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Admin: Anti-Spam Images for Leaving Comments

Written by Nickel - 14 Comments

Are you having trouble leaving comments? If so, please let me know.

I recently had to implement a simple little challenge-response test for leaving comments due to a recent deluge of spam comments. When trying to leave comment, you should see a “captcha” image containing a financial word. Simply type the word into the required field and you should be good to go. I apologize for any inconvenience, but my spam filters were getting overwhelmed, so I had to act.

With that said, I’d appreciate some feedback as to whether or not it’s working properly. Comments are down overall since I made the change, which could either be natural variation, or it could signal difficulty leaving comments. If it works, don’t hesitate to leave a comment. If you’re having trouble, please contact me directly with details.

Update: I’ve implemented a new strategy that seems to: (1) allow legit comments through, and (2) do a reasonable job of blocking spam outright, before it even hits the filters.

Published on October 1st, 2008 - 14 Comments
Filed under: About/Admin

About the author: Nickel is the founder and editor-in-chief of this site. He's a thirty-something family man who has been writing about personal finance since 2005, and guess what? He's on Twitter!

14 Responses to “Admin: Anti-Spam Images for Leaving Comments”

1
Living Within Your Means Says:
October 1st, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Hi Mr. Nickel – Just wanted to say that it seems to work (well, if you get this comment then it does). I’ve been thinking of installing something similar or perhaps coding something like it – can I ask, what plugin is it (if wordpress)? thanks…
2
nickel Says:
October 1st, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Good question… I’m using Peter’s Custom Anti-Spam (link).
3
EN Says:
October 1st, 2008 at 9:57 pm
Some times when I enter the word correctly it asks me to enter it again. Might be just a glitch on my side though.
4
Ron@TheWisdomJournal Says:
October 1st, 2008 at 10:47 pm
Testing…testing 1, 2, 3. Yep, looks okay to me.
5
Nehal Says:
October 2nd, 2008 at 1:46 am
There’s another way you can do this. Include a honeypot form element which does not get displayed (hidden via CSS) on a browser. If your comment submission script detects data in the honeypot field, it knows it is from a spambot and it is simply discarded.
6
Double Journey Says:
October 2nd, 2008 at 1:56 am
I tried a similar thing on my blog a while back and got feedback that it confused some people. Not saying that will happen to you, but it did happen to some of my readers. Figured I would let it go and let Askimet do its job. So far, I haven’t had too much to deal with.
7
nickel Says:
October 2nd, 2008 at 10:27 am
Testing new anti-spam measure.

Edit: Okay, captcha is gone for now, and real comments seem to be getting through. Still not sure how effective this is at stopping spam.
8
jim Says:
October 2nd, 2008 at 10:28 am
Looks good (maybe)
9
LiveWellSimply Says:
October 2nd, 2008 at 11:42 am
Captcha’s are great in theory, but I’ve found that most people over 40 have a very difficult time reading them and have an even worse time figuring out what they are for
10
Donna Says:
October 2nd, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Testing – yes, working – by the way, love your blog. I read it everyday. )
11
Pinyo Says:
October 2nd, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Nickel, you may be using this already, but I found YAWASP to work very well against comment spam and without CAPTCHA.
12
Christopher Holdheide Says:
October 7th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
I just placed a comment and I was not asked to do any captcha. I don’t know if you implemented yet.
13
nickel Says:
October 7th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
Christopher: I’ve actually come up with a better solution, so there’s no need for the captcha anymore.
14
Chris Holdheide Says:
October 7th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
Nickel
Great!
Captcha seems to be a hassle but I can understand with all the spammer out there.
Thanks for letting me know.

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