WP-SpamFree – A Reader’s Dream?

28. Jan, 2008 23 Comments - Leave your comment

Every blogger (in one form or another) has had to deal with his (or her) share of spam.

One of the greatest enablers of community is having comments enabled and allowing the reader to give feedback and add to the conversation.

However, since spam is a constant problem with comments, bloggers take measures to limit the amount of spam being received on blogs. Some bloggers use CAPTCHAs, and some use plugins such as Akismet or Bad Behavior.

The ongoing struggle with spam is why I stated that spam is a reader’s problem too. Their comment may be accidentally marked as spam, or the comment may be lost due to some ill-advised spam-blocking attempt.

So when I saw yet another anti-spam plugin for WordPress, I was extremely skeptical. Especially since this plugin works right out of the box with absolutely no configuration.

To illustrate the ease of installation, here are the install directions for WP-SpamFree:

Installation Instructions

After downloading, unzip file and upload the enclosed ‘wp-spamfree’ directory to your WordPress plugins directory: ‘/wp-content/plugins/’.

As always, activate the plugin on your WordPress plugins page.

You’re done! Sit back and see what it feels like to blog without comment spam!

And how have we managed here at the Reader Appreciation Project? The only spam we have received has been that annoying Trackback spam (only a few spam messages a day compared to hundreds). And readers don’t have to fill out a CAPTCHA and I don’t have to worry about them being blocked as with some other WordPress anti-spam tools.

I highly recommend downloading and installing WP-SpamFree. It’s a great and unobtrusive plugin to weed out almost all of your spam without imposing spam’s evil effects on your readers.

23 Comments on “WP-SpamFree – A Reader’s Dream?” - Add yours!

Sucker Reply 28. Jan, 2008 at 4:55 pm

I love this plugin, I’ve had the same experience! I have a post scheduled about it for tomorrow.
Ronald Huereca Reply 29. Jan, 2008 at 8:12 pm

Hey Sucker,

If you don’t mind, I’d be interested to read your post. Could you please post a link here or give me an email?

Thanks.
Alan Hartung Reply 01. Feb, 2008 at 12:05 pm

I use this plug-in, and my good friend developed it. It’s amazing. It literally cut my comment spam from a hundred a day to zero on my personal blog.

And, by the way, “Sucker”‘s blog post is here.
Ronald Huereca Reply 01. Feb, 2008 at 7:06 pm

Thanks Alan for the link. Glad to know others are benefiting from it.
Cincinnati Movers Reply 12. Feb, 2009 at 12:23 pm

I have a WP blog too but I have never used this plugin. On the other hand, I don’t need to since I have next to no traffic =] But I’m glad you guys found a plugin that is so effective and easy to use.
CirurgiaPlastica Reply 06. Apr, 2009 at 5:44 am

I tried several anti spam plugins before i found wpspamfree. Its easy to install and i got rid of all my spam problems. I recommend it!
Michael Reply 16. Jul, 2009 at 12:49 am

Hey,

I’ve just started using the spam-free plugin on my blog and spam has dropped to zero. The only problem is I’m worried some legitimate comments are getting treated as spam. Is there a way to have a look at all the comments caught by spam-free so I can check them manually?

Thanks
Donna Reply 04. May, 2010 at 4:42 pm

WP Spam free works only a few times… I mean spammers keep getting more and more smart. it seems they some times try even with legit comments and then once they detect the flaw in the comment system, they will post the spam comment
car hire in lanzarote Reply 10. May, 2010 at 10:33 pm

the important point is not only to cancel all type of spams and delete them but to also detect what is not spam, that’s when the real value of the plugin…
Art Studio Furniture Reply 15. May, 2010 at 4:01 am

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- Sapphire Reply 30. Aug, 2010 at 10:10 am
  
  …and that’s a spam comment. Just letting you know.
Audio Interconnect Cables Reply 15. May, 2010 at 4:43 am

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Joe Reply 22. May, 2010 at 4:22 pm

Thanks for this, I am glad that people are to make great use out of this.

Thanks,
Joe
Gladus Reply 28. May, 2010 at 4:39 pm

All site owners are aware of this unethical activities just to build links. I’m glad that WP owners can make use of something now in order to prevent site from all spammers.
Stacie Reply 03. Jun, 2010 at 9:10 am

I can understand WP users wanting to get rid of spam from their sites. I own a few blogs and I’m always seeing comments on it that are clearly cut and paste jobs that can apply to a thousand different topics instead of ones that contribute to the discussion. This plugin makes me sceptical but I’ll try it anyway.
Michael Reply 06. Jun, 2010 at 9:50 am

Many bloggers are very thankful because there are available spam filter plugins that they can use to protect their blogs. That’s precisely the difference.
Jacob Reply 15. Jun, 2010 at 5:37 pm

I feel like i even end up ignoring the real comments on my WP blog. I will give this a try – thanks for sharing!
Renan@iphone wallpaper Reply 14. Jul, 2010 at 8:36 am

Thanks for the tip!
we bloggers really suffered much from spam, and I I was informed by several friends who tried to leave comments on one of my blogs and could not, just figured they were being considered spam, because they commented a lot. But have no other way, or is this lock or your page will be full of useless comments.

Well, I use the WP-Spam Free, because I usually use CAPTCHAs
let’s see if a change is better.
Thank you.
Gerald Reply 31. Jul, 2010 at 10:44 pm

Most WP users are after to the WP plugins. Specifically, they want the spam filter plugins that can help them manage their blog against spammers.
William Reply 01. Aug, 2010 at 9:23 pm

Based on my readings, the most useful WP plugin is the akismet. It prevents your site from spammers. However, for some it is not working 100% accurate because site owners still find useful comments thrown by akismet.
Henry Reply 25. Aug, 2010 at 8:56 am

Akismet is one of the most effective plugins that can be used in WordPress. It’s the most important plugin which can actually control spam comments in blogs.
Tony Reply 30. Aug, 2010 at 7:32 pm

Where has this download been all my life. It really has made reading much more pleasant. Thanks so much for posting this.
James Reply 31. Aug, 2010 at 12:32 pm

I guess my question would be how long will this be relevant before the spammers figure out a way around it. Are there going to be updates regarding this?