I don’t get a lot of legitimate trackbacks, but lately I’m getting an annoying amount of spambacks, so I’m turning them off for now. If you’re one of the few kind folks who occasionally point my way (I’m looking at you, Open Source Community) :-), please consider a “manual” ping in comments.
On the other hand, I’m getting almost no comment spam, which I credit to the Math Comment Spam Protection Plugin, previously mentioned in a post about my WordPress Plugin Binge last month.
Bad Behavior is another good tool and currently stops a couple of thousand access attempts per week. Akismet is super, but anything that it catches is something I then have to deal with. I’m not getting all that many spam trackbacks, but the ones I get are still a nuisance. (And several have slipped by Akismet.)
(I hear great things about Spam Karma, but so far I haven’t felt the need to try it out.)
Credits
This is the second time I’ve used this cartoon from the April 2003 issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction magazine. (This time I modified it more to my liking.) I still don’t know who drew it and I’m still hoping this qualifies as fair use. I much prefer using my own work or the countless freely available images on the Internet for graphics on my posts, but this one just seems so perfect for spam-related entries.
This is the severity of what we’re facing. I’ll bet Spam is irritating the hell out of both Death and Taxes. Death probably wouldn’t even have him. And if Taxes has his way, we’ll all suffer even more when he starts taxing emails to try combating spam. A pox on all three of their houses.
4 Comments
I’ve got my trackbacks off, as well. Certainly, that is a spam magnet and the technology is just not there, yet. Now, what is a manual ping in comments? You are way ahead of me, my friend! I’m hoping fair use carries over to my blog where I have posted that fabulous adapted cartoon. It’s perfect for the time we find ourselves in – and the season, so thanks! :-)
30 October 2007 at 8:04 am
Hi, Amy! By manual ping I just meant people could post a comment saying, hey! I wrote about this post at [link]. That might feel kind of silly, I guess, but would serve the purpose of letting people there’s more to read elsewhere. And look — you just did that here. :-)
I’m glad you enjoyed the comic!
30 October 2007 at 3:26 pm
Sweet! :-) That was easy enough!
30 October 2007 at 3:32 pm
Hi, I would like to let you know that I am using the image for my blog. I saw the image first at opensourcecommunity.org website. I am hoping that my use of the image is protected by the fair use, if not then…at any time I pull it out. Thank you.
I like your Spam repellent – where I have to find the sum of two numbers.
12 November 2007 at 10:14 am