2 posts tagged “wordpress tips”

Finding links to blog posts to write about is easy. But finding links from blog posts I remember and want to link to, but can’t seem to find, is exceptionally frustrating. Have you suffered from the Agony of Link Hunting?

Searching Without a Search Form

I’m working on an article and I want to reference how WordPress.com’s list of the top blogs and top posts on WordPress.com aren’t in sequential order by traffic numbers. Andy Skelton came up with a brilliant bit of code that changed how the posts were rated, pulling posts from different percentiles rather than sequential order. This allows blogs that wouldn’t normally make it into the top 10 list to pop in from time to time, adding a sense of fairness in the competition to be “at the top” of a list which features some of the hottest blogs on the web.

I know it was published on the WordPress.com Blog, so I head there first. Did you know there is no search form on the WordPress.com blog? ARGHH!

Unwittingly, they have decided to not include a search form, one of the most criminal web acts any website can do to themselves, in my humble opinion.
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Most WordPress blogs are protected by the best anti-spam triangle of comment spam defenders: Bad Behavior, Spam Karma 2 and Akismet.

However, little or nothing is available to help prevent registration spam.

Registration spam differs from comment spam as it comes through the WordPress login form, not blog comments. WordPress blogs which require registration to comment, contribute, or participate have little or no protection from spammers hammering away at their registration forms.

There are WordPress Plugins for contact forms which include spam protection such as WordPress Contact Form with Spam Protection Plugin Project Page, based upon Ryan Duff’s popular WordPress Contact Form. But a contact form isn’t your blog’s registration, thus doesn’t help.

There are several WordPress Plugins and hacks which will block registration attempts based upon a blacklist. The problem with this is that you have to put the blacklist together and keep it updated. Spammers are constantly changing their IP addresses and other information to get past blacklists which seem to be obsolete before they are published. This method is a nice band aid, but it isn’t effective in the long run.

There are also some hacks to the WordPress code you can use to put a form of CAPTCHA or test into the Registration screens from Exile from Groggs and Raz-Soft. This involves changing the core programming code for WordPress, something few want to do.

There is also the Themed Login WordPress Plugin which allows the administrator to “theme” the WordPress login, adding words and design elements to customize the look, but it doesn’t add any way of testing the registrant for validity.

There is an idea on the WordPress Ideas pages for improving WordPress registration protection in the core programming. Because this issue applies to so many, any WordPress blog with more than one blogger, required registration to comment or contribute, and private blogs, I think it’s a good idea.

My recommendation would be to get Akismet to cover registration as well as comments.

As a last resort, many are hunting for a WordPress Plugin that will add a CAPTCHA or quiz test to the registration login form for WordPress. I’ve not found one. Have you?

Is this an issue that you have to deal with on your WordPress blog? If so, and you’d like to see something added to the WordPress core programming, let your voice be heard on the idea post for improving WordPress registration protection.

Site Search Tags: wordpress tips, akismet, bad behavior, spam karma, comment spam, registration spam, anti-spam, security, blog security, wordpress security, captcha, prevent registration spam, blog registration
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Copyright Lorelle VanFossen, member of the 9Rules Network, and author of Blogging Tips, What Bloggers Won't Tell You About Blogging.