Since I've licked the comment spam problem (seriously, I haven't had one since the Q), I've started to get trackback spam (trackbacks are links from other sites that tell my site they're talking about me). It hasn't been nearly as bad, but it's a pain sometimes. I assumed that it was because of my ingenious circumvention Q, but that might be a case of mistaken post hoc, ergo propter hoc (yes, West Wing reruns on Bravo have run back around to the first season). Since I'm finally catching up on last months blogs, I see that it's a growing problem. Anyone else have these problems?
And I mean it, I don't ever want to hear anyone complain about comment spam again, it's so fixed. I can show you how.
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I started getting a bunch of trackback spam a week or two ago, so I just got rid of trackbacks on my site. They don’t work half the time anyway, and they seem to be more for ego (ooh, who’s linking to me) than anything else anyway.
I also had to stop looking at my stats because over half of my referrers are from sites like “get-v1agra-now.com” or “paris-hilton-sex-tape.blogspot.com”
I like the trackbacks a lot, I never know who links me, and every once in a while I find a totally new blog (this one and this one, for instance).
I also like when I link the big guys, which is rare, and they come back and read your post. Kevin Drum left a comment once, and I think I had a dream Matt Yglesias did, too.
I’m hoping I can keep the c4h trackbacks alive.
upgrade to MT 3.x… install MTBlacklist 2.x.
the comment spam is minimal and almost always moderated by Blacklist. The TB spam is removed and future posts from that URL blocked with two clicks.
I hate the Q, by the way… it’s a pain in the ass.
by they way… RI’s Premier Blog Destination?? c’mon… that would, of course be Jimspot.net!
Yes, Jim, I realize I do ask a lot of everyone to make one more keystroke (with the shift key down!!). Now as to the upgrade, I get zero comment spam and my TB spam is out in two clicks, plus given that this is supposedly a multi-author blog I’d have to shell out $70 so you don’t have to type Q… I love my readers, but not that much.
duly noted and accurate.
Q (there, I did it twice!)
BTW: someday I’m gonna write a whole post on why Captchas suck. It’s not so much the inconvenience (it is, after all, just one shift-assisted-keystroke), it’s what they stand for. Basically what they stand for is: the author doesn’t want to do the work to prevent comment/TB spam, the reader/commenter should. THAT’s why I hate them.