent lists for spambots and other malicious bots which actually identify themselves. Bad Behavior can use string matching or regular expression matching against a User-Agent.

Bad Behavior also will target bots which fail to obey robots.txt. At this time some of these bots are banned by User-Agent, though in the future Bad Behavior will detect them automatically.

Bad Behavior intends to target any malicious software directed at a Web site, whether it be a spambot, ill-designed search engine bot, or system crackers. In that spirit, it is not limited to WordPress users; a generic interface has been provided whereby it can be integrated into virtually any PHP-based software.

So it really protects you from multiple fronts, this I like .

Also some other things to consider if you are a Wordpress user wanting to protect your site from Spam, I also recommend a CAPTCHA. There are a few different kinds available, I recommend reCaptcha. I loved it when I tried it out for about 30 minutes. The reason I didn’t stick with it is because I am not comfortable enough with PHP to edit it to allow registered users to skip the CAPTCHA process. Why have registered users go through the CAPTCHA process when I know if they are bots or not?

So the current CAPTCHA plugin I use is Cryptograph. It’s easily configurable and my registered users do not have to use the CAPTCHA when commenting. It’s not nearly as strong or nice looking, but is easy to use for both the Administrator and end-user.

Another must have plugin is Akismet. This plugin is so damn awesome it is now included in all Wordpress packages and can be installed in multiple Blogging packages. It’s really the best anti-spam tool out there!

So that’s what I have for anti-Spam tips. Please use them as much as possible though, because one way to beat spam is to not make it profitable, and that is done by showing spammers the door.

Well… likely nothing. I just think it’s kinda funny that for all day Sunday, except about 60 comments I received at once around 10:30, I had zero spam. Weird considering for a straight 2 weeks I was getting in the neighborhood of 300 comments throughout the day.

Luckily I have Akismet plugin for Wordpress running. In the last maybe 2000 spam comments, it has only let through 1 comment that was spam. I love that plugin! But the plugin I don’t love is my Captcha plugin. I love how it is fully configurable, but it is letting through way too many spam comments. If my Captcha plugin was doing its’ job I would be receiving hardly any spam comments at all in Akismet.

Oh well, just another item to add to my list of things to make changes to.

Well I keep finding ways to improve the site, but I am starting to slow down now with changes. For future updates look at the “WP Stuff” tab above. Any changes I make will be listed there. I will try to keep the list current, but let me know if I missed anything. Also in that tab you will find plugins I have modified, or created. The list is few and far between, but take a look there for relevant info.

If you have any recommendations or questions you can post here or e-mail me. Thanks!