Cant Keep Quiet!

I installed a new plug-in a few days ago and it seems to be working great.  I've tried various plug-ins over the years to block spam of all types with mixed results.

SpamKarma 2 and Askimet both seemed to work pretty well but I was still having to go through and verify if blocked items were really spam.  They both worked pretty well for comments but trackback spams would sometimes slip through.

Lately, the only spam I've been getting has been the trackback kind.  I was getting tired of looking at the various drug and porn trackbacks so I went looking for a plugin that would block it completely.

WP-SpamFree looked like it could do the job I wanted.  According to the plug-in author's description

Comment spam has been a problem for bloggers since the inception of blogs, and it just doesn’t seem to go away. The worst kind, and most prolific, is automated spam that comes from bots. Well, finally there is an effective solution, without CAPTCHA’s, challenge questions, or other inconvenience to site visitors. The WP-SpamFree plugin virtually eliminates automated comment spam from bots, including trackback and pingback spam.

It seems to be doing the trick.  So far it's blocked 33 spam bots according to the information it puts in my dashboard.

There's only one problem.  It appears that no one has tried to leave a comment since I installed the plug-in.   Since there's no way to see just what its blocking I can't be positive that a legitimate comment has been blocked.

So I'm asking for a favor.  Please leave a comment.  Even if it's just to say hi.  I'd appreciate it.

Technorati Tags: Spam

I've been fooling around with the theme. Basically, I've been trying out different themes in the background. Thanks to the Theme Test Drive plug-in I've been able to try different themes out without anyone visiting my blog knowing.

While I liked the Lavender theme, I was getting a bit tired of it. I felt like going a bit minimalist, but not too minimalist. This current theme filled the bill nicely.

I would love to go back to my Shhh theme someday but it doesn't play nice with the more recent WP versions. Maybe one day I'll figure out how to fix it.

I also need to update my photos. Any suggestions for a plug-in or other program to show the photos besides flicker?

Technorati Tags: themes, WordPress

Well, I've upgraded to WordPress 2.5.

Am I thrilled? We'll see.  I've had to deactivate some plug-ins that weren't functioning correctly. I had to delete the Maintenance Mode plug-in just to get back into the blog after the upgrade.

The new look behind the scenes will also take some getting used to.

Let me know if anything doesn't seem to be working.

Technorati Tags: WordPress

I've been getting a lot of spam comments lately. Sad, really, because that's just about the only type of comments I've been getting.

I know that's my own fault because I haven't been writing much lately. However, I'm tired of seeing all the spam comments. Most have been caught by Askimet and SpamKarma but not all.

In an attempt to draw down the amount of spam comments without moderating all comments, I'm trying out a new plug-in called WP Captcha-Free. We'll see if it makes a dent.

Technorati Tags: Askimet, spam comments, Spam Karma

From Wikipedia

Spam blogs, sometimes referred to by the neologism splogs, are artificially created weblog sites which the author uses to promote affiliated websites or to increase the search engine rankings of associated sites. The purpose of a splog can be to increase the PageRank or backlink portfolio of affiliate websites, to artificially inflate paid ad impressions from visitors, and/or use the blog as a link outlet to get new sites indexed. Spam blogs are usually a type of scraper site, where content is often either Inauthentic Text or merely stolen (see blog scraping) from other websites. These blogs usually contain a high number of links to sites associated with the splog creator which are often disreputable or otherwise useless websites.

There is frequent confusion between the terms "splog" and "spam in blogs". Splogs are blogs where the articles are fake, and are only created for search engine spamming. To spam in blogs, conversely, is to include random comments on the blogs of innocent bystanders, in which spammers take advantage of a site's ability to allow visitors to post comments that may include links.

I've been the target of quit a few splogs lately. I'm not always aware that I've been the victim of content theft, but sometimes I get ping-backs that clue me into the theft.

I don't consider someone quoting from something I wrote as part of a larger piece to be content theft. No do I consider any ping-backs or track-backs from legitimate blogs to be content theft. Matter of fact, I welcome both from legitimate blogs.

I don't, however, appreciate someone using what I wrote to make money for themselves. In an effort to combat the efforts of splogs, I've installed Digital Fingerprint into my blog. I'll let you all know if it works.

Technorati Tags: Digital FingerPrint, splogs

Sorry, but it is now more possible for any comments you leave to be put into moderation. I've been getting over 100 spam comments and ping-backs a day. Neither Askimet, nor Spam Karma were catching them all.

The comments weren't the big problem. Most of the spam comments were being caught. The problem was ping-backs.

At least 2 (often more) were getting through every day. Grrrrrrr!

Askimet is nice and all, but it doesn't do much in regards to the ping-backs. That's why I also use Spam Karma 2. I can at least tweak Spam Karma to be pretty harsh in regards to hit and run commenters (typically bots that are on the site for a second or two before tossing up a comment) and ping-backs.

If you, a real live person, leaves a comment and it doesn't pop up then it got flagged and put in for moderation. Sorry about that. You can feel comfortable knowing that once I get home from work and see that you are a real live person than I'll approve your comment.

Of course, ping-backs are a sign of content theft. I recently read about two plugins that help combat content theft. They are AntiLeech Splog Stopper and Digital Fingerprint were both highly regarded by the writer for dealing with content theft.  Does anyone use any of these?  Do you think they work well?  Do they cause any problems with you rss feed?

Technorati Tags: Askimet, Spam Karma, splogs

I hope.

I just spent the last hour or so upgrading the blog to WP 2.3.1 (which took about 5 minutes) and its plugins (which took most of the time and isn't finished yet).

So far everything seems to be working just fine. Please let me know if something isn't.

Technorati Tags: WordPress, WP

As you can tell, I've switched back to the lavender theme. Also, if you tried to visit me yesterday or earlier today you probably noticed that the site was referring back to a different url.

I blame BlogMad for this since blogmad is the link that kept coming up whenever I tried to view my site. There's also a problem with the Shh! theme that seems to insist on linking to the Network Solutions referrer even though I've deleted the link from the theme.

Strange.

I checked it through and deleted the blogmad link and my host checked it through and said that a link must still exist in the theme somewhere.

I didn't realize that BlogMad was going away or I would have dumped the link before now.

Now I have to see if I can incorporate the images that I really like from Shh!! into something else. That will have to wait until mid October because I just don't have the time or energy right now.

I'm trying to decide what I want to do about the theme of this blog. The Shh! theme has been so wonky lately that something needs to be done. I just can't decide what so I'm putting up a poll to see what people think.

 I've switched it back to the Shh! theme.  For now.  If it breaks again, I think that will probably be it.

Now, if someone wants to help me combine the two, I'd love the help.

Once again my Shh! theme is acting wonky. Once again I've temporarily changed the theme.

This is getting old. I understand that something isn't loading right. What I don't understand is why it keeps happening. This is twice in about a week. It's the third time it has happened in the last 2 or 3 months.

I think my blog is trying to tell me something. It wants a change, but I like the Shh! image. I'll have to try and figure something out when I have more time.

Right, like that will happen anytime soon.