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