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Comment spam is one of those problems that isn't likely to disappear anytime soon.

It's a pity, but it's just one of those things you have to deal with.

So how can you deal with it?

The most obvious methods would be to configure and use plugins like Akismet or TypePad Antispam.

Both systems are available for most of the common blogging platforms and can even be used with other web based software such as VBulletin.

Unfortunately neither system is perfect.

In some cases you will find that you still get a lot of junk that makes its way into your moderation queue or worse still, valid comments get marked as spam and you simply don't see them.

If your blog is under constant attack by automated comment spam bots two things can easily happen:

1. Your site can become sluggish, as the amount of traffic hitting the comment form will have a negative impact
2. You will still have to check the suspected spam queue, so if it's particularly large you will probably overlook valid comments

Other methods that people like to employ involve checking the UserAgent of the commenter ie. checking to see if it is really a human or not. Of course that also adds to the overhead.

One method that I've found extremely helpful is to simply close comments on entries after a certain period has elapsed. So instead of leaving comments on posts open indefinitely I might choose to close them 30, 60 or 120 days later. It may not be ideal, but it certainly helps mitigate the nasty side-effects of spammers.

What do you do?

If your blog accepts comments then you need to manage them properly.

What do I mean?

At the most basic comment management means actually moderating the comments so that they get published in a timely fashion.

If you don't publish the comments quickly enough you will upset / annoy people or they'll simply lose interest.

If you are thinking of upgrading to Movable Type 4 or simply want to see what it has to offer, then this list of compatible and available plugins is a must.

If you are working with Movable Type templates then MT Tags is a must. It's an incredible resource listing all possible tags that you can use in your Movable Type templates.

If you have SSH access to your hosting account upgrading Wordpress can be done very quickly and easily. All you need is:

• SSH (obviously)
• MC - midnight commander

SSH into your account and create a directory above your public directory ie. outside your web area. Call it something like "wpupgrade" mkdir wpupgrade Move into that directory: cd wpupgrade;wget http://wordpress.org/latest.tar.gz The second part of the command will download a copy of the most recent release of Wordpress. You will then need to extract it using tar: tar -zxvf latest.tar.gz This will create a new directory called wordpress with the latest version. You now need to ensure that you have backed up the important parts of your current install: cd ../web Move into your web directory. If your blog is installed below the root, then you will need to move into that directory. You will then take a backup of some of the essential files: mkdir backup cp wp-config.php .htaccess backup cp -R wp-content backup rm wp*.php .htaccess license.txt readme.html xmlrpc.php rm -rf wp-admin wp-includes cp backup/wp-config.php . These commands backup the essential bits, remove the old files and back up the config. You also have a backup of the wp-content directory just in case. You can then use midnight commander to copy the new files and directories over. Simple type the command "mc" and then navigate so that the left pane has your new wordpress files and the right pane is the directory you are installing it all into. Once you've copied over the files you can then visit your wp-admin directory, where you should be prompted to upgrade your Wordpress database. Depending on your configuration you may need to tweak some of the permissions and deactivate / reactivate plugins to get everything working as before. Enjoy! PS: It works for me, but it might cause your blog to explode! You have been warned! :)