once again I think I fixed the regular vs spam comment issues.
Many regular, real, non-spam comments were getting junked because I put the raised the Junk Score Threshold too high. Amusingly, all my real comments were junked and still quite a lot of spam was getting published.
Today I installed the Comment Challenge plugin. It is similar to most CAPTCHA programs but instead of the swirly letters on loopy backgrounds, I set up a challenge/response scenario.
Currently, I am just asking you to type a specific word before you post your comment. if you type it correctly, your comment gets posted. If you type it incorrectly or do not type it at all (as in the case of the automatic spam) you get an error. The comment does not even get to the system unless the word is typed correctly.
I went with this instead of the crazy swirly word options because I’m one of those people who has a hell of a time deciphering those. Half the time I type stuff in incorrectly because I can’t tell if that’s a “7” or an “R” or if it is case-sensitive or what. since I figure I’m not all that terribly unique, others probably have that problem as well.
I had previously tried to use TypeKey authentication but none of you got a TypeKey account and that meant that I had to approve every damned comment anyway making more work. This way you are self-authenticating.
So, please test it out, see if it works.
Also, in updating the site with this I accidentally reverted to the default templates. Damn. I went to go see if the plugin was working and damned if you know it, my site was all grey and blue. Not awesome.
Well, my dinghos, it’s the weekend. There’ll be some dog park fun, perhaps some kite flying and maybe magic.