I’ve updated my install of MT-Blacklist to version 1.6.2. This blog got hit with lots of comment spam today, and I had to get rid of it all.

A great addition to MT-Blacklist is Luke Reeves’ MTBlacklist Updater 1.0 python script. Set up is fairly simple, the config file is easy to write (note: spaces are the delimiters), and it’s easy to put a shell script in /etc/periodic/daily that calls the script (and thus updating your blacklist) automatically. Having said that, I hate comment spam. Even more than email spam. Email spammers I can deal with - or I have SpamSieve deal with it. Email spam is just advertising to you - comment spam is advertising to every single person who visits the blog.

If I had to draw a comparison with something in real life and comment spam, I’d say it’s as bad as slapping bumper stickers on every car in the a big office complex when the owners are inside working. Really, online vandalism is what it is.

I try to use my blog to offer my customers and friends a view into the inner workings of Wilcox Development Solutions - what we are working on now, new technologies we are working on, and progress we’ve made (or haven’t) with certain projects. However, my professional image is damaged with every single bit of comment spam that gets seem by someone visiting my blog.

With email it’s personal - and while I don’t like people attacking me personally, I can handle it. When people attack me professionally, however, that’s a different story. My professional reputation is part of what my clients look at when they’re evaluating my company - and I won’t have it degraded by thieves that would degrade my reputation, thus stealing possible work from me.

I’m really hopeful that this new version of MT-Blacklist, along with the auto-updater will solve my problems. If it doesn’t I’ll have to write some challenge-response mechanism for Movable-Type. Because this has got to stop.