Have you tried something like the reCAPTCHA plugin to at least ensure the blog comment is being done manually? It’s fairly easy to install and get an API key etc.

Ian

I haven’t noticed a slowdown at all. Although I’ve had my blog for almost two years, I’ve been on Word Press for about four months. During that time I’ve had over 1,200 spam posts of which my spam blocker has picked up over 860 of them. 1,200 spam in 120 days–about 10 a day is a little absurd.

As you say, the lottery scams, the enhancement and pharmaceutical spam, the jewelry, watches, and others will continue. But now they have graduated into pushing legitimate products and services by known companies. Some, such as the CNN spam are trying to highlight particular events or interviews. Still, pressure could be put on companies to change their programs to discourage instead of encourage spamming blogs and emails.

Are the spam posts for Kelley’s Kookies, The Arkansas Department of Tourism, or Trotter Antiques committed with the knowledge and aid of these organizations? I don’t know, of course, because the email addresses used are fake. But if they are, these folks are doing far more harm to themselves than they realize.

Paul

Then the next day I noticed an identical post by the same person on an obscure blog I post to related to the football team I support. The posting software must have had an algorithm which tracked down or searched for any blogs posted on by the author of the blog it had spammed – presumably assuming the posts would be to a similar themed blog.

I’ve found the sophisticated spam of this sort has died down since the “nofollow” tag has been introduced. Presumably it was being done to get backlinks rather than direct clicks.

Of course, the mindless spam pushing various pharmaceuticals and enhancement products still continues….

Ian