How do you stop bots from posting spam in the comments section of your website?

cinnamonsugar Level 1

July 9, 2017, 2:26 pm

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How do you stop bots from posting spam in the comments section of your website?

I used to have a blog, but sort of shut it down after the comment section got overrun by bots posting all sorts of spam and malicious links. I haven't really found a proper mechanism to deal with this, and Captcha doesn't seem to work all the time. Any thoughts on this?

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Tronia

You have different Anti-bot Captcha options. Which one did you try? the best one right now is Google's reCAPTCHA and trust me it fixes the bots issues. My friend had them flooding his forum and ever since he added the reCAPTCHA there's literally no bots.

If interested take a look at this link: https://www.google.com/recaptcha/intro/

Hope this helps you!

8 years ago

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Okav1ator

That's the exact same reCAPTCHA I use! I would definitely recommend using it. Ever since I started using it I haven't had problems with spam bots.

8 years ago

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lordrenly

Yeah, I have been using reCAPTCHA since they were released (around 2007 I think) and I am satisfied with how they handle spams. I think it is also not as complicated as other captchas for the users so reCAPTCHA is a good balance between security and usability.

8 years ago

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jeiss

Yes, I totally agree with you here. reCAPTCHA is the best around. It is easy to install with less stress. It does the job just fine.

Even a human trying to comment would always have to think twice before commenting when you have reCAPTCHA installed on your website. The security and validation process is like no other.

8 years ago

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Corzhens

Bots that posts spam are annoying and I think the captcha is one good way of blocking the entry of bots because they will fail in the registration. But what we normally do against spammers whether they are bots or humans is the blocking of the IP address. The bots couldn’t enter anymore and that also bars even the other bots coming from the same origin. Bots truly give us a headache.

7 years ago

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anwebservices

Simple using of WordPress plugins can save you a lot of time and headache by protecting your website from spam comments and registrations. I use plugin called "Zero Spam" and it works great for my websites, it also have option to temporary or permanently ban bot's IP address if you wish. There is also other spam protection plugins and you can browse them from your WP administration panel and install for free ;)

8 years ago

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keen2write

Try using captcha screens and also if you're using WordPress you can switch the comments off easily in the dashboard area. There is also special plugins on WordPress which can also help. I find WordPress the best format really.

8 years ago

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joegirl

Thanks for the tip. I'm having the same issue with my blog. It's constantly flooded with spam and its such a nuisance. Each time I have to login and delete the comments. I will try the suggested tip above.

8 years ago

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neilarmstrong

I use Akismet: Spam Protection for WordPress. It seems to be working pretty well. Sometimes I find that a few legit comments are marked as spams but the number of such comments is very low. I am quite satisfied with its performance so far.

8 years ago

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galegatling

Yeah as what these other folks say, reCAPTCHA is the best anti-spam filter for your websites.
Even I can't sometimes enter the words correctly because some captchas are so hard to read. x.x

8 years ago

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vinaya

This is also my question because I get many bot comments on my blog posts and many bot traffic on my websites. I use word fence plugin on my wordpress sites, which stops unauthorized access to my websites, it even gives the source of bot traffic, however, it does not stop bot comments. I am yet to use any anti-bot plugins, however, I am considering to use anti-bot captcha plugin on my websites. The only thing that is holding me is captcha options will also drive away genuine commentators.

8 years ago

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hermessantos

I've had a lot of spam issues on my sites. There were many messages every day.

I use Wordpress and downloaded the Disqus Comment System plugin. This plugin really solved my problem.

8 years ago

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zeedollar

Installing an extra security plugin can save you loads of head aches trust me, or you can integrate a capcha system to avoid bots from automatically posting in the comment section.

8 years ago

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goldlady

Oh my god SO annoying! I hate when it happens to me. I have handled with this kind of issues since I have my blog years and years ago. I have triend many kinds of possible solutions, but the problem always comes back. I'm still looking for the right way to get rid of that spam but seems like it's kind of hard!

8 years ago

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ajlancer

Hi there,
Thanks for your query. Yes! it is a serious issue to protect any blog or web against spam or bot. Specially many of bot comment poster becoming to blog for comment with spam url. I have a blog also but it is complete spam free. I used WordPress theme for my blog and it is very easy to control on wordpress blog, if you use few plugins for anti spam. One the top ZERO SPAM plugin. It is easy to install and work very good. You will get many other free plugin on WordPress. Google reCAPTCHA verification can protect any spam or bot from the blog. I have another suggestion, You can control your user for comments like without registration nobody can comment on any post. In this way you will get real user too.

Regards by Ajlancer

8 years ago

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mybarya

Aside from using Captchas and anti-spam plugins, you can also try modifying your .htaccess file to prevent spam comments. The .htaccess file can help toughen WordPress security. Short and simple lines of codes can really help to reduce spam comments. You can add the code below to your root .htaccess to deny bots with no referrer.

# Protect from spam bots
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_METHOD} POST
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} .wp-comments-post\.php*
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !.yourwebsite.com.* [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^$
RewriteRule (.*) ^http://%{REMOTE_ADDR}/$ [R=301,L]
</IfModule>

Don't forget to replace “yourwebsite.com” with your blog URL. The above code only blocks SPAM BOTS and not humans who manually try to spam.

8 years ago

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limberg

I had this problem since I the first time I used WordPress. I also tried using Captcha but still, the issues with spam comments continue. I hope that installing Google's Recaptcha tool will eliminate these pesky bots from spreading spam. Hey, I'm wondering, is this plugin free? I hope it is...

Anyways, what if I am also running Buddypress in one of my sites? Will it stop bots from posting spam in their wall?

8 years ago

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amazingsteven

Try using WordPress ZERO SPAM plugin. Very easy to install and it work pretty well . You can also use Akismet it is also a great anti spam plugin. There are many many other free anti-spam plugin on WordPress. Google reCAPTCHA is another excellence anti-spam tool.

8 years ago

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Corzhens

My husband had experienced spam bots in the forum of their office website. I will not mention the brand but it’s the leather boots. What they did was to flag the IP addresses of the spammer. It’s not an easy task because the bots will just change their IP address. But since the forum has an active staff who watched the boards, they succeeded in blocking the spammer until it ran out of IP address. But if you don’t have the manpower to watch over your forum then I guess a captcha will do the trick although it will have an effect on the legitimate members of the community.

7 years ago

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SEOClerks

How do you stop bots from posting spam in the comments section of your website?

How do you stop bots from posting spam in the comments section of your website?

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