Apologies To Commentors
I must apologize to many who have tried to comment and send trackbacks in the last week or two. What some of you have experienced is my fault and I do sincerely apologize.
I was testing a plugin to reduce comment spam and while it definitely seemed to work, it worked a little too well. It was not allowing most comments to come through for moderation. I have disabled and deleted the plugin so everything should be back to normal.
The plugin was called WP Captcha Free and was supposed to help in blocking comment spam using its own method and without users having to enter a captcha phrase. The problem was, it was blocking most all comments and did not allow one single trackback through. At this time, it is not a plugin that I would recommend.
Again, I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.
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iDope from Wordpress Themes | Oct 7, 2008 | Reply
Hi Melissa,
I am the author of that plugin. Sorry to know it didn’t work for you. Just wanted to make sure you copied the captcha-free.php file directly to the /wp-content/plugins folder and not to subfolder (like /wp-content/plugins/wp-captcha-free). If that was the case can you tell me what errors were the commentators getting?
Appreciate your feedback!
iDopes last blog post..Night Thief 1.0
Melissa | Oct 9, 2008 | Reply
Hi,
Thanks for stopping by. Yes, I had the captcha-free.php file directly in the plugins folder and not a sub-folder.
The commentors did not specifically say what the error said when they tried to comment. They just told me they were not able to leave a comment.
In one sense, I found it strange because a few people were able to leave comments, but others were saying theirs did not go through.
On the other hand, I absolutely loved the fact that it was blocking all automatic spam. Not one item was in Akismet for me to moderate.
At the same time, there were a few who had quoted me in their own blog posts with a link back to the site. Their trackbacks never showed up for me to moderate. I am assuming this is because it would have looked like a bot or something had sent it so it blocked it. However, I could be wrong.
If there was a way to allow the trackbacks through and still block the spam sent by bots, this would be an awesome plugin.
I know trackbacks are not important to some people, but if someone is going to take the time to quote and link to me from their blog, I want to reward that by allowing the trackbacks for the post.
Thanks again for coming by to leave a comment. Hope my answer helps.
Melissa
Danny from Memphis TN Real Estate | Oct 11, 2008 | Reply
Melissa,
I had the same problem with that plugin as you did. I couldn’t figure out how to adjust the settings on how strict the filter was, so I deleted it. Maybe it was just a bug, but I would advise anyone wanting to try it to wait for an updated version.
Kevin from Great Wall of China Facts | Oct 12, 2008 | Reply
This can sometimes happen when you try to get rid of spammers. It seems difficult to get rid of them and retain the good commenters.
Melissa | Oct 13, 2008 | Reply
Well, I’m glad to know that I’m not the only one that had the same problem. Thanks for sharing.
@Kevin - It is difficult to get rid of the spam and keep the good people. I have a few good commentors whose comments for some reason end up in akismet among the garbage. Which means I have to filter through all that junk because I don’t want to miss a good comment - especially when it comes from someone I know.
Roger from SEO Services | Oct 29, 2008 | Reply
Yeah You are not the only one Melissa. Everyone did encountered same problem. And for me, sometimes it makes me sick.