Flapper's Folly

Last week I wrote here about blog comment spam. Over the weekend the problem has burgeoned. Every time I sat down to quickly check email, I found new comments left here. Not the simple "Boris Rules!" of last week, these from Lolita and others all opened window after window of porn when clicked.

There is no simple way to delete numerous comment entries in MovableType . Each one must be deleted individually and the site must then be rebuilt. It's boring, it's burdensome, and it makes me mad. I can choose to accept no comments at all, but I don't want to do that. I shouldn't have to do that!

I don't know if this is primarily a MovableType problem or not. Whether it is or not, it's a sure thing that soon it will show up on all blogs. Hopefully, something called MT-Blacklist will help with this problem, at least for MT users. Created by Jay Allen, MT-Blacklist is like a plugin for MT, allowing one to block specific spammer IPs, many already loaded from lists of known offenders.

MT-Blacklist is supposed to be ready to roll today and I will be glad to have it, but ultimately something is needed that can differentiate a spamming bot from an actual human wishing to leave a comment.

In the meantime, I'll try to keep up with carrying out the garbage.