MT-Blacklist
Posted October 17th, 2003 @ 06:41pm by Erik J. Barzeski
Like everyone and their brother, I too have now installed MT-Blacklist. Some things I like, don't like, and want to see changed:
- I don't like that it's retroactive. I hope no previous comments qualify as spam, because I've deleted any and all spam comments posted to my site. I have none.
- What if it deletes a comment that's valid? Can I get it back? Will the log just show me that something was deleted?
- I guess the default set (I scanned it) is pretty safe.
- I've published my list at http://nslog.com/blacklist.txt (I've added about 12 IP addresses).
- Perhaps if we shut down comment spam from the get-go, early on, then it won't ever be a problem. Since the more highly PageRanked blogs are typically aware of the problem, and the desirable targets for comment spammers, then this seems like a real possibility.
Guess we'll just have to wait and see.
Donate Life
Posted 17 Oct 2003 at 8:20pm #
MT blacklist doesn't delete, it won't allow the post at all...the poster gets an error, if they don't, it went through.
Posted 17 Oct 2003 at 10:23pm #
James Seng wrote a Bayesian filter for MT Comments. I don't use MT, but it looks interesting.
http://james.seng.cc/archives/000152.html
Posted 18 Oct 2003 at 8:31am #
MT Comment Spam
In reference to the MT Blacklist thread over at NSLog: It seems to me that the better way of blocking comment spam would be to use a modified version of Realtime Blackhole Lists. The downside of RBLs for email have...
Posted 18 Oct 2003 at 9:43am #
1) You can turn off the retroactive behavior with this fix
2) As Judi said, MT-Blacklist doesn't delete. It doesn't let submissions with blacklisted content be posted (and yes, there is an entry in the log if you choose that option) or hides existing comments with blacklisted content (unless you do #1 above). This is all in the documentation and clearly explained I think in the web interface.
3) MT-Blacklist is a content-based filter and blacklist. It has nothing to do with IP addresses because IP addresses have nothing to do with an individual users. Unless you are trying to stop someone from posting a certain IP address in the name, email, url or body of a comment, or the source url, title or except of a trackback ping, IP addresses do nothing but slow down your machine needlessly. Again, it's all in the documentation and should be obvious by the default blacklist.