I’ve been cleaning up infestations of comment spam, and I’ve started simply closing comments on the infected threads as the simplest prophylactic. I regret this, because I do like seeing fresh comments pop up on old posts, but such is life. However, should you wish to post a comment on a closed thread, you can simply put it on the latest one with a note saying “intended for such-and-such post” and I’ll be glad to transfer it there. (Insert scathing comment about spammers here; I’m too tired to think of a good one. I’m off to bed.)
I suggest you check out the MT-blacklist http://www.jayallen.org/projects/mt-blacklist/
and the auto-updater http://www.jayallen.org/comment_spam/2003/12/mtblacklist_updater_10
It works wonders for me and many other MT users… Hope this helps you.
I have pretty much come to the same conclusion and have been closing down the commentary on the older posts, while weeding out the spam. Yeesh. Note: I have been using the MT-blacklist plugin for a while now, too.
Yes, I should have mentioned that I’ve been using the MT blacklist for ages. It’s great, but spammers keep finding unbanned URLs to use.
You guys sound like you need some Vicodin and Viagra. I have the lowest prices! Order now!
But will I get a substantial portion of the estate of the late SANI ABACHA? ‘Cause otherwise it’s not worth it.
If you upgrade to MT 3.0 then you can either (a) set all comments to require your approval before appearing, or (b) require users to use the TypeKey service to post comments which should make it harder for robots to post. Also, MT 3.0 redirects all comment links, so posting URLs to comments won’t affect anyone’s Google ranking, thus making it much less desirable to SPAM blogs.
MT 3.0 isn’t fully cooked yet, LH. Still a ‘developer’s release’ – I’d hold off if I were you. This tool makes closing old threads a breeze, though. I use and recommend it.
http://www.rayners.org/2003/12/27/closing_comments_on_old_entries.php
Yeah, I’m not thrilled by what I’ve heard of MT3, and I’m stickin’ with what I’ve got for the time being. Thanks for the rayners link, stav!
I make a habit every time I get a spam comment of importing the master list when I despam using blacklist (if that round a bout sentence makes sense). The masterlist always enables me to add a lot more URLs to my list – even if it has only been a short time since my previous update.
You might want to try forcing preview before posting (as Making Light and Electrolite do), and also consider renaming your archives directory, but I’m not sure about the repercussions of that.
Either way, you have my sympathy.
MT 2.661 has the same feature to make posting URLs mostly useless, at least in terms of PageRank. But spammers still keep spamming my site, at least. I don’t think it’s having much effect.