Fighting WordPress Spam – Part 1 – What is Spam?

No one likes spam, except the spammers!

Spam Comments are about 99% if what my WordPress blogs get.  In fact, to-date I have only approved ONE comment on all the sites that I am the Admin on.  Spam is a growing problem to bloggers and others and it is not likely to go away soon.  Therefore, I figured I would start my own attack on spam!

Part One What is Spam?

For those that don’t know, Spam can be defined a lot of different ways. Some people think it is just links to websites selling (or claiming to sell) pills and photos (come on, you know what I am talking about!). But really spam is much more than that.

My Definition of Spam!

I define WordPress Comment Spam as…
“ANY Comment that is inappropriate or unrelated to the post!”

Of course that would include comments with off site links to sites selling Photos and Pills.

But how about the links that are not so obvious? That is what I want to talk about…

Any link is Spam!

I just figure that any comment with a link in it is spam! Ok, maybe that is a little to harsh so let me make ONE exception. If the link is directly related to the post and adds information to the post.

The is pretty tight. So let me give you an example…

online forex trading This is a quite very nice internet page

Now that was posted on a page about the age specific changes people go through in life.  Notice the link part has nothing at all to do with age related milestones of life. Spam!

Hola
la pieza Гљtil
SuperSonic

Once again the link is totally unrelated to the topic, and so it the comment! Spam!

Spam Sandwich, hide the Spam!

I call this next one the Spam Sandwich as it is an attempt to hide the spam.

The real spam is the link to their website. This was posted on one of my sites with the user and thus the link name, of tummy tuck!…

Hi! I could have sworn I’ve been to this blog before but after browsing through some of the post I realized it’s new to me. Nonetheless, I’m definitely delighted I found it and I’ll be book-marking and checking back frequently!

This was about words that high school grads should know, but usually do not! Read it carefully! There is really nothing here about the original post. Have fun, look ate anyones blog and then pretend this is a comment! It will fit as a comment on ANY blog post! Spam!

They really only want the link to their web page.

Keep posting stuff like this i really like it

Personally I’m impressed by the quality of this. Generally when I come across these sort of things I like to post them on Digg. I don’t think this would be the best to submit though. I’ll take a look around your site though and submit something else.

learned a lot

Lovely sharp submit. By no means thought that it was this simple. Extolment to you!

All the above comments have one thing in common, they never read the post! Spam!

Polly Want a Cracker Spam!

This next type I call the Cracker Spam! Because they repeat what you say, like a parrot saying “Polly Want a Cracker?”

This is interesting, please post more often about WordPress Atahualpa Theme – Different Header Images for MultiSite WP LAN Net Work!!

In the above comment the Blue is the title and the Brown is the site title. Now take any post on any blog and put in the post title and site name and there you have a Parrot or Cracker Spam!

[…] Preventing WordPress Automatic Updates From Deleting Custom Settings (Themes and Plugins) […]

Another Spam where the username and title are the same, leading you off to the their linked page! Cracker Spam!

Funny Spam!

Most people take the time to find and customize themes for their site. Some people put a lot of work into just their theme. Not long ago I set up a WP blog as a place to develop some ideas. I really did not care about the Theme, so I just left the default TwentyTen Theme that ships with every install of WordPress.

One of the comments I received said how much they enjoyed my theme and asked me where they could get it for their site! HaHaHa! They went on to praise me how much work and effort I put into establishing this standard, off the wall, comes with every WordPress Theme!

Now if I had built a custom theme, maybe I would have believed their Spam… But because I had the theme that most people get rid of… it was really funny Spam!

Indescribable Spam!

The truth is that the one thing all these Spam Comments have in common is they never address any real point of your post! They are trying to trick you into accepting some link or email address, without any concern for your post at all.

That is Spam!

Great Site Spam!

So the next time you see a comment that says, Great Site, you have just been spammed!

Not Spam!

A comment that is not spam will comment on a specific point of your post. Better still they will add something to your post or make clear a specific area of your post. Or even correct a mistake in your post. or perhaps agree or disagree with a very specific point or points in your post.

Generic Comments are ALWAYS SPAM!

I will try to post later about how to best fight the WP Spammers!

Sincerely my friends,

LAN

PS Spammers – Go Away!