Spam Issues (or why Akismet isn’t proving worth the money)
We pay for an Enterprise license of Akismet. That means, we get an Akismet key and support from Automattic for our 150+ blogs.
Mostly, Akismet has been killer. I don’t deny that at all. However, over the past 24 hours the entire b5media network has been getting inundated with spam at the rate of 6-8 comments per minute on some blogs. Duncan Riley submitted a support ticket last night (about 24 hours ago) and I submitted a follow-up this morning.
To this moment, we have seen no resolution nor (and probably more irritating) have we recieved any acknowledgement of a problem or the fact that we have two service requests in.
I’ve installed a spam plugin and set it to aggressive right now. That is only here on Technosailor. That means, there will probably be lost comments. If that happens, drop me an email and I’ll go fish it up. My email address is in the sidebar.
I can understand technical issue, new spam approaches that need to be learned by Akismet. Like I said, it’s been very good – even when there have been outages in the past. These things cannot be controlled. Customer communication can (and needs to be) controlled. I’m not overly impressed right now. I’m downright pissed off.
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Written by Aaron Brazell on November 2, 2006
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Aaron Brazell
Steven Fisher
Ray Capece
Carlos Granier-Phelps
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Duncan Riley
Carol Ott
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Mike Oliver
Rico Masterson
Lou P. Nuts
Please email me – check your incoming mail?
Please email me – check your incoming mail?
I have no email from you, Mark.
I have no email from you, Mark.
Last week, I’ve been spam attacked. Almost 1200 spam comments in about 2-3 hours… that jammed the comments table in my mysql database, but didn’t shut down the blog, fortunatly.
I use Akismet with Bad Behaviour, but I’ve also noticed an increase in spam that go through the filters.
Last week, I’ve been spam attacked. Almost 1200 spam comments in about 2-3 hours… that jammed the comments table in my mysql database, but didn’t shut down the blog, fortunatly.
I use Akismet with Bad Behaviour, but I’ve also noticed an increase in spam that go through the filters.
Well that explains the major delay in waiting for the “comment” window to appear.
Akismet is great! But, the spammers are changing their tactics in how they send spam and it’s causing problems across the board.
Well that explains the major delay in waiting for the “comment” window to appear.
Akismet is great! But, the spammers are changing their tactics in how they send spam and it’s causing problems across the board.
Did this start on the 25th, by chance?
Did this start on the 25th, by chance?
Have you tried Spam Karma 2?
What all are you using to prevent spam on the blog?
Have you tried Spam Karma 2?
What all are you using to prevent spam on the blog?
The spammers are definitely getting out of hand. If it weren’t for Bad Behavior filtering out most of them off the top, I wouldn’t be able to deal with the 2 or 3 percent that Akismet catches.
The spammers are definitely getting out of hand. If it weren’t for Bad Behavior filtering out most of them off the top, I wouldn’t be able to deal with the 2 or 3 percent that Akismet catches.
I tend to use a combination of Akismet and SpamKarma 2 to combat my spam on the blog. Since then, I have only seen the occasional trackback spam make it through.
I tend to use a combination of Akismet and SpamKarma 2 to combat my spam on the blog. Since then, I have only seen the occasional trackback spam make it through.
This is a picture-perfect example of why customer service is absolutely crucial. You understand that sometimes things go wrong, and issues can take some time to resolve. A simple email “hey we’re working on it, should be fixed soon!” would’ve likely smoothed things over until the problem was resolved. The lack of any answer at all is inexcusable.
This is a picture-perfect example of why customer service is absolutely crucial. You understand that sometimes things go wrong, and issues can take some time to resolve. A simple email “hey we’re working on it, should be fixed soon!” would’ve likely smoothed things over until the problem was resolved. The lack of any answer at all is inexcusable.
Matt: I responded to this by email but it may have started around then. To be honest, I don’t really know. But It got insane Wed night, Nov 1.
Ajay: Yeah using SK2 right now. Unfortunately that doesn’t take care of the rest of the network. Just me. It’s working so well that I have to go find out if we’re still under spam attack.
Michael: BB2 failed miserably for me. Even in strict mode. It was the first thing I tried and within 10 minutes, 30 more spams came in.
Leroy: That’s all I’m asking. :)
Matt: I responded to this by email but it may have started around then. To be honest, I don’t really know. But It got insane Wed night, Nov 1.
Ajay: Yeah using SK2 right now. Unfortunately that doesn’t take care of the rest of the network. Just me. It’s working so well that I have to go find out if we’re still under spam attack.
Michael: BB2 failed miserably for me. Even in strict mode. It was the first thing I tried and within 10 minutes, 30 more spams came in.
Leroy: That’s all I’m asking. :)
Confirmed. We are still under attack.
Confirmed. We are still under attack.
Aaron,
Are you folks using Bad Behavior as well?
What I have done is setup BB and SK2 on my blog. Then I use the Akismet Plugin for SK2, which looks up Akismet as well, just a double check.
However, the question of a network wide solution still remains…
How exactly are all the blogs in your network configured? Would be interesting to know.
Aaron,
Are you folks using Bad Behavior as well?
What I have done is setup BB and SK2 on my blog. Then I use the Akismet Plugin for SK2, which looks up Akismet as well, just a double check.
However, the question of a network wide solution still remains…
How exactly are all the blogs in your network configured? Would be interesting to know.
BTW, when you say spam comes in, do you mean the spam comment gets posted?
I forgot to mention that I also have the SK2 Moderation plugin installed. In case the author doesn’t have a comment already his comments go into the moderation queue.
However, I do think this could be a problem for you, because you definitely would be getting a lot of new commenters.
BTW, when you say spam comes in, do you mean the spam comment gets posted?
I forgot to mention that I also have the SK2 Moderation plugin installed. In case the author doesn’t have a comment already his comments go into the moderation queue.
However, I do think this could be a problem for you, because you definitely would be getting a lot of new commenters.