I’ve grown so used to the awesome spam blocker that WordPress.com includes for free (it comes from Akismet, which is owned by Automattic, the same folks who do WordPress).
But tonight a TON of spam got through. So, I wonder if Akismet is down or if something got horked?
By the way, if Matt Mullenweg is reading this, can you let me see older comments on the comment page? I can only see the last few comments and when I get a spam storm like this it makes it very difficult to be sure that I deleted them all. Same on the spam page. Let me see hundreds, not just the last few.
If my comment is published, you can be sure it’s down because they blocked me for no reason!
But I know spammers attacked blogs in recent days with tons of spams and I got more than 500 spams in less than three days. I have three spam blocker modules installed + Akismet on CS.
I was getting 10-20 spam per day regularly but these new attacks are terrible
If my comment is published, you can be sure it’s down because they blocked me for no reason!
But I know spammers attacked blogs in recent days with tons of spams and I got more than 500 spams in less than three days. I have three spam blocker modules installed + Akismet on CS.
I was getting 10-20 spam per day regularly but these new attacks are terrible
I have got more spam in the last 5 hours than in all the time I have had my blog, so something is definitely going on with Akismet. What I want to know is how does Akismet work with hosted WordPress installs (as opposed to WordPress.com)
I have got more spam in the last 5 hours than in all the time I have had my blog, so something is definitely going on with Akismet. What I want to know is how does Akismet work with hosted WordPress installs (as opposed to WordPress.com)
Deepak: I’m not sure. I wonder if this is because the spammers got smart and are changing their methods? Either way, I just went through and cleaned up the mess. I’ve learned that this usually helps everyone out in the system (Akismet is a community, actually, and we help each other out by properly checking both our comments and our spam pages to make sure it’s doing its job correctly).
It’s WAY better than the blocking systems on other blog services, though. So, I’m VERY happy. It’s just very unusual when it doesn’t work well, so it’s worth talking about here.
Deepak: I’m not sure. I wonder if this is because the spammers got smart and are changing their methods? Either way, I just went through and cleaned up the mess. I’ve learned that this usually helps everyone out in the system (Akismet is a community, actually, and we help each other out by properly checking both our comments and our spam pages to make sure it’s doing its job correctly).
It’s WAY better than the blocking systems on other blog services, though. So, I’m VERY happy. It’s just very unusual when it doesn’t work well, so it’s worth talking about here.
Same problem here. I’ve received close to 200 spam comments already, starting a couple hours ago, and it’s driving me crazy. I just keep my comments window open and click refresh every minute. Good to hear I’m not the only one!
For now, I have set it so all comments are sent to moderation in the Discussion Options. It helps because at least offensive spam comments aren’t making way to my readers.
Same problem here. I’ve received close to 200 spam comments already, starting a couple hours ago, and it’s driving me crazy. I just keep my comments window open and click refresh every minute. Good to hear I’m not the only one!
For now, I have set it so all comments are sent to moderation in the Discussion Options. It helps because at least offensive spam comments aren’t making way to my readers.
Please collect a large markdown on your medicine
faithful classes, Premier quality.
collosal mixed bax, including strenuous to find drugs
No formula needed.
Secret with No waiting space or date vital
Obtain in mass and Save! whereas further
(joke-pasted my latest spam)
I had the same problem earlier today on a non wordpress.com hosted blog.
Please collect a large markdown on your medicine
faithful classes, Premier quality.
collosal mixed bax, including strenuous to find drugs
No formula needed.
Secret with No waiting space or date vital
Obtain in mass and Save! whereas further
(joke-pasted my latest spam)
I had the same problem earlier today on a non wordpress.com hosted blog.
same problem here, akismet is not dettecting spam, I think the akismet server with the spam database is down or something.
same problem here, akismet is not dettecting spam, I think the akismet server with the spam database is down or something.
Have the same problem. http://rest.askimet.com/ (the server Askimet checks for spam content) doesn’t seem to respond to requests, I guess it has to do with that.
Have the same problem. http://rest.askimet.com/ (the server Askimet checks for spam content) doesn’t seem to respond to requests, I guess it has to do with that.
hey, i was wondering the same thing as mr.scoble. i guess i’m getting better at blogging
hey, i was wondering the same thing as mr.scoble. i guess i’m getting better at blogging
Same for me, Akismet normally blocks spam but today it got through.
Same for me, Akismet normally blocks spam but today it got through.
Well hopefully it is a temporary glitch, since Akismet is the best blogging tool that no one talks about (cause it works so well)
Well hopefully it is a temporary glitch, since Akismet is the best blogging tool that no one talks about (cause it works so well)
I too got a ton of spam in the past few hours, though it was almost all trackback spam.
I too got a ton of spam in the past few hours, though it was almost all trackback spam.
Spam, shmam. I left a misconfigured proxy server open for a week and, while I’ve got it locked down denying everything except what its supposed to pass, the click fraudsters are sending it thousands of requests to proxy clicks through to various ad networks. I’ve added dynamic firewall measures to permanently lock out any ip that produces 5 404′s in 10 minutes, but its barely making a dent.
Its enough to make a person consider abandoning the internet.
Spam, shmam. I left a misconfigured proxy server open for a week and, while I’ve got it locked down denying everything except what its supposed to pass, the click fraudsters are sending it thousands of requests to proxy clicks through to various ad networks. I’ve added dynamic firewall measures to permanently lock out any ip that produces 5 404′s in 10 minutes, but its barely making a dent.
Its enough to make a person consider abandoning the internet.
Robert, I think it might be to do with a system upgrade to Akismet -
http://akismet.com/blog/2006/08/better-stats/
I’ve also had a blitz of spam comments waiting in the moderation queue today, the type of stuff that normally never ever makes it there but instead gets trapped by Akismet.
Hopefully just a temporary thing.
Robert, I think it might be to do with a system upgrade to Akismet -
http://akismet.com/blog/2006/08/better-stats/
I’ve also had a blitz of spam comments waiting in the moderation queue today, the type of stuff that normally never ever makes it there but instead gets trapped by Akismet.
Hopefully just a temporary thing.
Robert – same here on my WordPress powered blog. I usually get none but overnight over 30 spams got through. That’s a new record for me. I have very tight controls in place.
This just goes to show how effective Akismet usually is. It has, so far, stopped 22,981 spams for me but the most recent spam stopped was 11:22pm GMT – just over 10 hours ago.
And the spam is still coming through.
Robert – same here on my WordPress powered blog. I usually get none but overnight over 30 spams got through. That’s a new record for me. I have very tight controls in place.
This just goes to show how effective Akismet usually is. It has, so far, stopped 22,981 spams for me but the most recent spam stopped was 11:22pm GMT – just over 10 hours ago.
And the spam is still coming through.
Noticing the same thing here.
I guess the phrase is true: ya don’t know what ya got until it’s gone. Hopefully I’ll wake up in the morning to a functioning spam filter, and not 100 moderation emails.
Noticing the same thing here.
I guess the phrase is true: ya don’t know what ya got until it’s gone. Hopefully I’ll wake up in the morning to a functioning spam filter, and not 100 moderation emails.
I stopped it on my blog now.
I noticed most of the spam comments contained a term (bu***ke – not using the full term in case I fall foul of filters!).
If you add that term to WordPress -> Options -> Discussion -> Comment Blacklist and click update all comments containing that term are nuked. No notification, nothing, gone.
Use with care!!!
I stopped it on my blog now.
I noticed most of the spam comments contained a term (bu***ke – not using the full term in case I fall foul of filters!).
If you add that term to WordPress -> Options -> Discussion -> Comment Blacklist and click update all comments containing that term are nuked. No notification, nothing, gone.
Use with care!!!
Akismet seems to be back stopping spam again
Akismet seems to be back stopping spam again
[...] A lot of WordPress-powered blogs recently got a load of comment spam. Nasty. In fact, I had to do a bit of a clean up job (and so did many people using WordPress), all because the Akismet spam database appeared to be down. [...]
>>Akismet seems to be back stopping spam again
No Tom…The Akismet plugin is not working (500 spams on my blog since this morning
)
Something is bizarre. On their website, it seems that they have filtered a lot of spam today ! (645,791…)
2 solutions
1. Their counter is a fake
2. The problem is appearing only on WordPress Blogs.
>>Akismet seems to be back stopping spam again
No Tom…The Akismet plugin is not working (500 spams on my blog since this morning
)
Something is bizarre. On their website, it seems that they have filtered a lot of spam today ! (645,791…)
2 solutions
1. Their counter is a fake
2. The problem is appearing only on WordPress Blogs.
It’s good to hear that I’m not the only one having this spam issue this morning. The only thing I’ve been able to find out so far is what Neville mentioned above – Akismet had an upgrade last night. It’s hard to complain though as Akismet has been almost perfect for me to date. Hopefully this is just a temporary glitch, but it would be nice to hear from them what may have happened.
It’s good to hear that I’m not the only one having this spam issue this morning. The only thing I’ve been able to find out so far is what Neville mentioned above – Akismet had an upgrade last night. It’s hard to complain though as Akismet has been almost perfect for me to date. Hopefully this is just a temporary glitch, but it would be nice to hear from them what may have happened.
Yeah, it’s still down for me. Many spams overnight. Whew.
Yeah, it’s still down for me. Many spams overnight. Whew.
Yeah, it’s been crazy on my blog as well, I’m actually somewhat relieved that it’s not just me
Most of them are getting held for moderation, but I get an email alert for that so I got a tonne of email as well this morning. Boy, i hope they get this figured out soon.
Karl
Yeah, it’s been crazy on my blog as well, I’m actually somewhat relieved that it’s not just me
Most of them are getting held for moderation, but I get an email alert for that so I got a tonne of email as well this morning. Boy, i hope they get this figured out soon.
Karl
[...] Whew, the comment spam is still pouring in. I miss my Akismet! Someone wake Matt Mullenweg up! Heheh. I already emailed him. Interesting that this story isn’t on TechMeme or TailRank yet. [...]
[...] Robert Scoble, Scobleizer, Is Akismet down? [...]
I love Akismet as well. It’s been great.
Akismet is still catching some for me but I’ve had many get through this morning. I wondered as well if it had to do with the “fine tuning” noted on the Akismet blog.
I love Akismet as well. It’s been great.
Akismet is still catching some for me but I’ve had many get through this morning. I wondered as well if it had to do with the “fine tuning” noted on the Akismet blog.
Idyllopus: hmmm, I’ve had to manually delete more than 200 spams this morning so far. Yikes.