INeedAttention.com

INeedAttention.com is not just about sweet content loaded with interesting ideas. It’s also about sweet content loaded with interesting ideas that’s free of comment spam. Mostly, this is because I actively monitor the site. I also run a message board about The Pines Hotel (I also run a site about The Pines Hotel, which links to that message board).

Every once in a while, that message board gets spam. Spam users registering to spam the server. What is a message board administrator to do other than sit and watch their server? Well, there’s CAPCHA, but that’s not foolproof either and also makes the site way less accessible. Frankly, this is why the best method is the most classic method: watch your boards, and block offending users and IPs. It’s the only truly effective way to truly eliminate it. But as far as cutting down the number of spam messages, probably the best way is to implement a simple and robust comment script custom designed for your site. The power here is that if you develop it properly, someone wanting to generate automatic requests has to code their application specifically to understand your site. My message board runs YabbSE, which is not only used on thousands of other websites, it’s also is now obsolete (it’s been replaced by SMF).

There is more to read about the actual message board spam that pushed me to write this story.

But speaking of changing software, INeedAttention.com is moving to a new server soon and will receive a complete makeover and cleanup. Of course, this is a huge project so stand by and keep a lookout.