There have been many complaints lately about the spam filter eating comments here; this happens every single frickin’ time I upgrade WordPress. I have fiddled with the filter settings, which might help. I have to be careful; since the BABlog is the world’s best blog I get lots of attention from evil &%&^@$)@ spammers. If I don’t keep a tight rein on the filter, the comments get loaded with all sorts of nonsense.
Now, if you can’t comment, it’s rather hard for me to know because, duh, you can’t comment. But you can go to BAUT and post something there about it; I check there frequently. If you do, BE AS COMPLETE AS POSSIBLE in your description. Computer type, OS, browser, even what you tried to post: all this info helps. Just telling me you cannot comment doesn’t help me.
Also, and this is just a so’s you know: I don’t delete anyone’s comments here unless they are spam, or they are rude (insults, ad hominems, lots of bad words, etc). Accusing me of deleting your comments and insulting me in the process is, ironically, a good way to get your comments deleted. It is an irony of freedom of speech that people can comment here on how they think they are being censored.
Anyway, there you go. I’m trying to keep this all out in the open, and stay reasonably polite while doing so. I’ll continue to fiddle with the filter settings to optimize the interactivity here. It’s a valuable part of the BAblog.
August 11th, 2007 at 12:34 pm
Let’s see…does this go through?
If it does, I think it’ll be 2/2 since the revamp of the blog.
August 11th, 2007 at 12:35 pm
Yes! 3/3
August 11th, 2007 at 12:44 pm
The only time I’ve had trouble is at work, it keeps saying the IP address is blacklisted (I’m on a private network behind a firewall there, don’t remember the public address).
August 11th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
Have you tried using Akismet as your spam filter? I use it and works like a charm.
August 11th, 2007 at 12:51 pm
I use Akismet, Spam Karma 2, and Bad Behavior. If I stop using one, then I get zillions of spam, so all three together do the trick. But it’s hard to manage.
August 11th, 2007 at 1:17 pm
The provisions of freedom of speech in the Constitution only apply to government. You are free to delete all the comments until your heart’s content, although I’m glad you don’t.
Blog spam is brutal. Even in my remote corner of the net, I get blog spam.
August 11th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
I use Akismet and Bad Behavior, which do the trick. Adding Spam Karma 2 made things unstable in ways that I didn’t have time to explore.
August 11th, 2007 at 2:04 pm
Why not just use CAPTCHA?
August 11th, 2007 at 2:04 pm
Mainly this is a test comment, but on the topic… My blog is too small to attract much spam. I think I’ve had five total in the 2 or so years it’s been up. Certainly less than 10. The strangest was some weird dental thing.
August 11th, 2007 at 2:06 pm
CAPTCHAs stopped being useful in stopping spambots years ago. Nowadays, they just annoy legitimate users.
August 11th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
Phil,
Check out this post by a fellow blogger who pretty much stopped the spam problem by using a CAPTCHA, but with a twist. The CAPTCHA is generated to be easy to read, and it’s always the same word. Turns out, at least from his experience, that CAPTCHAs DO stop spam bots, unless they decide to target your forum specifically.
http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=1174
Just modifying the form so it’s not standard (different field names) helps, too, as suddenly every default “spam wordpress” script will fail.
August 11th, 2007 at 2:28 pm
Nothing to do with spam per se, but one issue with the interface to this blog which keeps confusing me are the “Next” and “Prev” links at the bottom. I keep forgetting which is “Older posts” and which is “Recent posts”, and so, as an example of Sod’s Law in action, almost invariably choose the correct one, but before clicking recall that I’ve gotten in backwards quite often in the past, and hence change my mind, clicking the other—wrong—one.
Can those uber-confusing labels be changed to clearly indicate the chronological order of the posts?
(And while we’re at it, is a PREVIEW possible?)
August 11th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
Revolving Squid is right. Freedom of speech applies to all but not everywhere, any time for any reason.
For example, if there’s a guy outside my home with a bullhorn and I have to leave my home to get away from him I think my rights trump his. And the law agrees – maybe not in a freedom of speech sort of way, but in a disturbing the peace way.
Anyway, Phil. This is YOUR freedom of speech site. My site is MY freedom of speech site. I can say anything I want and can delete any comments I don’t want. Others can exercise their freedom of speech on their own sites.
August 11th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
For my blogs, except for on LiveJournal and the ones that I hold written conversations with other people, I tend to filter all comments, and therefore nullify spam. Oh, except for the JuicyFruit fellow, since that did spark a decent blog post.
You could probably draw parallels between spam filters and SETI, since the software has to sort through much dross to find a gem, and might overlook something in the process. I think that’s an inevitable part of Life, the Universe, and the Internet / programming.
August 11th, 2007 at 3:32 pm
What the heck are you whining about?
You have ads all over the place on your site. Your site is 20% spam.
Did I ask to have some bloody flash ad for “Zwinkies” blast me when I went to your site? No. IT IS SPAM.
August 11th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
Please no captcha unless you really must. I sometimes have to try three and four times to get a comment to go through if captcha is used.
I get great results with Akismet, but my blog has a small audience.
August 11th, 2007 at 4:04 pm
I forget, “Half your site’s spam”… how much do you pay to read this blog again?
August 11th, 2007 at 5:27 pm
I’m sorry you get rude comments. I think you’re just wonderful. If there were a god, I’d thank him for you. When your book’s done, I’m going to buy it.
August 11th, 2007 at 5:28 pm
Just testing something:
http://www.test.com
August 11th, 2007 at 5:30 pm
Still testing:
http://www.test.com
http://www.test2.com
August 11th, 2007 at 5:35 pm
One more thing:
http://www.test.com
sfkjslka;fjls;kajl;ksjfl;s
sfklsdjflsakjfl;skjfl;sakj
afdslkjfl;ksjf;lskjfls;akjfds
afdlskajfl;skjflaskjfl;sdaf
http://www.test2.com
safjskajflksdajfklsajfls;ka
asfkjsdal;kfjsda;fj
asflkjd;lakfjasdkjfsa;l
asfkja;lskjfsd;lajkfsd;
http://www.test3.com
August 11th, 2007 at 5:41 pm
Weird, didn’t work.
August 11th, 2007 at 5:48 pm
[...] tying this thread back to a fresh BA Blog article: Eggs, bacon, sausage, and spam [...]
August 11th, 2007 at 5:53 pm
[...] floating ad, above the BA Blog content. I was trying to copy and paste some text from Eggs, bacon, sausage, and spam — in fact, the title as a label for that link — and part of the text was under the ad, and when I [...]
August 11th, 2007 at 5:59 pm
You forgot the chips.
August 11th, 2007 at 6:21 pm
CAPTCHA is the way to go. True, lots of them are useless against spambots, but good ones stopped spambots over at my spots.
It’s true it is annoying to users but come on, it’s 3 seconds.
August 11th, 2007 at 6:51 pm
Yes, I wrote my previous comment badly. Freedom of speech applies to everyone but the right exists to prevent the government from curtailing your expression of ideas etc.
Individuals, however, are free to curtail each others’ speech in private areas as much as they see fit.
August 11th, 2007 at 10:40 pm
You could have someone make an astronomy CAPTCHA. This would truly be unique and would render all the general CAPTCHA scripts useless. This would work provided that the spam that you receive is part of the internet background spam radiation and is not targeted.
CAPTCHA??
Name the 5th planet from the sun and one of its moons?
Or you could have photos and the person who wants to comment must name them.
August 11th, 2007 at 11:00 pm
ugh. i hate captcha. it’s constantly malfunctioning on me. dunno if it’s a firefox thing, er what.
that being said, and along the lines of personal responsibility and freedoms….
i used adblock. so there’s no ’spam’ on this site for me, “half your site’s spam”. i can take care of myself.
and don’t worry, i do see the humor in you whining about someone “whining”.
keep it up, phil!
August 11th, 2007 at 11:49 pm
This is done on my home desktop, using Firefox
On my Virgin Media Broadband
I always seem to get caught by the spam filters, whether at work, at home on broadband or on dial-up
August 11th, 2007 at 11:56 pm
[...] comments as spam In accordance with requests by Phill I just tried to post this [...]
August 12th, 2007 at 1:48 am
I’m not really great when it comes to computers – surely the most frustrating machine sever made by humans.
I find ads annoying here – and everywhere – & if I was dictator o’th’world I’df limit advertising to just two forms -point of sale &word of mouth!
However I guess I do kinda see tehnecessity for ‘em too .. albiet reluctantly.
Spammers OTOH are the lowest kind of diabolical excrement & I think they should be gicven outlaw staus – banned from everywhere, esp. using computers and people should have the right to hunt them down and beat the living daylights out of them. I’m not a violent person either ..really.
My one big request that I would like to make though, please Phil, Mr BA sir, please give posters here the ability to edit!
I keep seeing my thaipos and lackofspaces, poor grammer etc .. but all too late after I’ve posyed something! Please, pretty please with the ‘Endeavour’ space shuttle on top (hey, it might be passing overhead as I write!) allow us to edit what we’ve here!
BTW. This nit aside you’ve got a great blog &forum here -my personal all-time favourite one in fact. Seriously. Thanks.
August 12th, 2007 at 1:57 am
See the typos in the post above… (unintentional as well as ok a few deliberate errors.) … I rest my case (sigh)
Oh & incidentally when I wrote :
“I find ads annoying here – and everywhere – & if I was dictator o’th’world I’d f limit advertising to just two forms – point of sale & word of mouth!
However, I guess I do kinda see the necessity for ‘em too .. Albeit reluctantly.
Spammers, OTOH, are the lowest kind of diabolical excrement & I think they should be given outlaw staus – banned from everywhere, esp. using computers and people should have the right to hunt them down and beat the living daylights out of them. I’m not a violent person either ..really.”
Well I think there’s ajob where the US military & intelligence agencies could be put to good use – for the globe – tracking down the exasperating infuriating scum of the earth who post spam & in televiosed raids beating their heads in & breaking their fingers and generally turning them into bloody pulp. It’d act as a deterrent and really improve everyone’s lives far more than anything else.
Honestly, I’m really not usually this aggro (seriously) & generally oppose thesueof violece but, well some things people really shouldn’t have to put up with – & spammers top that list!
August 12th, 2007 at 6:46 am
Unfortunately spam is effective on a cost-benefit analysis, and will continue to exist as long as it continues to work. People actually buy stuff from spam, and that keeps all the spammers going.
Ditto for banner ads etc.
August 12th, 2007 at 6:57 am
The new math: 20%=1/2. Why are there no intelligent trolls?
August 12th, 2007 at 9:13 am
Oh, that is a great idea! It will also prevent most of the global warming deniers from commenting…
August 12th, 2007 at 10:55 am
This is a test with me blanking out the website field just above the box where we write the comments
August 12th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
There is at least a little justice in this world. Spammer gets 30 years in the slammer
That story makes me smile. There’s also an element of Darwinism in it. As in, if you’re stuck in a hole, stop digging!
August 12th, 2007 at 2:07 pm
It IS the world’s best blog! Too bad there are folks who want to desroy or maliciously tamper with something that is excellent information, well presented in terms a layman like me can understand, and a great source of humor, as well. Keep up the excellent work, Phil, and maybe the spam crowd will find somewhere else to go.
August 12th, 2007 at 2:21 pm
Well Stuart, now we know why they spam: he got $18 million pushing penis pills.
August 12th, 2007 at 2:25 pm
testing …
August 12th, 2007 at 6:00 pm
As a captcha use a link to GalaxyZoo, and the commenter has to correctly identify the displayed galaxy. This gets the spam bots trained to do something useful.
August 13th, 2007 at 12:38 am
testing 2 … The first test was accepted after it sent me a note that it was spam.
August 13th, 2007 at 12:40 am
testing 3 … The second test was also flagged as spam. This one is being sent without my website link.
August 13th, 2007 at 12:40 am
testing 4 … The third test was also flagged. This one is being sent without my website link and with an alternate email.
August 13th, 2007 at 12:42 am
Test 4 went through and my comment shows up as “awaiting moderation”. Test 5 is sent with the alternate email address and with my website added back in.
August 13th, 2007 at 12:44 am
Test 5 was flagged as well. The problem (for me) appears to be my website in the link and possibly my email address as well.
I’m running Firefox 2.0.0.6 on a Windows XP Pro laptop which is up to current rev on patches.
August 13th, 2007 at 7:32 am
# PKon 12 Aug 2007 at 9:13 am
CAPTCHA??
Name the 5th planet from the sun and one of its moons?
Now is that before, or after Ceres got promoted?
August 13th, 2007 at 10:42 am
I remember some site that had a similar approach to CAPTCHA that did something like “type the word ‘hi’ in the box below”, and apparently that eliminated a decent portion of the humans too.
I have an idea for the blind people though: use image tags on the CAPTCHA image to ask a question, and allow the user to submit either answer. Then ask fairly easy questions like “What office does President Bush hold?” or “What planet does the Moon orbit?” I’d think anyone smart enough to be blind and still surf the internet could answer the question, but computers would have a hard time answering them.
August 13th, 2007 at 2:02 pm
Wow. To be fair, that guy’s list of crimes far exceeds just the spam kingpin. Apparently there are drug charges and threats to kill the children of a witness against him.
Still, I seem to recall from a few years ago some prominent person (a judge?) declaring in the media, “What we need is a few public hangings [of spammers]“.
August 13th, 2007 at 11:05 pm
This is my test as of 14 August 2007.
I have even blanked out the field with my website in it.
August 14th, 2007 at 5:32 am
This is a test of the JanieBelle emergency commenting system.
If this had been an actual comment, you’d be hot and bothered right now.
August 14th, 2007 at 5:46 am
Left this at the BAUT forum, but I’ll leave it here too, since my comments seem to be getting through after approval now:
August 15th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
[...] for questions to Phil. You might try the Bad Astronomy Stories section for that because, as Phil said in his blog a couple days ago: [...]
August 21st, 2007 at 7:32 am
Phil
My comments are marked as “spam” wherever I post them from (work, library, home) so I don’t think it’s a matter of IP addresses.
I am using IE6. I have tried with a dummy name, e-mail and URL but nothing changed.
So for the time being I “only” have to wait for you to let my comments through. A bit of a pain for us both.
Is there a way you can whitelist “me”?
You have my private e-mail address, from the comments and from our exchange about National Geographic some time ago