Bye bye comment spam
Published by MadMan November 3rd, 2004 in TechnologyI’m happy to report that MT-Blacklist is no longer needed on this site. In its place is a spanking new image-based security code system. It shouldn’t pose too much of a problem for you folks.
This is just for you, CK, because you asked for it and we all love you so much. ;)
25 Responses to “Bye bye comment spam”
- 1 Trackback on Nov 5th, 2004 at 6:51 am
- 2 Trackback on Dec 9th, 2004 at 2:38 pm
Looks like I’m the first person to use the brand new security-code system!! :-)
But Madman… how will this deter a human spammer?
Cool!
But Madman I assume you already know the problems these systems cause w.r.t. accesibility.
To ask people to fill up another form would be a lottle too much don’t you think? Sure you could lways argue that people who want to post a comment will do so anyways, but in terms of usability it definitely is a headache!!
It’s much easier when people fill in their names with the remove me tag, because this can be cached and doesnt have to be typed in on a use per use basis.
Sameer, it won’t deter a human spammer, but most comment spam is done by bots. It simply isn’t efficient to do it manually.
Amol, I am aware that blind people will face a problem, but the number of people fitting that criteria who read this blog is a decent trade-off compared to the menace of comment spam.
Sachin, what “other form” are you talking about? This is just one extra field.
Sachin, if people can type in huge comments, they can surely make the extra effort to type in 4 digits from the security digit. It doesn’t take too long either. So I wonder what usability issues you are referring to?
Yes… there are accessibility issues. Security-code systems like these will pose a problem to visually-impaired users or people with dyslexia. But for personal sites/blogs these are not showstopping problems.
And yes… there are other problems like these systems are easily hackable using simple OCR software. Or these systems cannot stop human spammers. But the security-code system can stop dead most of the non-human spammers (i.e. spambots) which contribute to majority of comment spam these days.
testing the thing, so don’t go about deleting this comment. this is not off-topic comment.
Madman, it is wrong to assume accessibility out here affects only blind-men. Reading of LCDs in lowlight conditions can be a problem… and I am not even talking of monochrome LCDs yet.
Sachin, another input area doesn’t matter as long as it doesn’t tax your noodles.
Amol, you’re kidding me, right? Right?
Reading of LCDs in low light -
First, don’t read the freakin’ LCD in low light. That’s not an accesibility problem, that’s a stupidity problem.
Second, are you saying this image is not visible in low light? Then neither are grey toolbars.
I am not even talking of monochrome LCDs yet
Who on earth uses monochrome LCDs? That seems to be gratuitous argument. And even if they did, this is a grey image. How is that not visible on a monochrome screen?
I know its been raised here before, but I feel that either you should not display the IP address in the comment or you should have a radio button on the comment form to ask the commenter’s consent about displaying his IP addr. One reason for this is that the IP addr is not voluntarily supplied alongwith the comment like the email addr and the URL are.
Also, it gives a easy way for spammers to harvest these IPs and use them to spoof in their spamming activities. For example, a spambot may pick up my IP from here and use it to bombard spam on some other blog. Now if that website uses a blacklisting kind of anti-spam mechanism, I would not be able to comment on that blog only because my IP would already be in their blacklist.
No Madman, I am really not kidding! I’m sure you’re aware that LCDs on notebooks turn dimmer when they run on batteries. It happens on all the three notebooks I own (Acer/Compaq/IBM). I think it’s a “power-saving feature”, but definitely not a stupidity problem.
And I also use monochrome LCDs. It helps in making and testing page layouts. Of course, the image doesn’t become invisible… but it does become difficult to read (courtesy low contrast). Madman, a good practice would be to use more contrast with random backgrounds, misaligned letters and random sized type.
I also use a links on GNU/Linux. It helps you get by in low bandwidth conditions. I know at least three other people who read these blog “and” use links.
As for the “gratuitous argument” goes, sorry boss — I have no time for it. My intent of commenting here was to share my experiences with the recent change… thats all :)
Thanks Madman!
Awesome. Is it a pain to install this ? Any instructions ?
Hey Maddy - You are right about the fact the percentage of disabled users and users with pictureless browsers (didn’t Andreesen fix that bug in the Jurassic ?!) are quite low/non-existent for a website like this.
The only change I would make is to have some text which says something like “I’m sorry I have to do this, but if you can’t see the image and would still like to comment, send me an email at “. Because if someone is not able to comment because of the image, they can’t even tell you.
I’m sure you’re aware that LCDs on notebooks turn dimmer when they run on batteries.
Yes, I’m aware, but this code is visible even then.
And I also use monochrome LCDs. It helps in making and testing page layouts.
I’m not trying to reach every last user on this planet.
Madman, a good practice would be to use more contrast with random backgrounds, misaligned letters and random sized type.
That’s waaay too much trouble for protecting a personal blog. I’ll leave that to the likes of yahoo.
I know at least three other people who read these blog “and” use links.
If you willingly use that, sir, with all due respect, you and the other three people can kiss my arse. :)
(Next you’ll be telling me not to post any screenshots either.)
So as I see it now, your objection isn’t to the image, but to the contrast. OK, I’ve bumped up the contrast a bit.
And just for kicks, I used Perl-fu and changed the font too. ;)
Cool-fu!
Next you’ll be telling me not to post any screenshots either.
Awwww Maddie… I ain’t that bad! :P
In the blog world, content and comments are king. Not seeing images for aesthetic/beautification or even information purposes is acceptable.
However, mandating that someone see an image in order to leave comment is nothing but functionally crippling an otherwise good blog.
And Sir, with all due respect, if you disagree, you can kiss your own arse :)
Pardon my ignorance, i meant accesibility when i meant usability.
But then again when you consider that i have to type in an extra field when i could have easily avoided the extra pain. All i have to do is store my basic info in my Opera. Isn’t that what usability is all about?[correct me if iam wrong ofcourse :)]
Perhaps the tradeoff is a good one considering the amount of comment spam these days, myself being a victim with more spam than genuine comments.
But wouldn’t it be easier to have a system where you could simply use filtering, or better still have a moderation system. Then again a moderation system would require extra effort from your side.
Madman: The extra field is inconvinient only because i cannot store it as a ‘given’ in my Opera! :/
My apologies for the minor typos in previous post, quite embarrassing naturally ;)
Madman: The extra field is inconvinient only because i cannot store it as a ‘given’ in my Opera! :/
Get off your lazy arse and punch four numbers in, dude. :p
But wouldn’t it be easier to have a system where you could simply use filtering, or better still have a moderation system.
We used to have a filtering system, but it wasn’t efficient enough. Moderation sucks.
Sachin, if there was another way to avoid comment spam without the captcha, I’d use it. MadMan and I have tried other methods and they’ve not been as good.
MT-blacklist did keep out 80-90%, but the quantum increased so much that I was still manually removing 40-50 spam comments a day. With Captcha, it’s gone down to zero.
So I think a little usability lost for a lot of success in comment spam removal aint bad eh?
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