Comment and spam problems Posted on July 27, 2004 The comments are back. I must thank Jag, who noticed there was an extra ‘e’ that had got blacklisted in line 602! That was what was causing problems with leaving comments on the blog. Though I am sorely tempted to remove the comments box, I feel it’s an integral part of the blog and am not really keen to take that extreme step yet. The comments spam seems to be snowballing everyday. Jay Allen’s list is great and he updates it almost everyday. But it’s really becoming quite a pain updating the list and de-spamming the blog everyday. (UPDATE: Madhu’s been working hard to make my blog spam free and I’m hoping that whatever he’s done to it, works! Thanks Madhu, I do owe you a dinner now 🙂 Share this: Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit Share on X (Opens in new window) X Share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr Print (Opens in new window) Print Blogs
A makeover! Posted on January 26, 2007January 26, 2007 After receiving quite a few comments and suggestions, have finally managed to give the blog template a fresh new look – thanks a bunch to the Cyberscorpion! It’s been much overdue. A few odds and ends might need to be tied up over the next few days. In case you… Share this: Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit Share on X (Opens in new window) X Share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr Print (Opens in new window) Print Read More
Blog on TV Posted on September 10, 2003 The blog story on NDTV was carried on Monday, September 8. Thrice. And I missed it all three times! The first time I was in the train, the second I was in a shop and I had dozed off by the time they aired it for the third time. The… Share this: Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit Share on X (Opens in new window) X Share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr Print (Opens in new window) Print Read More
Work in progress Posted on May 18, 2003 Where do I start? What do I do? These are questions that come to my mind as I now set off exploring my new blog. I have no clue what I am going to do next. And besides the fact that I might land up hopelessly wrecking this whole thing… Share this: Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit Share on X (Opens in new window) X Share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr Print (Opens in new window) Print Read More
I guess it’s time to move on from Movabletype to WordPress (my take of-course). There’s a plugin available for WordPress where it shuts-off comments after a specified number of days that the author chooses. There are other goodies like password protect certain posts (or even the entire blog); get users to register for commenting (unlike Typepad which is a centralized service)and receive future comments on a given post by email. This list goes on and on. Reply
Comment spam is a headache, I agree. It was never an issue with blogger, but its one hell of a problem when people move to MT, Typepad, etc. I second Chetan’s opinion about WordPress. It has a handy plugin for blocking blacklisted commenters. Well, the blacklist itself is taken from Jay Allen’s list, but what makes WordPress better is the intuitive plugin interface it uses. Makes it easy to use. To digress… I’m moving my blog from blogger to WordPress. So I shall soon contact you to modify my blog info on the indianbloggers list! 🙂 Reply
hey there! interesting blog. nice colors, great pic. very pretty actually. and hehe… even more interesting posts. too bad ur in Bangalore, or i could have offered to teach u some French (the lec u missed). Welcome to my Blogroll! Reply
I installed this on my movable type blog and the comment spam dried up instantly: http://www.johnwehr.com/spamwait It might be worth having a look at. Reply
I find it a bit funny how so many wordpress users are so quick to tell people that the best thing for them to do is to move away from MT and to WP. Funny that… “There’s a plugin available for WordPress where it shuts-off comments after a specified number of days that the author chooses.” Yes, it’s called WP-Blacklist. Wonder where they came up with that. Anyhow, the next version of MT-Blacklist does this and far far more. Of course, I’m sure that WP-Blacklist will add the new functionality as well (I encourage it even). Hold on for a bit and you’ll see what I’m talking about… Reply
Mr Allen, I commend your work and also an admirer of the blacklist. I know that your plugin is available for both platforms-that makes it even playfield. What you’re probably not aware of is this (and not the WP-Blacklist). If you think this is your implementation, then I rest my case. Also, I’m talking about existing MT users (that use 2.6x version; not what 6A is producing now as a paid version). To add spice to the discussion, I heard no comments about the built-in Mass edit functions in WP. Is that your derivative too? Reply
Testing new industrial strength comment spam protection measure. If this gets posted, the install was successful! Reply
This blog has now been protected against automated spambots. Anyone wanting to comment-spam here will have to do it manually, which few will. – Your friendly neighbourhood MadMan Reply
I have decided to make a directory of bloggers from Kolkata. Can u help? I have a site at http://www.sdey.org Reply
For others who are interested, I’ve written a short list of options available to you to prevent comment spam. It’s on my blog. Check it out. Reply
Chetan, I’m not exactly sure what you’re getting at. WP-Blacklist has from the very beginning been touted as a derivative of (and relied upon) MT-Blacklist. The next version due out extremely soon does what I consider to be a large step better than auto-closing comments: It auto-moderates comments on old entries (duration is configurable). This leaves your entire archive of content open for comments like the day you posted it, but stops the spam cold. For the record, MTCloseComments has been around longer than (or at least almost as long as) MT-Blacklist. It’s not exactly a new or WordPress-only feature. Anyway, the funny thing here is that Matt M. is a friend and I respect both his work and the work of the WordPress community. It’s a shame that some in that community feel the need to bash MT through factually erroneous and misleading comparisons instead of all realizing what a small boat we are sailing in in the blogging world. I have nothing bad to say about WP, but I know what MT 3.1 and MTB 2.0 will do and your disseminating dated information. Reply
Jay: What I’m getting at is better expressed by Matt M. himself. Anita: I’m sorry to be commenting here again for clarification. What started as a personal opinion has snow-balled to this. My apologies. It was not my intention to offend anyone here. All I meant was that people can try for themselves the alternatives to see the results for themselves. Nobody’s stopping anyone to use what they like as long as they’re happy with what they’re using. I also stand by what I said earlier: WordPress by it’s inherent ability has been better at stopping spam (without using WP-Blacklist, in the first place). Anyone disagreeing with me are free to try for themselves and see the results. Reply