Simple Idea for Comment Spam
The reason weblogs get comment spam is because the comment has a URL attached to it, and that URL has an increased page rank as a result. The URL is very useful because it helps identify the commenter.
There have been two types of solution implemented to deal with comment spam; a moderation/registration system such as “Typekey”:http://www.typekey.com/, or using a redirect on the URL so that page rank isn’t affected.
Redirection, when “done incorrectly”:http://www.movabletype.org/news/2004_01.shtml#000882 takes away the usefulness of the URL, by disassociating the identify of the commenter. It also still allows a comment spam URL to appear and to be clicked on. Just because it goes through redirection, you still get to the spammer’s intended website. Redirection also breaks referral information (and stops the Tab Groups in Firefox working properly but that is a minor issue that only exists for me.)
Moderation/registration seems like overkill in this situation. The problem is the URL, not the comment. Why moderate the comment when all you have to do is moderate the URL?
The system goes like this: when a comment is posted, the text of the comment goes through and is posted to the website. The link is moderated. The moderator can allow the URL to appear at a later date. The system keeps a list of approved URLs and these appear on the weblog straight away. Blacklisted URLs are automatically deleted, and you can decide to delete the comments associated with blacklisted URLs.
The key point is that the comment itself isn’t held up whilst the weblog owner is moderating the comment, there is no registration to dissuade the idle commenter and no kittens are killed.
May 7th, 2004 at 17:31
I couldn’t agree more. Comment spam is a problem Google should help solve. More: http://www.powazek.com/2003/11/000273.html
May 9th, 2004 at 4:46
95% of the urls submitted to my site are ones that I want to let displayed. I would hate to have to approve all of them
May 10th, 2004 at 4:30
MT 3.0, Comment spam and miscellany
A lively spirited discussion (and one you should read) is ensuing over at Phil Ringnalda’s blog about fake blogger sites, comment & trackback spam, and MT 3.0. Also an intriguing, yet hard to implement idea: Moderating the URLs…
May 10th, 2004 at 15:22
How many unique URLS in that 95%? The way I see it is that you get sent an email (like MT-Blacklist) and click a link to approve that URL, but you approve the URL once only.
I imagine that most of the work would only be done at the very start. Plus, if you get a new URL in your comments, you go have a look, don’t you? I have a look, and sometimes its because I can’t tell whether the comment is spam or not. Visiting the URL can confirm this, you would have to do this sort of extra work anyway to keep your comments clean.
If you have a low comment spam ratio it may be a solution that doesn’t need applying. Same could then be said for a lot of the other solutions.
May 10th, 2004 at 15:38
Derek, yes, Bruce Schneier recently said (http://www.itconversations.com/shows/detail119.html ) that spam won’t be solved by technological means, but by economical one. In the world of comment spam, the economy is Google.
May 10th, 2004 at 18:17
That’s a solid way of doing it. Nice idea!
May 10th, 2004 at 18:23
Moderate the URL, not the Comment
Paul Freeman suggests moderating the URL, not the comment.
I think that he has a point; in a situation where you have something like my suggested comment_reg system—which again, before you get your panties in a wad, is about so much more than simp…
May 10th, 2004 at 22:57
I had a few similar thoughts a wee while back:
http://www.1976design.com/blog/archive/2003/11/16/spam/
July 2nd, 2004 at 18:11
Another Attempt To Reduce Comment Span
August 14th, 2004 at 9:20
why you do not encode the url base64_encode and decode with javascript in href ?. URL Spam is driven is Google. Unfortunately from this point of view G has modified in a wrong way the shape of the web.
August 14th, 2004 at 9:49
Ah, Marica, you don’t fool me. I don’t want to help you sell cameras thank you
August 25th, 2004 at 18:33
Another Attempt To Reduce Comment Span