As anyone who runs a blog will tell you, comment spam is one of the greatest problems in the blogosphere. You can install plug-ins to catch spam, but you still have to check the spam trap to ensure that there are no false positives.
However, just deleting spam comments isn’t going to resolve the problem. The people behind these spam bots need to be severely inconvenienced. They will never be fully stopped, but you can put a dent in their operations.
If like me, your spam catcher displays the IP address and domain name of the site where the spam originates, then take the time to report it to the relevant abuse desks. Using a tool such as DNS Stuff, you can find out who owns, or registered, a domain name. Use the abuse email address to send an email with a copy of the offending comment to the administrator of the site.
If you get no satisfaction from the site administrator, then contact the register of the domain name to report the spam abuse. If you still have no joy, look up the originating IP address, and email the ISP that it belongs to.
In short, report the spam to everybody involved in the provision of services to that website. If you still have no luck, submit the site details to a spam blacklist service such as SpamHaus. Google also has a pretty good list.
I will admit that it takes time to report spam in this manner. But if the time is taken by enough people, then maybe enough spam bots will be put out of business that everybody will be able to devote more time to reading relevant comments, rather than deleting spam.
Tags: Blog, Internet, Technology