Every blogger (in one form or another) has had to deal with his (or her) share of spam.
One of the greatest enablers of community is having comments enabled and allowing the reader to give feedback and add to the conversation.
However, since spam is a constant problem with comments, bloggers take measures to limit the amount of spam being received on blogs. Some bloggers use CAPTCHAs, and some use plugins such as Akismet or Bad Behavior.
The ongoing struggle with spam is why I stated that spam is a reader’s problem too. Their comment may be accidentally marked as spam, or the comment may be lost due to some ill-advised spam-blocking attempt.
So when I saw yet another anti-spam plugin for WordPress, I was extremely skeptical. Especially since this plugin works right out of the box with absolutely no configuration.
To illustrate the ease of installation, here are the install directions for WP-SpamFree:
Installation Instructions
- After downloading, unzip file and upload the enclosed ‘wp-spamfree’ directory to your WordPress plugins directory: ‘/wp-content/plugins/’.
- As always, activate the plugin on your WordPress plugins page.
You’re done! Sit back and see what it feels like to blog without comment spam!
And how have we managed here at the Reader Appreciation Project? The only spam we have received has been that annoying Trackback spam (only a few spam messages a day compared to hundreds). And readers don’t have to fill out a CAPTCHA and I don’t have to worry about them being blocked as with some other WordPress anti-spam tools.
I highly recommend downloading and installing WP-SpamFree. It’s a great and unobtrusive plugin to weed out almost all of your spam without imposing spam’s evil effects on your readers.
I love this plugin, I’ve had the same experience! I have a post scheduled about it for tomorrow.
Hey Sucker,
If you don’t mind, I’d be interested to read your post. Could you please post a link here or give me an email?
Thanks.
I use this plug-in, and my good friend developed it. It’s amazing. It literally cut my comment spam from a hundred a day to zero on my personal blog.
And, by the way, “Sucker”‘s blog post is here.
Thanks Alan for the link. Glad to know others are benefiting from it.
I have a WP blog too but I have never used this plugin. On the other hand, I don’t need to since I have next to no traffic =] But I’m glad you guys found a plugin that is so effective and easy to use.
I tried several anti spam plugins before i found wpspamfree. Its easy to install and i got rid of all my spam problems. I recommend it!
Hey,
I’ve just started using the spam-free plugin on my blog and spam has dropped to zero. The only problem is I’m worried some legitimate comments are getting treated as spam. Is there a way to have a look at all the comments caught by spam-free so I can check them manually?
Thanks
WP Spam free works only a few times… I mean spammers keep getting more and more smart. it seems they some times try even with legit comments and then once they detect the flaw in the comment system, they will post the spam comment
the important point is not only to cancel all type of spams and delete them but to also detect what is not spam, that’s when the real value of the plugin…
I was scanning something else regarding this on an additional weblog. Interesting. Your linear perspective on it is diametrically contradicted to what I read location. I’m still reflecting more the actual reverse points of look at, however I’m tipped an excellent extent toward your own own. And regardless, that’s what is therefore great regarding sophisticated democracy and the actual industry of ideas online.
…and that’s a spam comment. Just letting you know.
Very interesting publish..Iam very much appreciated through reading your..this post offers provided a info..Many thanks for the info provided..
Thanks for this, I am glad that people are to make great use out of this.
Thanks,
Joe
All site owners are aware of this unethical activities just to build links. I’m glad that WP owners can make use of something now in order to prevent site from all spammers.
I can understand WP users wanting to get rid of spam from their sites. I own a few blogs and I’m always seeing comments on it that are clearly cut and paste jobs that can apply to a thousand different topics instead of ones that contribute to the discussion. This plugin makes me sceptical but I’ll try it anyway.
Many bloggers are very thankful because there are available spam filter plugins that they can use to protect their blogs. That’s precisely the difference.
I feel like i even end up ignoring the real comments on my WP blog. I will give this a try – thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the tip!
we bloggers really suffered much from spam, and I I was informed by several friends who tried to leave comments on one of my blogs and could not, just figured they were being considered spam, because they commented a lot. But have no other way, or is this lock or your page will be full of useless comments.
Well, I use the WP-Spam Free, because I usually use CAPTCHAs
let’s see if a change is better.
Thank you.
Most WP users are after to the WP plugins. Specifically, they want the spam filter plugins that can help them manage their blog against spammers.
Based on my readings, the most useful WP plugin is the akismet. It prevents your site from spammers. However, for some it is not working 100% accurate because site owners still find useful comments thrown by akismet.
Akismet is one of the most effective plugins that can be used in WordPress. It’s the most important plugin which can actually control spam comments in blogs.
Where has this download been all my life.
It really has made reading much more pleasant. Thanks so much for posting this.
I guess my question would be how long will this be relevant before the spammers figure out a way around it. Are there going to be updates regarding this?
Thanks. WP has actually been very helpful for me. I can’t say that for everyone but I would recommend it.
Spam free site is attainable. As website owner, you must take into consideration to moderate your blog. In this way, you could easily detect which comment is quality or not.
quite good blog, very good perform, decent to go through.
Yeah this idea is really a dream, i dont think anyone could be able at any time to stop spamming, thats a thing like when you see on the street pleoples who give you flyers , same thing.
I am using this plugin on one of my blog and this is very good and helps protect against spam.
Good stuff.
I have been getting so much spam that I’m nearly to the point of giving up on WordPress! This plug in looks like it could be useful and I’m willing to see how it works for my sites. I have several sites related to my business and get spam posts for things that have nothing related to it and clearly are not generated by anybody reading the posts.