on spam

Sunday Apr 30th 2006

On the blogs I read routinely that have comments enabled, there is inevitably something written about how blog spam just throws the perverbial wrench in the engine so-to-speak, whereas the blog/site owner has to enable some kind of filter and/or security code prerequisite just to keep the spam out and the humans in.

I completely disabled comments and trackbacks on my site a while back (with blog spam being one of the biggest reasons I did it in the first place). It sucks, but what ya gonna do. While it’s true that most people are able to tune spam out in the comments of a blog should it exist, it’s still really annoying to go through.

Another reason I disabled comments/tb’s is so I don’t have to constantly upgrade my publishing software. Every time some new unbeatable spam-fighter feature is introduced, the spammers find a way around it. Some months later, the people who wrote your software release a new edition that totes something to the tune of “Yeah, we know the last spam filter thing didn’t work, but uh.. here’s a new version! It’ll work! Trust us.” So you upgrade. Then your blog blows up. Just ask this guy about how “great” upgrades are.

I remember when I upgraded from MT 2.661 to what I have now. Holy shit was that a nightmare and thensome. Valuable lessons were learned.

I would use HaloScan, but I just don’t like the idea of having a separate web site for all my commenting needs and such.

So… my site stays as is. It works. De-commented, De-tb’d and all. (grin)

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