I hate to do this. I’ve resisted for as long as possible, but the level of spam comments is becoming unmanageable for me. We get in the range of 200 comments per day that are spammers, and it takes me 30-45 minutes each day to track them down, block the IPs, and delete the comments. I just don’t have the time to do it, so I’m now using a stronger level of comment moderation.
It will basically work like this - in order to post a comment, you will need to have a registered account (see the right corner of the header to register a free account), and you must have a previously approved comment. Any of the authors can approve moderated comments (just go to “Manage > Comments” in the site admin panel).
For most of you, this won’t be an issue. If you haven’t commented before, however, it might become a hassle. If you want to see how this system works, and if your account has been approved yet, please leave your comments on this thread.
I’m sorry to have to do this, but I can only take so many offers for home loans, erectile medication, and mobile phones per day before I go insane.
Thanks for your understanding.
Um, could you please forward those offers to me? I might need to use some erectile medicine before I use my mobile phone to close a deal on my home loan.
I’ll take a SPAM and egg sandwich with a touch of mayo, please.
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You are a champion, Michael. I’ve been spending 20 or 30 minutes a day doing the same thing, and I thank you for taking diflucan, citalis and nasonex off my radar. (Though the next time I’m suffering from a yeast infection, erectial dysfunction or sinus discomfort, I may be sorry.)
I just hate the fact that it raises the threshold for first-time posters. Nothing chills participation like having your voice “moderated”.
I sort of like the spam. It makes me happy for some perverse reason.
Chad,
The only reasonable conclusion is that you are, in fact, a pervert. Weird.
I just want to feel wanted, is that so wrong? Those spam people may be really touched by our writing. We may be denying our missional responsibility by censoring them!
Chad, it’s our missional responsibility to keep the undesirables out of our little club.
Oh.
Well praise Jesus and pass the censorship then! We’re back in the fold! We have people to exclude!
hey… who taught y’all the Lutheran party line?
I lurk often, but this one got me going… I’ve been dealing with the same thing lately. I didn’t always have a spam problem, but over the last month it’s grown exponentially. 200 spam comments a day would be about right.
I’ve got to get a plugin to manage this crap.
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I’m using 3 - Akismet, SK2, and Bad Behavior. They each do different things, and each helps, but tons still get through. The 200/day figure was the number that actually made it through all 3 spam blockers, and had to be manually removed. The automated plug-ins catch maybe 10 times that many. Akismet stops so many per day that the counter is permanently set to 1,197.
What a mess. This is what I hate about spam - it puts the onus on the good guys to deal with the trash left by the bad guys.
Is it just me, or have the comments in general been few and far between since the institution of the spam ban? I’m starting to rethink this whole limit thing…