Jangro’s “Did You Pass Math?” Fix Solves Akismet Problem

math.gifScott Jangro has finally ditched Akismet on his blog, much to the happiness of Brian Littleton and myself (as we express on this comment thread at BUMPzee).

This whole conversion experience away from Akismet started because of the conversation following Vlad’s post on his “My Affiliate Journey” blog detailing his struggles with Akismet catching the wrong people. If you’re not reading Vlad’s blog yet, you are missing out. He’s one of the sharpest bloggers I read. Highly recommended and clearly a real thought shaper as he’s caused us all to reconsider how we moderate comments!

Jangro has also improved upon the user friendlieness of the “Did You Pass Math?” plugin which I use for comment validation. So, now your experience should be much more pleasant for passing that quick quiz and in case you forget to put in the right answer, Scott’s coding allows you to copy your comment and hit the back button (FireFox users). You can download the improved php file there. Let Scott or I know if you need help getting it installed onto your WordPress blog… it’s simple!

Thanks, Scott (and Vlad)… superb work.

5 Replies to “Jangro’s “Did You Pass Math?” Fix Solves Akismet Problem”

  1. Thanks Sam,

    Just installe Scott’s version of math plugin. Works like a charm!

    Reply

  2. Sam, I’m considering the same switch. Would you say it’s been worthwhile now you’ve had a while to test it out?

    Reply

  3. I’d definitely say it’s been worthwhile from my end. Fishing through the hundreds of spam comments in “Awaiting Moderation” every night was a time consuming pain. Now, in the words of John C. Dvorak, “I get no spam.”

    I’ve also got the “Simple Trackback Verification” plugin installed to cut down on trackback spam, and that has worked like a charm. Highly recommend it in addition to the “Did You Pass Math” plugin (with Jangro’s addition).

    In the end, I think it comes down to your audience. If people hated the math question, I’d try something else (like Spam Karma), but for the moment it seems to be a nice fix which isn’t too much of a pain on anyone while allowing for free flowing conversation.

    Reply

  4. It was an interetsting test for me on Jangro.com.

    I wasn’t at all concerned with the affiliate audience dealing with the extra question, but I get at least as many comments from “regular people” on my Samsung DLP posts.

    They’re why I felt it was critical to modify the math plugin to make it more friendly. Comments don’t seem to have slowed down there at all. (I still get at least one coment a day on something I wrote last summer, going on 300 comments now.)

    The moderate trackbacks plugin is mandatory along with the math plugin.

    Reply

  5. didyou pass math is a great plugin… think should get it install here as well.
    scott jango is right… trackback plugin is mandatory as well.

    Reply

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