NOTE: There is no Catpcha here now because the new GASP Anti-Spam WordPress plugin has been released and is available in the WordPress Plugin Repository.
THIS is the ALTERNATIVE TO AKISMET that provides the SOLUTION to being Flagged as a Spammer! Spread it throughout the blogosphere and your comments will work again.
Are my regular readers know we sincerely want to make sure every commentator has their say while keeping spam to a manageable level. Since we disabled Akismet in this blog, comment spam primarily from bots has increased to 600+ on some days.
We are testing alternative ways to keep the spam out while making sure our readers comments are all getting through. We need your feedback on whether the SI Captcha Anti-spam plugin currently installed in this blog is reducing comments or preventing real commentators from commenting.
It only takes a minute to check one box to complete our poll so we will know how you feel and can share this input with other bloggers.
Please leave a comment first to make sure you can still comment here.
If you have any additional feedback comment in this post or use the contact information to let us know. We DO want to hear from you.
{ 61 comments… read them below or add one }
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Twitter: matthewacoleman
July 6, 2011 at 2:36 am
captchas are great…and id rather used it than what the crappy Akismet was doing..it’s a good plugin
wny glass block windows would love you to read ..Glass Block Window Showers
Twitter: n/a
July 5, 2011 at 6:01 am
I have always wondered how effective the CAPTCHA is…this now sheds light to me on it’s uses
It seems there were only few voters. But I don’t think a captcha will be a hindrance for us readers, as long as our comments will be published. We would understand why you do it if you say 600+ spam attacks is the thing you are dealing with.
Twitter: rfamat
April 20, 2011 at 1:49 am
With GASP, captcha is not needed anymore. It effectively blocks spam comments.
Askismet is working quite well on my blogs. No issue so far.
Twitter: GrowMap
April 7, 2011 at 3:21 pm
How do you know? It does block spam – yes. But you have no way of knowing how many potential buyers had the door slammed in their face and left forever. I do not use Akismet on any site because buyers are too hard to come by to treat them that way.
There is a MUCH better way to manage spam that takes far less time. See the tab for G.A.S.P. at the top of my blog for details.
growmap would love you to read ..Cornell University Yahoo! Research Twittersphere Study- Who Tweets What to Whom on Twitter
There are so many things need to learn for wordprees.
Thanks for shearing it
Chicago spas would love you to read ..Save 50-100 off an 8” round or sheet cake 40 value at TipsyCake
Twitter: WebMAOhist
December 1, 2010 at 9:59 pm
check this out https://www.keycaptcha.com/ i think you gonna like captcha again
Twitter: apartrental.com
August 27, 2010 at 10:43 pm
Nice post, This is one of the more readable and brief captchas, it will probably be more user friendly if it was seen from the comment box. I have not had any problems yet with this captcha, but I wonder if there will be danger of losing before you post comments and enter the code seen captcha.I hope this works for you and that your test is can bring some light into whether in fact this is a good choice. I would be very interested to know how it turns up. I appreciate the information you share with us. please continue this good work to give our readers more information, thank you all.
Twitter: websitewiz
August 20, 2010 at 6:57 pm
Since relying solely on this plugin, I occasionally get spam comments reported by email. When I visit the blog, I find that this plugin is deactivated, although it has been active. I keep my plugins updated with WPManagerDX, and it’s possible that’s the problem, but I doubt it. The plugin’s developer doesn’t know of any problem, but I’m wondering if hackers have learned to deactivate this without logging into wp-admin.
I’d be interested to know if anyone else has seen this kind of behavior.
.-= Lane Lester@website design´s featured blog ..Website Promotion =-.
I checked this plug-in had issues with wordpress cache plug-ins like WP Super Cache. Any ideas if they’ve fixed that?Thanks for sharing this blog with us.
Twitter: perfact01
August 11, 2010 at 4:51 am
I also heard about this problem with Akismet and I think a lot of blogs are going to move away from it soon because of how it blocks IP addresses.
I hate captcha codes sometimes i can’t read it even after refreshing, some of them are stupid to write in grey on a black background, how can we read it! And also, sometimes it said we type the wrong code even when it is right! To prevent from spammers, i recommand you using another type of plugin instead of this captcha.
Twitter: jronaldlee
August 5, 2010 at 7:04 am
I’m not seeing any kind of anti-spam captcha, either… ???
.-= James´s featured blog ..Water Tower- Sunset =-.
Twitter: GrowMap
December 1, 2010 at 3:47 pm
Hi James,
Sorry. I removed it because I immediately got complaints from regular commentators that they couldn’t comment.
growmap would love you to read ..How to Build a Successful Blog Based Business
Twitter: TeleGlass
August 4, 2010 at 11:19 am
Umm… was going to leave this comment so I could try the captcha, but there’s nothing here. Just a submit button, and no verification / anti-spam that I can see.
.-= Gomez @ autoglass repair´s featured blog ..PSA- Seventeen’s Two Seconds campaign =-.
Twitter: GrowMap
August 16, 2010 at 2:02 am
Hi Gomez,
I turned it off but have now turned it back on (I hope) because I ended up with 2500+ spam comments in a matter of days.
.-= growmap´s featured blog ..WordPress WhiteList BlackList Plugin Wanted =-.
Twitter: lambdakennels1
August 3, 2010 at 4:58 pm
I was consistently unable to comment on any post with the captcha thing. It said I mistyped it and to hit my back browser button, but then I had to start all over again. I was locked in a loop of not being able to comment. Urgh.
.-= stephaniesuesansmith´s featured blog ..Understanding the USDA Plant Zone Map =-.
Twitter: GrowMap
August 16, 2010 at 2:05 am
If that ever happens again on either a captcha or math plugin you probably need to clear your cookies. That is usually the cause.
.-= growmap´s featured blog ..WordPress WhiteList BlackList Plugin Wanted =-.
Twitter: websitewiz
August 3, 2010 at 1:04 pm
I just commented at a blog with no spam control, and it was really a mess. Since adding the captcha you use here, plus a long blacklist (I wish I remembered who I got that from), I’ve had very little trouble with spam.
.-= Lane Lester´s featured blog ..Re-Discover “The Magic of Sallie Ellington Middleton Art” =-.
Twitter: GrowMap
August 3, 2010 at 1:36 pm
We all have to remember there is more to spam than blocking it and that is NOT blocking real comments. Blacklists can block a lot of valid comments because any word in the blacklist that appears in a valid comment sends it to spam too.
I hope everyone who uses blacklists remembers that if a word on the list is part of other words THEY will be blocked too. If you block ass for example that also blocks any comment with assume, assumption, brass or any other word with those three letters in that order in it.
Many blacklists include words like marketing, selling, networking, and business so any comment that uses any of those words will be blocked. We discuss those subjects in this blog and most real people will not realize they are blocked words and their comments won’t get through.
I know that most bloggers are willing to trade lost real comments for less spam but when the shoe is on the other foot – when a blogger ends up on the censored list and their comments can not get through – they may decide that not losing the ability to comment is worth the trouble of dealing with more spam.
P.S. Even if you are really famous in your niche it is better to use what you do for your keywords instead of just your name in a KeywordLuv-enabled blog. For example, instead of Lane Lester you could link any of these or other phrases you prefer:
Lane Lester @ Custom Framing
Lane Lester @ Original Art Prints
That is explained further in the post I’ll put in CommentLuv.
.-= growmap´s featured blog ..DoFollow CommentLuv KeywordLuv Community =-.
Twitter: websitewiz
August 3, 2010 at 1:57 pm
Arrgh! I just got bit by the disappearing comment! But yes, I know about KeywordLuv; I just saw the CommentLuv and decided to promote a site I just installed, but forgot about the extra luv. Thanks for the reminder.
I checked my blacklist, and it was OK except I decided to delete the IPs and see how it goes.
There’s a new kind of spammer that collects some of the stuff from your post, making the comment look almost legitimate.
.-= Lane Lester@Website Installed´s featured blog ..Where Good Food Meets Great Prices- and Everybody Knows Your Name- It’s on the Square in Downtown Clarkesville- It’s Natalie Jane’s =-.
Twitter: gobankingrates
August 3, 2010 at 12:02 pm
This Captcha is surprisingly easy to read. Usually I have to try three or four times before getting it right.
I also heard about this problem with Akismet and I think a lot of blogs are going to move away from it soon because of how it blocks IP addresses.
I also like Wedding DJs suggestion. Giving a certain number of comments before allowing a dofollow tag encourages commenting and discourages spammers.
.-= Laura Davis@Auto Loan Rates´s featured blog ..Wall Street Reform is Finally Here- But Why Should We Care =-.
Twitter: GrowMap
August 3, 2010 at 1:27 pm
Welcome Laura,
I have it set to medium difficulty because higher was hard for some to read. There are so many problems with blocking IP addresses because most are dynamically assigned by ISPs so you get a different one every time you log on.
Smart spammers don’t use the same IP address every time and are probably putting in random IP addresses with some tool and getting all kinds of people blocked.
Another problem with Akismet is that some bloggers have a very broad definition of spam so many active commentators who don’t even sell anything have been flagged as spammers incorrectly.
I don’t like those plugins that count the number of comments before going dofollow. Spammers are more likely to know how those work so they just leave more comments and other bloggers don’t so they think your blog is nofollow. I prefer to be 100% dofollow.
One other problem with both those plugins and Top Commentator plugins is that they use what you put in the name field so if you use different name and keyword combinations in KeywordLuv-enabled blogs the counts are never accurate.
You don’t have to leave 3-10 comments TOTAL – you have to leave 3-10 comments per name combination to get them to all be dofollow.
If anyone reading this wants to know more about KeywordLuv and how it works read the post I’ll feature in CommentLuv.
.-= growmap´s featured blog ..DoFollow CommentLuv KeywordLuv Community =-.
On my blog i use Akismet, but im really thinking on getting rid of it. Akismet is great at catching spam but does it has a bad habit of catching real comments too. I might just use captcha instead.
Twitter: udegbunamchuks
August 3, 2010 at 3:05 pm
The use of Captcha without Akismet is an option, I’ve never really investigated. I’ll probably find a captcha plug-in that works with W3 Total Cache then test run it for 1 week without Akismet turned on
.-= Udegbunam Chukwudi@Blog Setup Service´s featured blog ..Top 7 Ways Of Getting Your Comments Approved Online =-.
Twitter: udegbunamchuks
August 2, 2010 at 5:58 pm
he last time I checked this plug-in had issues with wordpress cache plug-ins like WP Super Cache. Any ideas if they’ve fixed that?
.-= Udegbunam Chukwudi@Make Money Online´s featured blog ..Sht Can Happen With Reseller Web Hosting Take Note! =-.
Twitter: GrowMap
August 3, 2010 at 1:20 pm
I believe it has known issues with some cache plug-ins but appears to be working ok with the Hyper Cache plugin we are currently using.
.-= growmap´s featured blog ..Get Your Favorite Internet Entrepreneur Off To A Good Start =-.
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