What is the best method to keep bots from spamming your blog?

Question

I got a problem at my blog. I got visits from kind bots who leave \"nice\" comments to my blog posts :(

I\'m wondering if there is a smarter way to keep them out, besid

Answer 1

Akismet is definitely the #1 method I know of for limiting spam comments. Also nice to offload that to a 3rd party (at a reasonable price).. that way if client complains, just 'shift the blame'

Another option is to incorporate something like mod_security's spammer signature file. They have a list of keywords you can scan a comment for and place the message to be moderated if you got a match. Though if you had a message board that actually discussed topics that contain these keywords, you'll need a lot of moderators. :-)

Also may want to consider scanning IP's and matching them against SpamHaus or DCShield's block lists. We recently started this approach and it has done wonders.

Things that don't work: requiring registration, simple captcha's, user agent... these can be automated or defeated with cheap labor.