How To Prevent Comment Spam
ADVERTISEMENTSYou might have noticed that you get most of your comment spam on older posts, this is because spammers target older posts as they are indexed by search engines. So it might be a good idea to automatically disable comments on older posts (posts that are 21 or more days old). This tip will be useful to you currently as Akismet is down.
For WordPress users, there is a plugin called Auto-Close Comments that will automatically disable comments after 21 days.
I just installed the plugin and I haven’t got any spam ever since even though Akismet is down 
To install the plugin, go here and simply copy the plugin code provided there and paste it to your favorite text editor and save the file as autoshutoff.php. Now upload the file to your plugins folder and activate the plugin.
Upon activation the plugin will disable comments on posts that are 21 days old. If you want to increase or decrease the number of days from 21, find this line on the plugin code:
$age = '21 DAY';
and edit it to a number you like. That’s it!
By enabling this plugin, I believe you can prevent most comment spam. If you want to auto close ping-backs too, change
SET comment_status = 'closed'
WHERE comment_status = 'open'
TO
SET comment_status = 'closed', ping_status = 'closed'
WHERE (comment_status = 'open' OR ping_status = 'open')
Yes, I know many of you are against disabling comments, but this is one of the best ways to prevent comment spam especially if your trusted Akismet is down!
Have a happy spamless day
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Posted on December 8th, 2006 | Category: Tutorials, WordPress, WordPress Plugins |
Infektia.net
December 8, 2006 at 10:19 pm
So this works automatically for older posts as well? And not new posts you posted since you installed the plugin?
Wait. Now Im being stupid. The answer is right there… Sorry
Thanks for the tip though!
eches
December 8, 2006 at 11:23 pm
erm..Why not using Spam Karma 2? I’ve been using it since the first day of my blog up and running and it seems to do a good job.
Utah SEO Blog
December 9, 2006 at 1:04 am
I long ago installed Spam Karma 2 and I have *never* had spam comments come thru. It stop them & I can later go in and delete them but I’ve never had trouble with it catching false-positives.
Spam Karma 2 plus the Math Spam filter and you should be set!
listikal
December 13, 2006 at 8:40 am
I know it’s not down now, correct? I’m actually finding it’s blocking many many more now.
JohnTP
December 13, 2006 at 9:10 am
listikal- I am not sure of the current status of Akismet as I disabled comments on older posts.
Quix0r
December 17, 2006 at 10:35 pm
I use a battery of plug-ins here: SK2, BB2, Akismet, my own CPR and Comments Authorization (Skippy’s version). No spam comment get through…