I’ve released version 1.12 of Comment Warning overnight. It only contains a small, non critical, change – it now counts how many comments have been made from each IP address in the Log.
What Does Version 1.12 Include?
As mentioned above, version 1.12 only includes one small, non critical, change: counting how many comments have been made from each IP address in the Log.
The number of comments counted will include all comments from an IP address, even those before the comment author was warned. It will NOT include comments that have been marked as spam (or deleted obviously).
If there are some comments for an IP address, the number will link to the Edit Comments page for that IP address, so you can check the comments left by that visitor to see if they are appropriate to remain on the site.
Note: Because of the way the Log is created, there may multiple entries for each IP address. In this case, the comment count will be duplicated for each entry from the same IP address.
How To Upgrade
To upgrade to the new version, go to the Comment Warning plugin page, download the new version, unzip it and upload it over the top of the existing files on your server.
Basically you just need to follow the installation instructions on the plugin page, without the need to activate it. Although not strictly necessary, it’s always recommended to backup your database and files before doing anything on your server.
Alternatively, if you’re already running Comment Warning and are on WordPress 2.7+, you’ll see an upgrade notification in the Plugin page of the Admin area. Click the upgrade link and it will do it all for you in about 15 seconds.
In my 2 blogs, I used just a slightly more inconvenient captcha than what you’re using right now. Adding 5 + 8, like you’re using now, takes only a second to go through. Mine, which uses the usual letters and numbers sets to be read and typed takes around 4 seconds (because sometimes you need to stare to read it) seems effective enough because it dropped spammer comments count to almost zero. Yes, there are some complaints from sincere commenters, but I think they understand and can handle it.
Anyway, this plugin would definitely be helpful especially if you don’t want to read each comment to determine spam content or not.
bbJ – the problem isn’t the bots, it’s human commentators who are driven to get a link. They don’t all make the effort you’ve made. 🙂