Video Poker Spam Attack
As an administrator of 50-plus WordPress installations, I’m well aware of the attack last night that spammed for “Video Poker”. How did this attack work when others did not? Neither “video” nor “poker” are words in the common spam words entry on the WordPress wiki, which is where many, including myself, find a base for their spam words moderation keys.
It is up the administrator of any WordPress installation to more fully develop their spam words profile. We all get comment spam, so we know what needs to be added and when.
If you’re dealing with a ton of Weblog spam this morning, let me offer a couple tutorials for you, complete to screenshots: How to Rid Yourself of Comment Spam and Stemming the Tide of Comment Spam with a Tar Pit. It could take you a little while, but hey … if you’re in the States, you got an extra hour to live today. 
I have not gottem any spam comments in ages and I got three copies of two different ones in back-to-back days.
October 31st, 2004 at 17:22Extra Hour void in Arizona, Hawaii, and parts of Indiana.
October 31st, 2004 at 18:04Yeah, not all of us get an extra hour in our lives today. Then again, we also don’t lose an hour come spring either, so it all balances out.
Thanks for the tutorial. That helped me clear out CdM. Much appreciated.
October 31st, 2004 at 18:07Is there anyway to prevent these bottom-dwellers totally? (Meaning, block them from WordPress, instead of moderating?)
Or is that something I lost when converting from GreyMatter?
October 31st, 2004 at 18:15It’s something that you lost when you allowed comments at all, Jeremy. As long as a comment form requires no authentication, it will be easy to flood with a script.
You didn’t see much automated spam with GreyMatter because the platform just isn’t that popular.
As for the fun of moderating … I let it pile up for a couple of days, then I go in and hack-and-slash through the list. That allows me to figure out which open proxies are being regularly abused, and that lets me block them in the Tar Pit. Also, you’ll spend as much time moderating 100 comments as you will 10, and because moderation, by default, keeps them from being published … the spammers just don’t win.
See, with Moveable Type, the spammers win because they aren’t held by default. WP does this better.
October 31st, 2004 at 21:39I’m not the only one with problems!? Wow! A support group!
November 1st, 2004 at 11:36Yeah, tell me about it, I’m approaching 250 spam comments. I don’t know why it likes me so much!
November 1st, 2004 at 13:57