Nobody likes spam. Yet with all the new technologies developed to combat spam, they still continue to appear in our emails, blogs and websites. And of all places on the web, WordPress blogs are among the most highly affected by spam messages. So how and why are blogs affected by spam?

One of the primary ways spam appears is through comments. Usually, spammers have special automated routines built to scour the Internet for codes similar to the coding of the comment box in a WordPress platform. Another way spam enters the system is through the registration process, often used as a means of moderation by webmasters before allowing people to comment on their blogs. By discovering how to get past the moderation, a spammer can become a member of your website and so send you spam messages.

Now that we are aware of the common sources of spam messages, let’s take a look at the methods for successfully eliminating spam messages from WordPress blogs.

Admin Panel Options

The admin panel in your WordPress platform offers you a number of options to eliminate spam:

• Navigate to Settings > General from your admin panel. Here you will find a list of options, one of them being Membership along with a check box stating “Anyone Can Register”. If the box is checked, you are effectively allowing not just regular users, but also spam bots to register at your website.

• From your admin panel, enter Settings > Discussion. Here, you will find a list of options to help you control the steps users need to follow in order to comment on your blog. You can prevent people (and spammers) from commenting on your website by unchecking the box “Allow People To Post Comments on New Articles”. Of course, this would mean that you lose interactivity with blog readers.

• Another method to avoid spam on your website: enter Settings > Discussion. Firstly, check the option to disallow people from registering on your website. Second, check the option for “Users must be Registered and logged in to comment”. By checking these the two options, you will be able to control which comments are added to your website.

• The Discussion section in your blog offers you a range of options to control the number of people commenting on your blog. You can also restrict the spam volume in your website this way.

WordPress Plugin

WordPress also offers the Comment Spam Stopper plugin to prevent identified spam bots from commenting on your blog. The plugin also helps in reducing comment space to avoid detection by spam bots.

CAPTCHA

One of the most commonly used method on the web to prevent spam is the CAPTCHA code. While genuine commenters will not find it a hassle, manual spammers will be turned off by the need to fill in a CAPTCHA while spam bots are unable to fill CAPTCHAs. In this way, CAPTCHA is one of the most useful ways to prevent spam.