Support » Everything else WordPress » sudden onslaught of spam

  • Resolved SaladGoat

    (@saladgoat)


    I am using Akismet 2.5.5 and the config page shows all green, indicating it is working properly, but in the last few days I am suddenly getting increased amounts of spam.
    I don’t mean it’s going to the spam folder – that’s normal.
    I’m talking about spam actually getting through. I have all comments set to be approved, so the crap is not getting on my blog, but it’s annoying to get, for instance, 15 notifications of a new comment in the past seven hours, only to see that each is spam.
    How are these getting through? Someone has figured out how to defeat Akismet? How do I defeat this spam?

Viewing 10 replies - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)
  • First thing to do is to make sure you mark them as ‘Spam’ (don’t just delete them). That will send information back to Akismet.com so that it can learn from them.

    Moderator Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)

    (@ipstenu)

    🏳️‍🌈 Advisor and Activist

    Akismet is a learning tool, which means when someone has a new way to be a spamhole, they get through. Mark them as spam, and you’ll help everyone 🙂

    Also consider another plugin, in addition to Akismet. Cookies for Comments helps.

    Thread Starter SaladGoat

    (@saladgoat)

    Just to be clear … when I have a list of 15 comments, all of which are spam, if I use the Select All button to put a checkmark beside each one, then under Bulk Actions I choose Mark As Spam and hit Apply – this is what we’re talking about, right? Marking them as spam? Because I have definitely been doing that, not just hitting the delete button. OK, I will continue to do that and hope the wave ebbs.
    And I will look into Cookies for Comments too, thanks!

    I’m getting an onslaught of spam from “Facebook users.” I’ve marked spam on these fake facebook accounts probably over 50 times.

    Just wanted you all to be aware, since it doesn’t seem to be organically filtering it out.

    Moderator Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)

    (@ipstenu)

    🏳️‍🌈 Advisor and Activist

    saladgoat – Yep that’s right.

    zechmann – How do you know they’re facebook users?

    Ipstenu: it’s always a facebook account in the link they provide for their website and when I look at the account it’s always a dummy one (plus the comments are clearly spam)

    Moderator Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)

    (@ipstenu)

    🏳️‍🌈 Advisor and Activist

    I’d block Facebook.com in my moderation list then, but I’ve not seen it as a problem.

    it may be because i accepted the first one, which actually didn’t seem like spam at all (still don’t know if it is, haha). the others, however, have been straight up spam to iffy.

    and i don’t want to block facebook cause I have some legit people using that (though eventually i may have to)

    Moderator Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)

    (@ipstenu)

    🏳️‍🌈 Advisor and Activist

    Who actually, legitimately, puts in facebook.com as their URL in a comment, though? Unless you have a ‘comment via FB’ plugin, no one does that… Well, silly people (hi, Mom-in-law) do.

    You could even whip up a bit of code to say ‘You’ve put a URL to FB in your comment. Due to abuse that is not permitted…’ and have it check comment content AND the author URL.

    Thread Starter SaladGoat

    (@saladgoat)

    Thanks all!
    And Cookies for Comments is AWESOME! Loving it. Great tip 🙂

Viewing 10 replies - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)
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