Do Facebook log-ins have reduced spam?

  • krystofo

    (@krystofo)


    12 years, 6 months ago

    Hello. This might be an obvious question for experienced wordpressers, but difficult for me to search because every other page has a “facebook” link.

    I am doing several WordPress multisite communities on a low budget, and do not like to depend on mechancial spam filters like Akismet. (Also I don’t qualify for free Akismet nor can I afford the paid Akismet for awhile if ever.) I just want to minimize headaches and make it easy for serious people to join, while discouraging spammers. One sure-fire method, I believe, is to offer a free blog to anyone who snails me a postcard or paypals $1.

    However another method is maybe, if they have a Facebook page, they are not spammers? I am old-fashioned and have hardly used Facebook or WordPress for that matter, so I don’t know. Let me know as soon as you stop laughing.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
  • Tim S

    (@tim-s)

    12 years, 6 months ago

    Hi krysoto,

    While it may work to reduce spammers by having them use their Facebook login, Spam is inevitable. Many spammers create accounts manually and have multiple tools at their disposal such as dummy facebook accounts. If you wanted to try to combat bots, you can always use a logic check or some form of Captcha to verify the person is not a bot but human. Even then, this is just a methodology to reduce spam, not eliminate it.

    I hope this helps!

    Thread Starter krystofo

    (@krystofo)

    12 years, 5 months ago

    Thank you Tim!

    Many spammers create… dummy facebook accounts.

    I suspected so.

    I don’t like Facebook’s policy. It’s nice to be able to search Facebook for old friends. But this could still be enabled. Except Facebook could reply, “This person will be notified of your Facebook address.” Then everyone controls privacy.

    Facebook deleted an account of a leading Egyptian democracy activist who would have been targeted if using his real name. I don’t think anyone, especially children, should post their personal information online. The result is that naive people are targetted by governments, stalkers, or whatever. Some businesses are even “requiring” job applicants to have a facebook page showing community history. In the future that will evolve into a “required” lack of privacy if you want a job. I thought, maybe at least Facebook accounts are relatively unique? But no, it seems spammers and criminals have no problem opening multiple Facebook aliases.

    Gmail allows aliases and verifies identity via automated telephone call. That’s the way to do it. I will need to find less sophisticated methods, of course. But as you say, there are other plug-ins. Thank you for the help.

    Moderator Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)

    (@ipstenu)

    🏳️‍🌈 Advisor and Activist

    12 years, 5 months ago

    Between Akismet, Cookies for Comments and Bad Behavior, my site with open comments has only had two (2) spam comments.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
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