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If you have had a blog up for any length of time, you are starting to get spam. It’s a fact of life. Sadly.
However, there are some proactive things you can do to stop the spam madness.
By default, WordPress comes with a plugin called Akismet . However, in order to use it, you have to get an API key for yourself. Strangely enough, you have to register for a WordPress.com account in order to do this. You can do this here: http://wordpress.com/signup/
Complete the Username and password settings. (Please note that only lower case letters and numbers are allowed in the username field).
Just below the "Legal Flotsam" check box (which you must check), select the "Just a username, please" option.
Then click *Next*. The next screen (shown below) allows you to complete your profile for your WordPress.com account. However, if you have a WordPress.org (self-hosted blog), this part is completely optional. Check your email, and click the activation link inside.
A new window will appear in your browser (not shown here since all it does is display your username and password and ask you to login). You can close this window now. Just wait patiently and a new email will arrive with your activation key enclosed. Copy that *key* to a safe place.
Now, head back over to your blog’s dashboard on the Plugins page and click the Activate the Akismet plugin. A new message will appear at the top of your dashboard.
Click the link shown in the message and this screen will appear.
Just paste your new activation key into the box and then optionally check the "Automatically discard spam comments on posts older than a month ". I highly recommend checking this box, since this removes the comments from your database.
Just a note here: Marking a comment for spam means it won’t appear on your blog, but it does still reside in your database. This will (over time), increase the size of your backup. If you get a lot of spam, your backup will get very large unless you remove them permanently.
Watch for more posts on reducing the madness. Spam is a major problem and there are other options. I will be covering them in future posts.
