Thread

I’m starting to get a lot of gibberish spam in my comments.

sample:

Posted by: avzstnfm
Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
URL: http://udljgori.com
Location: bkjwljwb, iohypvwh

ncklacxp  xkmyxqfx http://dcmcsysf.com flwddfiy czfrfjol hxjpmctw

It varies, sometimes includes a forums-like url tag, and the gibberish is always different.  I add every .com to my blacklist, and ban the IP.  I have captcha on, but it seems like it’s been figured out.  If it’s not a script, it’s a spammer with a ton of time on their hands.

I’m getting the same of late in both weblog comments, trackbacks as well as feedback form. The rate is increasing weekly. CAPTCHA was turned on right from the day the site launched. Randomize Trackback URL is enabled.

Can the devs please help? My spam is almost identical to what Vodkafish has got. Here is an example:

—-

mhexzbyt http://xwlqwfwi.com oylwmrhh mwlugida urzuncqg wmcrdubn

—-

I read recently where some spammers are using new ways to entice certain people to sit around all day entering CAPTCHA codes for sites. That info doesn’t help you, I know, but it might help explain what’s been happening.

Do your sites require membership to post? (I realize that’s not an option for some folks, nor perhaps desireable.)

I use Akismet and until reading this post, I forgotten how much comment spam, I use to have to deal with.  I used to have to log-in to my website daily to remove spam comments. Then after I first installed Akismet, I would login weekly to remove the spam comments that Akismet had collected and prevented from being displayed on my site.  Then after reading this post, I realized, I hadn’t even checked to see what comments Akismet had collect within the last month or two.  Wow. I really need to send those guys a thank you. 

Anyway, Akismet really is wonderful, and I’ll also need to thank Lodewijk who adapted it to work with Expression Engine.  It works as a combination Module/Extension, and the details for downloading and installing can be found in this thread.

It’s one of those modules that I believe every EE site that activates comments should have. Very, very wonderful. Really, I use to clean out 80 plus spam comments a week or so, then Akismet started trapping them for me, but better yet, its seems that a lot of spammers now just ignore my site. Only two spamming attempts since, my last check, which as I mentioned was more than a month ago.  So Akismet also seems to have a prevention component as well.  I think Akismet combined with a cron job to automatically update your blacklist, and the other included security options for EE is just a super powerful combination.  I don’t use Captchas or Membership requirements for my site at all.  Just blacklist, whitelist, blacklist to .htaccess, and Akismet.

On my personal site, I am lucky if I get more than two spams a year.  I basically use the Blacklist and then also my Comment Spam Prevention extension.

For sites that are more popular, such as ExpressionEngine.com, it seems with the human element spammers are using now, you really have to be a bit more on your toes.  AKismet can help with that as they keep their spamming database really up to date.  You can also start banning certain countries with the IP to Nation module, if you notice spam coming from some source and the Blacklist is really helpful there too, if the spam constantly has similar URLs.