Comments on: The Comments Conundrum

By: Flyguy

Flyguy — Thu, 06 Apr 2006 20:36:30 +0000

The question should be: What is the square root of 16?

That way, it would not only weed out ‘bots, but also stupid people!

By: Scott

Scott — Wed, 05 Apr 2006 20:13:52 +0000

Funny, I assumed it was some kind of test that I wouldn’t be able to pass.

I think you could make it as simple as “Type Buzz in the box”, to get past the automated comment spammers.

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 22:26:36 +0000

Try out Akismet, it’s bundled with WP 2.0+. (You should really upgrade, too! Ping me if you need help.)

By: stevenf

stevenf — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 23:35:57 +0000

Over on Movable Type, there is a plugin called MT-Keystrokes. All it does is set a flag in the comment form if an actual keypress is detected in the comment box, using a JavaScript event handler.

I was skeptical — I mean, it’s absolutely trivial to work around. But I’ve had only maybe… 2? 3? spam comments since installing it. It’s the single most effective thing I’ve ever done to stop comment spam. I kind of can’t believe it.

By: Matt Henderson

Matt Henderson — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 22:35:54 +0000

I introduced the same thing on my blog (”What color is an orange?”). Yes, I’m also getting fewer comments. But, do you *really* want comments from those that can’t answer such a question?

By: Cameron Hayne

Cameron Hayne — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 21:51:11 +0000

Have a look at the elaboration of this “skill-testing-question” approach used by Rob Griffiths in his blog: http://www.robservatory.com/
Note the inline explanations.

By: ssp

ssp — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 21:18:58 +0000

Not that it would have kept me from trying but that was exactly the question I asked myself when I saw the question.

Unless your surname is Lightyear, Buzz just won’t sound like a natural first name…

By: Chucky

Chucky — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 21:02:21 +0000

I figured out the answer to the question!

What do I win?

By: Matt Gemmell

Matt Gemmell — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 20:09:50 +0000

I guess it does kind of look like a “close friends and family only” sort of thing, though I’ve never thought so until I read this post. Serves you right for having such a nickname. :p On other blogs I’ve seen wording such as “Enter the word ‘matt’ here”, or whatever.

For the record, my Address Book naturally continues to list you as Mary-Louise “Buzz” Andersen.

By: Dan Dickinson

Dan Dickinson — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 19:26:11 +0000

With this in mind, I just wanted to take a moment to clarify that this field is not meant to be some sort of riddle or exclusivity test: when it asks “What is Buzz’s first name?” it’s looking for “Buzz.”

So since you put it in the quotes: is that with a period or without?