Why is my blog getting so much spam?

Suddenly, two days ago, I started getting credit card, hotel, and pharmacy affiliates spamming my comments feature on my Wordpress-based blog. When I started the blog I didn't allow comments because I didn't want to deal with this kind of stuff and every yahoo with a soapbox. Then I activated them because someone told me it would be better for search engine rankings and for surfers. So I allowed moderated comments. Now, I'm getting 10-20 spam comments a day.

I suppose it's nice to be famous, but I don't have a lot of blog experience with this. Is there anything I can do about this except decline the comments?

I thought I read something about a spam plugin.

Thanks
Michael

That is why I have never allowed comments on any of my blogs. I've just started some porn blogs and same thing -- I won't be allowing it.

But as for the spam catcher plugins...I know a guy who's using Spam Karma 2 and he seems pretty pleased with it.

Oh yeah... as to the why of it -- probably because they've got a tool that allows them to post as soon as you publish a post.

I don't allow comment on mine either ...

I am using spam karma 2 on my blogs and it works a treat.. no need to worry about the comments slipping thru plus i have the comments ticked for moderating no matter what... which further insures these asswipes won't get through.

I think its a spyder type approach and they recognize the pings so its part of the price for having a popular blog. Spam Karma is simple to install with wordpress too, and I set the sucker to super nasty... screw the idiots.

funny thing is though that all the comments are coming through on blogs that I wrote over a month ago, none of the new ones are getting comments.

thanks for the heads up on the plugin.

cheers
michael

Thought I sent you over to pick up that sk2 final zip (spamkarma2) some time ago, along with the image code plugin so they have to enter it for a comment to be accepted? It stops the spam bots dead in their tracks.

ONLY 10-20 spam comments a day? You should be lucky. I was getting 100-150 a day for while. Just like email spam, it's a brute force attack where your comment submissions are the entry point, and you get automated spam broadcasts to any point they can enter (that's why they're showing up in random older blog entries.)

Moveable Type has these safeguards:

-There's a setting that requires webmaster approval before a comment gets posted. (Moderated) Sounds good, but every day you have to manually go through the list of new comments and decide which comment gets deleted.
-There is also a way to ban IP addresses. Sounds great, too, but each new spam is always from a different IP, and again, you have to got through it manually to choose which IPs to ban.
-Register each commenter by their email address before they are allowed to post. (Typekey) I've kept comments disabled on my blog for a long time, but I am going to try this method next. I, too, want to have the the soapbox available, but only if it's manageable.

I only know MT, and don't know if a feature similar to Typekey is available for your software, but keep an eye out for that kind of plugin.

Thanks to Bec who turned me on to Spam Karma 2 for wordpress, the combination of moderated comments and it, means I do nada to keep those assholes from infecting the blog... works like a treat and again, thanks Bec

Thanks Bec - installed Karma 2 myself. I love receiving comments on my blog but I turned it off a couple of days ago (150+ a day).

Problem solved.

Maybe you've already found a solution but here is my cheap two cents:
1. turn off all comments for now
2. check wordpress.org for info on stopping spamming
3. find a plugin to help you stop spamming
4. either stop allowing URLs or make all comments have to be approved before being published

the spammers are going after blogs because they are newer and easy, and because blogs are well designed for SEO - possibly boosting search engine traffic & PR ranks to the same sites

10-20?
One blog I have is now getting ~3500 spams a day

I use Akismet to keep the spam separated and I works wonders.

Another way to keep the spam is to use a CAPCHA system, but most bots know how to get around it.

Maybe stop pinging when making a new post would decrease spam, although I don't know if it would work.

I was sorting through hundreds a day up until it all got too much and I just had to turn them off, then they started spamming the trackbacks too! so off that went as well.
I'll be installing an anti-spam plugin as soon as I have some time to upgrade movable type, cos the comments are definately good to have. But I don't know how it can protect trackbacks from spam though.

tried freeblognetwork.com ?


i dont get any spam with well listed blogs.................or maybe im just lucky?