You remember the first time you received a comment on your blog that went something like this?

excellent post. fascinating reading. i’d be happy to have you submit your article links for any future postings such as these you feel might be useful for your readership. http://www.dumbdomainname.com

An interesting dialogue is worth a comment. I think that you need to write more on this matter, it won’t be a taboo subject however generally individuals are not sufficient to speak on such topics. To the next. Cheers…

And you actually feel really good about it? And then you feel sort of silly when you realize their email address is made up, and their linking to a real estate board in Georgia. Or a site that’s advertising viagroa. And they’re posting to your page every day.

Buy Property in Malaysia or Get Hot Girls.

And then… you get slammed. They’re not just posting to your page every day. You’re getting 36 comments every hour. What?

It’s time to install some kind of protection for your website.

Since installing Akismet last year I rarely have to manually mark comments as spam. A look at my dashboard tonight tells me it’s caught over 8000 of the little spammy guys. I do sometimes wonder if it ever catches legitimate messages?

But what other things can you do to reduce the number of time wasting comments on your website, without having to shut commenting off (and I know a LOT of website owners are shutting off comments now, for various reasons).

Let’s take a look at some ways to reduce comment spam:

1. Spam Filters:The first one I mentioned already. Install a Spam Filter like Akismet or WP Spam
2. Hold for Moderation(this is something I chose not to do. I like to have an open dialogue in the comments area)
3. Shut off comments to old posts. I’ve personally found that most of the comment spam was being posted on very old posts (3 months or older), so I decided to closed commenting on posts older than 30 days.  You can do that too by going to your Dashboard > Settings > Discussion . It looks like this:
4. Hold Comments: If they have specific keywords you don’t want posted on your blog you can alter these settings. In the same spot you were before Dashboard > Settings > Discussion
5. BlackList Commenters: Just after this area, enter anyone who has somehow got through your filters. Manually add their information and they won’t be able to post anymore.  Ideally though, you’d have this automated through your spam filters.

Because, don’t you really just want to keep connecting with your ideal client? Building relationships and offering great content?  Clicking “Send to Trash” all day is no fun!

Do you have any other suggestions? What other ways can we reduce spam in our inbox, without shutting commenting off