| A strange loop.
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| A strange loop.
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No More HTML in CommentsI've turned off HTML in the comments. It stinks, because it means that people can't leave real links, but I'm really tired of the comment spam, and since the goal of comment spam, I'm taking that away from them. The last time I did this, it worked really well, but annoyed people. Sorry, but it's my blog, and I'd rather not be annoyed myself, so off goes the HTML.
As long as cut and paste lives, we can still leave links. That should not be a real problem. And if it cuts down on the spam, go for it.
Posted by: Oscar on November 28, 2004 09:19 AMThe best way I've found so far is the remove the Post button and force Preview. Between that and locking down older threads, I haven't had a comment spam in several weeks.
Posted by: Mark L on November 29, 2004 10:43 AMYou may also want to consider renaming the comments script to something else that isn't intutive (e.x. "spamsucks.cgi" instead of "mt-comments.cgi"), then change the links to it in the templates. That will take care of the worst of the spamming bastards.
Posted by: Aubrey Turner on November 29, 2004 03:03 PMI did that at one time (renaming the script), but the spammers now read it directly from the page in many cases, so it's no longer effective.
I've been locking down older threads as they get spammed, which helps, and I ban IPs liberally, which helps some, but I haven't found a good magic bullet. I want to raise the transaction costs for spammers unbearably relative to the benefits, without making it generally harder for people to comment. I might try getting rid of the post button and forcing preview.
