This is what I abhor about IntenseDebate because it actually shows your comment as *published* even when it was in fact caught by the spam filter.

It's interesting to share different scenarios though -- there is no one-size fits all and I'm happy if people are trying out different solutions and sharing their results!

So let me get this straight BB. You still use Akismet but you pair it with AVH?

Yes, that is how I currently have it set up.  I could, technically, turn Akismet off if I wanted to (I did for a few days after I installed AVH), but it's like an extra layer of security for anything that gets through the AVH.  Akismet still turns up a few false positives, but when there are only 5 messages in the spam queue, it's very easy to go through it regularly and rescue the occasional false.

Sustainable PF said:

BeatingBroke said:

There is little doubt that Akismet leaves something to be desired, however, I just can't see myself ever using a captcha.  They either have to click a box or type some words which is just one more step where they can give up on commenting and go elsewhere.  I use a plugin called AVH Anti Spam.  It rocks.  It basically works off of a blacklist and if the IP is on a blacklist, they don't even see your comment form.  I still get plenty of comments, and haven't had any complaints yet.  And my spam went down to nearly nothing.

I would love to go this route, except: a. What if, like in Akismet's case, someone gets on the blacklist by mistake? and b. The Conditional Captcha is only shown to a tiny minority of my commenters (about 1%).

As I noted just above, this is much more robust.  In Akismet's case, it basically just checks to see how many links you have or etc.  In AVH's case, it checks you against a anti-spam blacklist.  http://www.stopforumspam.com/

It's a community effort, so it takes a few reports of spam to get on the list, unlike one wrong click.  On BeatingBroke, I have it combined with another ability to check against a honey pot system (all built in) to help prevent bots too. 

So far, I haven't seen any reports of any false positives, and it's completely transparent to the user.  If they don't match the list, they just see a comment form with a submit button.

Hey BB

 

You use nothing? I got rid of GASP, briefly, and the spam was nuts.  That was using Askimet and Bad Behaviour

one check box. 

Not nothing.  The AVH anti spam plugin is a second layer that supplements Akismet.  It's completely transparent to the user.  All they see is a comment box.  Using just Akismet, I was getting over 100 spams in my spam folder each day.  Now, it's a bad week when I get 15.  So far, I haven't seen any reports of false positives.

BeatingBroke said:

There is little doubt that Akismet leaves something to be desired, however, I just can't see myself ever using a captcha.  They either have to click a box or type some words which is just one more step where they can give up on commenting and go elsewhere.  I use a plugin called AVH Anti Spam.  It rocks.  It basically works off of a blacklist and if the IP is on a blacklist, they don't even see your comment form.  I still get plenty of comments, and haven't had any complaints yet.  And my spam went down to nearly nothing.

I would love to go this route, except: a. What if, like in Akismet's case, someone gets on the blacklist by mistake? and b. The Conditional Captcha is only shown to a tiny minority of my commenters (about 1%).

You use nothing? I got rid of GASP, briefly, and the spam was nuts.  That was using Askimet and Bad Behaviour

one check box. 

There is little doubt that Akismet leaves something to be desired, however, I just can't see myself ever using a captcha.  They either have to click a box or type some words which is just one more step where they can give up on commenting and go elsewhere.  I use a plugin called AVH Anti Spam.  It rocks.  It basically works off of a blacklist and if the IP is on a blacklist, they don't even see your comment form.  I still get plenty of comments, and haven't had any complaints yet.  And my spam went down to nearly nothing.

There is little doubt that Akismet leaves something to be desired, however, I just can't see myself ever using a captcha.  They either have to click a box or type some words which is just one more step where they can give up on commenting and go elsewhere.  I use a plugin called AVH Anti Spam.  It rocks.  It basically works off of a blacklist and if the IP is on a blacklist, they don't even see your comment form.  I still get plenty of comments, and haven't had any complaints yet.  And my spam went down to nearly nothing.

 

 

Great, thanks for the tip. I am installing that now.

I still use Akismet too. I think they have been doing a better job lately.

For you and the others still using it, please use Conditional Captcha as well. It goes with Akismet but lets people like me enter a captcha, so we don't have to bother you with emails every time we go into the spam. :)

I use Akismet but I always review my spam folder. If I do this, does that mean I am looking after that 10% or am I still missing them?

You might be. Try installing Conditional Captcha -- it complements Akismet so you no longer have to scan your spam folder because only the spambots who can't fill out captchas will end up there.