Compromises
I, like many of you, have been hit hard by comment spams. Hit so hard, that I’ve implemented a couple of new scripts to stop this crap. And yes, I’d thought about just stopping over this. I personally have little time to go through my blog and delete a couple of hundred comments, but I had to so this site wouldn’t become a drug/sex haven. htaccess has done miracles, but it’s never enough.
I mirror the anger and thoughts of D. Keith Robinson’s post on Comment Spams. Ever since I moved my entire blog over to Movable Type, I always kept my older posts open because of interesting comments and discoveries. I would never know if my cheap ass little unsupported QuickCam was ever supported under OS X, until a year after the initial post. If I closed the comments down, I would have never found this out.
So I had to make a compromise….probably one of the few in my life that I’m regretting. One of the scripts I’ve implemented effectively changes the nature of how I wanted to run *my* site. This little script closes comments after 7 days. I’m a huge believe in the quote/unquote “Open Lines of Communication” and now thanks to some unscrupulous ISPs and spammers, I’ve had to make a giant kink in that open line.
There are a couple of “helpers” I’m looking into. An authentication system for one, and hopefully Movable Type Pro will actually cross that line from vapor to actual product. I think that James Seng’s authentication plugin is the solution, but I’m still evaluating a couple different processes to have actual control over my site while still maintaining an open environment.
** UPDATE **
The fine folks at SixApart have posted their thoughts on the whole comment spam thing. Good post and good news.