[Blog] How to reduce Blog Spam

[Lifeinitaly]

Every day I have 10s or spam posting on the Blog - The situation is so bad that if I do not find a solution I will remove the blog entirely -
I have Glowhost that works well as anti spam on the forum but I cannot find any setting to reduce forum spam -
Also the forum has an option to remove a post as spam and ban the spammer in one cation - I cannot find the same option on the blog

[Wayne Luke]

Your options in no particular order ----

Don't let guests post in your blog. Make them register and filter registrations with Spam-O-Matic. If they register and spam, then ban them.

Turn on Akismet or Typepad Anti-Spam under Settings -> Options -> Spam Management.

Moderate Guests and New Registrations to prevent spam from appearing. You'll have to approve these for them to appear.

Turn on Human Verification for Blog Comments from guests. May require an addon, haven't investigated.

Teach your blog authors how to moderate their own blogs.

[ZoDesigns.com]

I had to remove the blog... tons of spam and I have tried all the automated options with no luck. Do I really want to spend time deleted moderated spam? No.

[Zachery]

You could also consider only allowing users in good standing for X time and posts to be allowed to post to the blogs via usergroup promotions and permissions.

[ZoDesigns.com]

This may be a good TEMPORARY solution but we really need more spam protection with blogs.

[Zachery]

How is that only a temporary solution? No matter how much protection we add, there will always be ways around it. Having you manually combat it is always going to be the best solution. We've recomend making sure new users are more closely watched and have less permissions than exsisting users for years.

[ZoDesigns.com]

Well, by utilizing the spam protection offered now, I don't have a problem with spam within the forum. Why are blogs different?

[HMBeaty]

See my signature (Apparently, bots can't see what to type )

[Videx]

See my signature (Apparently, bots can't see what to type )

I voted for it, but these days the problem isn't bots. These are real people that somehow feel they can make money by registering at forums.

I too had this problem recently and the only way to prevent it is to make Registered Users a restricted group, and promote them to Members when they get some posts. At least if they post we can use the "delete posts as spam" option which isn't present anywhere but on a post (it should also be in profiles and blogs).

PS Watch out for Akismet. Enabling it will throw some posts into Moderation automatically. This wouldn't be a bad thing except vb still has no notifications of posts needing moderation.

[donald1234]

there is a mod on vb.org where you can set a minimum number of posts before members can post a link and since these spammers only want to post links, this is quite effective.

[Videx]

there is a mod on vb.org where you can set a minimum number of posts before members can post a link and since these spammers only want to post links, this is quite effective.

Incorrect. None of our spammers post links. Though their latest tactic is to put a link to their ICQ profile in their profile. And I think that mod you mention doesn't stop this.

[Captain_Gossip]

If no solution is found, I will also remove our blog. Especially the blogs have tons of spam. I expect vbulletin to solve this. vb.org has solutions for this, but I am not allowed to use them since I will have no support if I do so, correct?

[Videx]

If no solution is found, I will also remove our blog. Especially the blogs have tons of spam. I expect vbulletin to solve this. vb.org has solutions for this, but I am not allowed to use them since I will have no support if I do so, correct?

Incorrect on a few points. First, I already gave you a solution that doesn't involve modifications, so there's nothing for vb to solve. Next, I'm unaware of any mod that will solve this problem. Lastly, no you don't lose all support if you install mods, but the first thing you may be asked to do if there's a problem is to disable all your mods.

[donald1234]

Incorrect. None of our spammers post links. Though their latest tactic is to put a link to their ICQ profile in their profile. And I think that mod you mention doesn't stop this.

Links in user profiles can't really be counted as spam as they are not on public display like posts in the forums. There is however a potential problem as the spiders can search profiles (as guests) and if google finds a link to a dodgy (penalised) website, your site can be penalised too. I have enquired to find out if there is a way round this that's better than searching through everyones profile and there is no easy solution. Not sure if you can ban guests (and spiders) from searching profiles?

[Captain_Gossip]

Videx,

I am not sure how to do this: " the only way to prevent it is to make Registered Users a restricted group, and promote them to Members when they get some posts. At least if they post we can use the "delete posts as spam" option which isn't present anywhere but on a post (it should also be in profiles and blogs)."

Can you tell me step by step? That would be very much appreciated!

Thanks.