A frozen-fingered 'how-to'.
Using MT Blacklist
1. In the comment notification emails, there's a bit that says "De-spam using MT-Blacklist:" followed by a link. Click that link.
Result: If you're not already logged in, the login screen displays.
2. Login and then go back and click the link again.
3. The De-spam screen comes up with the URL from the comment in the Found URLs box.
Because, most of the time, multiple spam emails are all from one domain (ie, apples.pears.com, bananas.pears.com, fruit.pears.com), you only need to ban the primary domain (pears.com). This is more effective than banning all the individual URLs, cos they can just make more sub-URLs.
Adjust the URL so it just says, eg, pears.com, and then click the Go forth now and do my bidding! button. That will delete just that one comment.
4. Now click "De-spam" in the top menu, and MT Blacklist will search through all your recent comments for anything that matches the blacklist (which now includes pears.com).
5. MT Blacklist comes up with a list of spam comments. At the bottom of the list is a button that you can click to delete them all.
Done.
Deleting individual comments
To deleting individual comments without blacklisting them (ie, mistakes), go to the entry. The comment should be listed way down below the entry. Click on it, check you have the right one, and click Delete. Are you sure? Yes.
After you've deleted it, you'll need to rebuild your site.
Don't use this method for spam. Use blacklist.
Close comments
If you're having problems with just a few entries, you could close comments on just those entries. To do this, you need to have the Allow comments drop-down available on your Editing form. (If you can't see it, click "Customize the display of this page" and select it.) Then select "Close", and save the entry.
Alternatively, if you want I can close comments for you on all entries more than X days old (if you tell me what X is).
Good luck everyone.
i have a teeny tiny problem - the MT blacklist does not show up on my comment emails.
also my favouritest spammer uses multiple domains but the same email adress, any way to block that?
Sue, please could you forward me one of your comment emails?
Yes, I think you can put email addresses into MT Blacklist too. Alternatively you can block the IP address (under Weblog Config).
Posted by: iona at June 8, 2004 09:21 AMYes, you can put emails, but you'll be pissing into the wind as they are trivial for a spammer to change. Sue, you can send me an email if you like. Check the Contact section of the online user manual for the address...
Posted by: Jay Allen at July 3, 2004 04:25 PM