Blocking comments from URL

[Zirbelholz]

Hi,

I gather from previous postings that if I want to block comments from a particular URL I can add this to .htaccess. After great confusion I succeeded in doing it, but it didn't work. I put as the very first line:
deny from ....

Now I may have chosen the wrong .htaccess to amend. The only ones I could find were dated 2007, yet Garvin only recently helped me update the software. Where should I bee looking to change .htaccess?

It was difficult to see it in Mac, but I downloaded it to Mac, then altered it in WordPad on the Windows side, and uploaded it again in Cyberduck on the Mac side.

Weblog is transblawg.eu

The problem is that I have been under 5-minute attack from one URL, always different pseudonyms etc., and full of URLs so the spam blocker Spam Protector 1.77 (should I update this?) held them for me. So in the morning I had sixty to delete from the backend (?). Meanwhile one other URL appeared once with similar content, may just be change.

I did try to have URLs of spammers forwarded to .htaccess by Spam Protector, but that didn't work either. At the moment I have blocked all comments.

MTIA

Margaret

[Zirbelholz]

'May just be change' should read 'may just be chance'.

Margaret

[Timbalu]

Where should I bee looking to change .htaccess?

In Serendipity root, always!

... altered it in WordPad on the Windows side, ...

This may be difficult .... be aware, you have to save it without any extension!

The problem is that I have been under 5-minute attack from one URL,

Updating is always a good idea, but 1.77 seems latest version.

How about Plugin antiTroll - stalkerbuster? Please read
http://board.s9y.org/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=17689

[Zirbelholz]

Thanks, Ian. I thought I did Serendipity root, but will try again. I have a feeling I downloaded the wrong one. Obviously I have to save without an extension, any fool knows that, even me, but that seemed to work OK. I have the Windows set to show extensions. Will inspect the other plugin.

Margaret

[Zirbelholz]

Touch wood, it seems to be working. It seems I put too little information into the .htaccess file - it was in the right place, though.

Margaret

[LazyBadger]

Why do not let Spamblocker do it's work?
I has ability to add IP to htaccess automagically, and, after all, you cam ban URL or IP from comment moderation
And I have to say, Akismet filter comment-spam (with "reject" mode) just excellent - no FP with correct setting... and akismet key is free

[Zirbelholz]

Well, as I have already said, I did try out the .htaccess link from the spam protector, but it didn't work.

Is that not a good reason to look for another solution?

I don't know why it didn't work, but one reason I read is the size of the database. I have been running this blog for 8 years.

I have never tried Akismet and I have forgotten why not, but the system I have now works.

[yellowled]

I have never tried Akismet and I have forgotten why not, but the system I have now works.

Probably because of the issues with reporting back spam to Akismet and privacy (which I think have been fixed by now). However, the Spamblock Bayes plugin has become an excellent alternative to Akismet for S9y blogs. It's highly recommended to use that in addition to Spamblock, especially since it automates most of the comment moderation after some time of training it's filters.

YL

[Zirbelholz]

I will try it then. What I have is called Spam Protector.

Is it true what LazyBadger says, that I can use Spam Protector to block IPs? I simply did not find that possibility.

[yellowled]

Is it true what LazyBadger says, that I can use Spam Protector to block IPs?

I guess so, but I have never even used that functionality. I just use some sensible settings in the Spamblock plugin plus Spamblock Bayes, and it just works.

YL

[Zirbelholz]

Yes, Akismet was not much recommended when I first used Serendipity some years ago.

I have now installed the Bayes plugin, and apparently also the SRBL Spam Protector. I will see how it goes. In recent weeks I seem to have more spam.

After I got rid of the main offender by putting the IP address in .htaccess, another one, obviously different, appeared immediately. This time the comments only linked a couple of addresses, so they escaped the filter. They linked to varying addresses at livejournal. I blocked this IP too, but immediately a different one was used, and I could not be bothered to put it in .htaccess because I could see they would then get another one. So I blocked livejournal URLs, since I doubt I ever get comments from users. (Of course, yesterday I got a serious comment from someone with a dreamwidth page, which is the same kind of thing!)

Anyway, I have now permitted livejournal again and hope the new plugin will catch these people. They are certainly linguistically recognizable.

[Zirbelholz]

Is there any trick to using Akismet? I now have the Bayes plugin and also an Akismet key from Typepad. There was silence from the spammers for a day, but I have just got 18 spam comments on new entries (I filter comments on entries that are over a week old). This time they all came from the same IP address, so I have banned it in .htaccess.

Does it make any difference if I click on an icon or at the bottom of the screen when I mark a comment as spam? And is this enough for Akismet, for example, to block the IP address?

TIA

Margaret

[onli]

Does it make any difference if I click on an icon or at the bottom of the screen when I mark a comment as spam?

No, there is no difference.

And is this enough for Akismet, for example, to block the IP address?

As far as I know, Akismet don't get any data from your blog, you only get ratings from Akismet. So Akismet won't learn from your actions.

[Zirbelholz]

Thanks. Well, as I understand it, Akismet collects spam in some way or other so I hope that if spam comments target many blogs, it will help me.

At all events, I have not had any spam comments since I blocked this IP address - the spammers originally had a variety of addresses, but when they decided which entries to target, they used a single one. So I can't tell if Akismet is helping.

Margaret

[onli]

Well, as I understand it, Akismet collects spam in some way or other so I hope that if spam comments target many blogs, it will help me.

Surely. My answer was misleading. To get a rating, you submit the comment so Akismet gets at least that data. I meant that they do not get the data of what you do with their rating or other spamsettings - or ratings from the bayesPlugin - from you.