I wrote recently about a real challenge I was facing, regarding spam comments here on the blog. Today, I have the answer I need and also a wonderful piece of advice for any of you, who use WordPress and have a spam problem.
My comment spam challenge
As I wrote a couple of days ago, the volume of comment spam here was around 2,500 a day and increasing. Almost all this spam was being successfully caught by the Akismet plugin, however, in with this spam were some legitimate comments from readers. My challenge was the amount of time it took, for me to find legitimate comments, when a reader emailed me to say their comment had not been published. This was made harder, as many would forget to send me the email address they used for their comment, so I had no way to do a quick search.
When I wrote about this challenge, I saw 2 possible solutions:
- Install a 3rd party commenting system, like LiveFyre or Disqus, with everyone needing to register in order to comment.
- Turn blog comments off and have readers respond to the posts via social networks.
In the end, I did neither!
How I cured my comment spam problem (for now)
This morning, for the second day running, I went to my blog to find there were no spam comments in my spam filter. There were also no emails, from people whose comments had not been published. So, no spam comments, yet every legitimate comment went through. Here’s how I did it!
I received a huge amount of feedback from people regarding how to resolve my issue and 5 different people recommended the same simple plugin, which they said would solve the problem in minutes. They were right.
Conditional Capture for WordPress
The plugin is called Conditional Captcha for WordPress.
It works with Akismet, so whenever Akismet identifies a spam comment, it asks the sender to complete a simple captcha (see image.) If they complete it successfully, their comment is accepted. If they don’t, the comment is deleted.
Another thing I like about this plugin, is that unlike other captcha plugins, where everyone has to fill it in, this one is targeted. Unless Akismet thinks you are a spammer, you will never see it. This means it’s as quick and easy to comment here now, as it has always been.
Two additional lessons learned
After writing the blog post asking people for their feedback, two things became very clear, very fast.
The first was no surprise. It seems a lot of people dislike commenting on blogs, which use 3rd party commenting systems. Some, including me, find them unnecessarily confusing. Others dislike the idea of handing their details to a 3rd party Internet start-up or giving them access to their Twitter, Facebook accounts etc – Just to leave a comment. Many also said, they disliked how sites using 3rd party commenting systems often loaded slowly. Speed is a big deal to me, which is why I have dedicated hosting.
The second thing I learned, came as a huge surprise! I was amazed that the majority of people thought it was perfectly fine to simply turn blog comments off and have the conversations about the posts, on social networks instead. I was ready to be attacked for even suggesting this as a possibility, yet it seems people spend so much time on social networks now, that it’s easier for them to comment there, rather than on the actual blog. This was especially the case for those, like me, who usually read blogs on a tablet or phone. I currently get around 80% – 90% of my comments AWAY from this blog.
Best of both worlds
I can now provide you with the best of both worlds. Readers who like to comment here (I’ve had almost 30,000 comments so far) can do so and without any fuss. Those who like to comment on social networks will carry on doing so. I have also been able to save myself a lot of time and frustration, now that comment spam is no longer an issue.
I’m hesitant to recommend anything after using it for just 2 days. However, as I was getting as much blog comment spam in 2 days as many get in a month, I can confirm that Conditional Captcha for WordPress has been extremely accurate and easy to use. This plugin is also free, though ‘d have liked to have been given the option to either buy it or at least donate to the plugin’s creator.
Finally, I’d like to thank everyone who chimed in with their feedback, suggestions and fixes.
It’s beautifully ironic, that it was you, the reader community, who solved the problem for me.
THANK YOU!
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Photo: Andrew Hyde
Thanks for this tip! I try to avoid captchas whenever possible, for example in contact forms, because it’s a pain for the user. A ‘conditional’ captcha is an excellent solution.
I agree Ralf. Captcha’s are usually a pain in the butt. This gets out of the way and is only visible, if Akismet thinks there could be a problem.
Thanks for the feedback.
Good to hear you found a solution
I’ll keep this plugin in mind for future WordPress installs.
You’re welcome, Stuart.
Thanks Jim! I’ve just moved a blog from wordpress.com to it’s own URL and I’m already getting spam, so this is really useful! I’ll be recommending it to any of my clients that use a WordPress blog. I’d like to donate too if there is a way.
Hi Helen. Agree regarding paying the developer. I’ve often paid for software that was less useful than this.
Good luck with the self-hosted WordPress blog.
From my own experience, I can say it is very annoying to wake up everyday with thousands of spam comments. I already use Akismet, but I think about installing the conditional Captcha, especially that I’ve seen it works with good results on many blogs.
Hey Jim!
I’m glad you’re keeping the comments on the blog. One of the thinks I find really useful with your blog particularly, is that some very smart bloggers comment here.
I’ve found tons of useful bloggers from comments they have left here.
Thanks XxX
I know what you mean, Jackie. I have done the same many times. Thanks for the feedback.
My blog receives a small amount of spam that so far I can easily handle manually but it’s growing so I’m starting to thinking about a better solution and your article is very useful so thank you for your suggestion!
Yay it worked! I’m glad to hear it does function well on a bigger website. I can add that to my list of plugins to recommend from now on
The “instant” results are a little terrifying. I keep waiting for someone to say “I couldn’t comment on your blog!” too, but so far, so good. It really is incredible when developers make something that truly works as described. A simple and effective solution.
Hi Corey. I’m still on zero spam, around 60 hours after installing it. A very good plugin and thanks for adding your weight to it. I hope the developer starts allowing people to donate, as this is saving businesspeople time and money – The developer deserves to be remunerated.
I too was considering switching off regular comments and relaying on FB – Im still struggling to get any of my own regular comments posted if I use my Lollipop Local web address and yet I get inundated with spam on that same site, taking up far too much of my time to moderate. I shall investigate your suggestion. Thanks, Jim
Hi Jo. Your comment is the first one to be sent to spam, since I installed the plugin!
Did it ask you to fill in the captcha, before you could post your comment?
I too used Akismet back in the day. I swithced to the Spam Free WordPress plugin about a year ago, and it seems to work well for me. I don’t miss the legit comments anymore, yet I’m not flodded with spam either. However, it is not as good as Akismet at blocking the manual comment spammer. There is also the captha issue, which is no fun for readers, although as pains in the a** go, it could be much worse.
I like your solution, because Akismet was very good at that.
Hey Jim!
Excellent post with a great solution. I like the plugin idea much better than turning visitor comments away because of the burden of utilizing 3rd party filters. Thanks for the great resource
Thank you so much! This is a life saver. I was really getting tired of my inbox flooding with spam!
So glad you were able to find a solution that worked for both you and your readers! Good stuff.
Angie
This plug-in is a godsend. I used to get hundreds of spam comments a day on my blog, now it is zero – most of the bots leave me alone now, and the rest just go straight to deletion.
Akismet is 99% effective, but that’s not good enough. I value my readers’ feedback and losing 1 out of every 100 of their comments is unacceptable. The only solution was to try to fish out the false positives. But there is simply no good reason that I should have had to spend 5-10 minutes every day to wade through dreck to pull out 1-2 good comments.
I simply should never have to see most of that crap. Akismet is incomplete, it needs to finish the job.
This plugin PAINLESSLY finishes the job, and really Akismet should incorporate something like this to definitively confirm suspected spam and easily save what’s not. It’s a huge relief, with almost no extra burden on my readers or my server.
Thank you!
Thank you for this plug-in. I faced similar issues with clearing the spams. With this plug-in, it sure help to saves time.
Glad you found it useful, Joe.