Not in code

Since I created this blog in 2003 I’ve faced an ongoing deluge of comment spam. I tried to address this by manually approving each post, but this turned out to be time-consuming and led to an annoying lag between the comment being posted and appearing on the site.

I then tried to automate this process using various spam filters including Akismet but they turned out to be useless with too many false positives.

I’ve finally fallen back on a “prove-you’re-a-person” image which seems to be working well so far. I’ve had no comment spam since installing it, though I’m unsure if I’ve missed any genuine comments. So, help me out – post a comment in response to this entry so I know I’m not missing any and let me know if you’ve got a better idea for dealing with comment spam.

I’ve been meaning to post a message about this for a while now. I have a few GMail invites available so if any of you want an account email me or just leave a comment and I’ll send you an invite. I have 5 invites left at this stage :)