Important
As of January 1st, 2009, I am no longer developing, maintaining or supporting Spam Karma. If you want to contribute to its code or download the latest GPL release, you can check out the code repository, over at Google Code.
Thanks.
1. Overview
Spam Karma 2 (SK2) is an anti-spam plugin for the WordPress blogging platform. It is meant to stop all forms of automated Blog spam effortlessly, while remaining as unobtrusive as possible to regular commenters. Spam Karma 2 is the proud successor to Spam Karma, with whom it shares most of the development ideas, but absolutely none of the code
2. Requirements
- WordPress: SK2 requires at least WP 1.5.1 (or up). It is compatible with all versions of WordPress up to the latest release (2.1).
- mySQL: 4.0 or up is strongly recommended (some important functionalities might not work otherwise).
3. Installation
Install is the easiest ever:
- download the archive
- unzip and drop the whole SK2 folder, as is, in your
pluginsdirectory. - Enable the plugin in the WP Admin >> Plugins section.
- Browse to WP Admin >> Manage >> Spam Karma 2.
(Note: if you are upgrading from a previous install, simply overwrite the older files with the new ones in the instructions above)
Please check SK2 GPL repository for any potential downloads.
4. The Aftermath
Everything worked? Good.
Not quite?
Just check out the FAQ & Troubleshooting Page, your answer might be there. Otherwise, you can try WP.org support forums.
For bug-reports exclusively, you can contact me using this online form (do not use the old support email account: it is no longer active).
5. Tip Jar
If Spam Karma saved your life/relationship/cat/mailbox and you feel overly generous, please feel free to make a donation.
If you don’t have cash, but plenty of time to spare, consider helping out with some WP community-related projects.
6. Other Languages
Sprechen Sie Deutsch? Parlez-vous français? 日本語喋れる？¿Hablas Español? Parla Italiano? etc.
SK2 can probably speak your language !
Go here to find instructions on how to switch SK2 to a language other than English.
If your language is not in this list already (or even if it is, but you feel the translations can be improved), learn how you can contribute here.
7. Documentation and Extra Stuff
For more info about how SK2 works, what it does, how you can improve it etc, check SK2′s Documentation Blog on wp-plugins.net. Please feel free to contribute.
There are additional third-party plugins available to extend SK2′s functionalities. Check out the full list here.
SK2 will automatically inserts an “X spams eaten” message in your footer (you can disable or customize it in the admin options).
Using SK2? Eager to tell the world about it? Like having 300 little acronym buttons on the side of your page?
Say no more, we have what you need:
Feel free to download and do whatever you want with this kick-ass button, including using it on your own page, possibly with a link to this very page. However: hotlink it directly from this page, and I will unleash my legions of killer ferrets on you and your descendance, at the click of a mouse.
If you are a developer and would like to learn how you can very easily use SK2 as a support for your own anti-spam development effort, check out the SK2 API page.
If you have an idea on how to improve SK2 (and see no mention of it in the existing docs) feel free to contact me about it, but keep in mind that nearly any addition to SK2 can be done outside of the core, through an SK2 module. Feel free to contact me if you want to take on such a task and need a bit of help getting started.
Normally, SK2 should automatically check for updates on a reasonably regular basis, but consider checking that page back in a few weeks if you do not see any update.
8. What about Karma?
You mean, the sanskrit word that defines a concept in eastern religions?
I wrote an entry about it here.
9. Your comment was mistakenly eaten by Spam Karma?
10. Licensing and Legal Matters
Spam Karma 2 is not GPL. It is copyright and all rights reserved. However, it is absolutely free for download, use and non-commercial redistribution. Anything else is subject to prior written permission by myself. If you contact me, chances are I’ll say yes to any reasonable request.
External plugins (including those bundled with Spam Karma 2) are the property of their respective developers and, by default, subject to the same distribution rules.
What this mean in practice: Spam Karma is “free software”, in that it is absolutely free to download, free to use and even free to tinker with (although I typically would require any modifications made to it to be clearly indicated to potential users). What I do not want to see, though, is people grabbing a version of WP and SK2, packaging them together and selling them for $300 (as they could do, with GPL software). Bottom line is that I am not trying to make money with this, and I don’t see why somebody else should be able to without me having a say first.
Once again, this type of licensing doesn’t make any difference for 99% of users (it’s free for whatever you need it to do), and shouldn’t stand in the way of the remaining 1% with more specific needs. If you have doubt or questions, contact me: I am very open to any discussion or criticism regarding this format of licensing.
I am also very open to porting SK2 over to other platforms. Its architecture makes it extremely portable (for a WP plugin). Contact me if you think you may be interested in adapting it for another platform.
It goes without saying that this software is provided “as is”, without any guarantee of warranty of any kind, nor could I ever be held liable for any damages it could do to your system (see header of source code for details): if SK2 was to go berserk, screw up your database, delete your entire blog, kill your cat and rape your hamster (or the other way round), you’re pretty much on your own legally. It shouldn’t though.
11. Changelog
New in 2.3:
- Miscellaneous bug-fixes (UI, WP21 compatibility, compatibility with other plugins etc.)
- A few small changes in the modules (improving blacklisting module, disabling RBL for now).
- Important updates to WordPress DB schema in order to try and improve its sluggish loading time (not directly an SK2 problem per se, but had to be done for SK2 to run fine).
2.2:
- Miscellaneous bug-fixes (UI, WP2 compatibility etc.)
- Fine-tuning of older modules to accomodate new spambot breed.
- Minor additions to SK2′s filtering modules to raise SK2 protections.
2.1:
- Full multilingual support (see available languages).
- WP 2.0 and SQL 5.0 compatibility
- Improved email integration (can flag/unflag spam directly from notification emails).
- Miscellaneous bug fixes and improvements
[...] probleme wegen spam sollten behoben sein via Spam-Karma Plugin: http://unknowngenius.com/blog/wordpress/spam-karma/ [...]
[...] I had a rant about blog spam a month or so ago, so at the recommendation of someone on this site, I’ve installed the Spam Karma wordpress plug-in. [...]
[...] During past week I started to receive more spam, even-though the graphical code tries to tell human commenters from robots. Now I’ve installed a new plugin, so if you experience any problems with comments, please send me an email… or try to comment under this post
[...]
[...] Now, comment spam wasn’t a huge deal here until about a year ago or so. When it became a real problem, I installed Spam Karma, which has stopped pretty much all of it. How many pieces of comment spam does “all of it” equal? Right about 60,000 comment spams, in nearly one year. See the little black bar at the bottom of this page? It counts the number of comment spams that Spam Karma has stopped. It currently reads “This blog is protected by Spam Karma 2: 62528 Spams eaten and counting…”. [...]
[...] Spam Karma 2.2: So wie es im Englischen beschrieben steht, ist Spam Karma wahrscheinlich der Spam-Töter schlechthin. Absolut empfehlenswert. Von dr Dave. [...]
[...] Spam Karma 2.2: So wie es im Englischen beschrieben steht, ist Spam Karma wahrscheinlich der Spam-Töter schlechthin. Absolut empfehlenswert. Von dr Dave. [...]
[...] Less than three months since this book was first published it is clear to see that the passage of time has not been kind to it. This is most evident in how it tries to define a “Blog†with a definition that only two years ago would pass for a definition of a “weblog†but fails to even meet that demand today due to failing to take account of recent developments in blogging, weblogging and even basic website developments. Another example of this is in encouraging the readers to use features or techniques that whist popular in the past have become less so and some that are now that’s to developments are considered to be harmful to user interaction. An example of an outdated practise been described as if it were best practise is telling users to use CAPTCHAs to stop spam without considering the human interaction issues (and the effect of laws such as the DDA in the UK) and also without giving any consideration to other methods of spam prevention such as Akismet or Spam Karma [...]
[...] I’ve been having a problem with more and more spam on this blog. What the spammers do is they add fake comments to your posts and embed advertisments in them. As soon as they show up, I delete them but they’re coming more and more frequently as they determine that I do not have automated protection. So, today, I installed a very nice anti-spam plug-in called spam-karma 2.0 from here: . By the way, the fellow who created spam-karma 2.0 has a very interesting website/blog – one of the more interesting that I’ve seen in awhile. [...]
[...] Pimp Up Your Blog Mit den sogenannten Plugins kann man sein neues Blog mit allerlei technische Raffinessen ausstatten. Wichtig sind vor allem Spam-Schutz mit Akismet oder Spam Karma sowie ein automatisiertes DB-Backup mit WP-Cron. Weiter Plugins empfehlen sich je nach Bedarf. Doch Vorsicht: je mehr Plugins installiert sind, desto mehr leidet die Performance. Weitere empfehlenswerte Plugins findet ihr in den Links. [...]
[...] 6. Spam Karma 2 – Reloaded – Eats up all the comment spam. Very useful plugin. [...]
[...] Eine CAPTCHA-Funktion schützt Formulare vor Spam. Nicht immer kann man auf “goldwerte” Dienste wie Akismet oder Plugins wie Spam Karma 2 zurückgreifen, die es für Blogging-Plattformen gibt: diese Schützen Seiten mit Kommentarfunktion vor nervendem Spam, indem Sie entweder den Absender oder den Inhalt eines Kommnetars mit einer Online-Datenbank abgleichen oder anhand diverser Methoden prüfen, ob es sich um ein Kommentar oder um Robot-generierten Spam handelt. [...]
[...] Spam Karma 2 2.2 r3 Ultimate Spam Killer for WordPress. Activate the plugin and go to Manage >> Spam Karma 2 to configure. See Spam Karma 2 >> About for details. By dr Dave. [...]
[...] here’s the link « Flickr Tag Clouds | [...]
[...] i didn’t end up seeing much in the way of positive results with Bad Behavior. So, i installed Spam Karma 2. Much much better. i haven’t had to moderate a single piece of spam since. No spam has ever made it to the blog itself since i have WordPress set to moderate comments from new posters. But, i was having to moderate a dozen or so spam messages per day. Most of the spam i was getting was coming from addresses at bladerDotCom. While bad behavior has a blacklist, i couldn’t figure out how to add a particular domain to it. After reading some of the docs, i wasn’t sure if it was set up for that type of filtering. Spam Karma 2 had exactly what i was looking for. i’m sure the inefficiency of bad behavior was more my inefficiency at configuring it. Management and configuration of SK2 made far more sense to me (i.e someone who simply wants to install and stop the spamming without having to have some sort of religious experience with the software in order to make it do what i want it to do). SK2 gets the dreamwreck stamp of approval. Commence rejoicing. [...]
[...] Over the weekend Richard and I did some Limes & Lycopene housekeeping – updating to the latest version of WordPress, installing a spam filter and so on. [...]
[...] Stats don’t tell you the whole picture. My post about Judy’s Book continues to get read, but when I compare the numbers to my Spam Karma results, I see that 90% of the comment spam I get is on that post. So don’t take those stat numbers as gospel. Spammers are clicking your links, too! [...]
[...] What do I have say about that? Well, Duh! If people can spam our email with viruses, then they can surely hit us through our RSS feeds, but that’s why we (bloggers) install protections like Spam Karma (and other such comment filters) and why we all install spy ware protection and anti-virus software on our computers. [...]
[...] 抱歉，曾經被我之前安裝的Akismet給擋在門外的朋友。由於本站一天會收到數百個SPAM留言的轟炸，在不堪其擾的情況下，只好尋求還我漂亮拳式的解決之道。不過或許是它的標準太過嚴苛（或者異常變態），導致不少良民也被當成壞蛋，真的是千錯萬錯都是我的錯。目前改用Spam Karma 2，希望可以運作得順利一點。 [...]
[...] Ich habe es ein wenig satt, täglich dutzende von Spam-Kommentaren löschen zu müssen. Captchas mochte ich bis jetzt nicht besonders (und, um ehrlich zu sein, habe ich noch nicht herausgefunden, wie ich solche in mein Kommentarformular einbauen kann ) Jetzt bin ich beim Surfen auf Tanjas Blog über Spam Karma 2 gestolpert und habe dieses Plugin gleich einmal installiert. Ich bin ja gespannt, wie und ob es funktioniert. Ich hoffe bloss, das Progrämmchen fresse mir nicht die netten, echten Kommentare! [...]
[...] …. bei einigen Blogs mit dem Spam Kama , bin ich immer als Spam eingestufft *wein* wie bei Martina Ich bin aber kein Spam, ich bin ich ,ein null Spammer ! Warum mag mich das Spam Kama nicht ? *heul* [...]
[...] VaupsBlog is proudly powered by WordPress Entries (RSS) and Comments (RSS). This blog is protected by dr Dave’s Spam Karma 2: 2 Spams eaten and counting… [...]
[...] Dejé el comentario sin aprobar y fuí a la “Bitágora del Tigre“ para ver si encontraba alguna información de sobre protección. Comprobé que la tiene protegida con este pluging: Spam Karma 2. Rápidamente instalé el pluging siguiendo las instrucciones de instalación: [...]
[...] Spam Detection : Reading a blog full of viagra and casino comment spam is not fun. Chances are, it’ll annoy your users too and they’ll stop visiting. – Akismet – Spam Karma [...]
[...] For backend of the site, I’ve used SpamKarma2 to prevent bad people from spreading spam across our family’s blog. Let’s just say that there are some horrible people in this world and this plugin takes care of them! To help Google find our pages, I’ve installed the Google Sitemaps plugin, which makes that task much simpler. [...]
[...] A l’instar de Guillaume, avant de me mettre à sécuriser les commentaires, je vais tout d’abord laisser Askimet surveiller tout ce qui est posté, et passer à Spam Karma si necessaire… [...]
[...] Spam Karma 2 – Yet another popular spam filter. [...]
[...] Ich habe mir vor wenigen Tagen Spam Karma 2 hier installiert. Sehr fein, schon über 200 Abfallkommentare beseitigt, die ich sonst selbst hätte löschen müssen. So gefällt das. [...]
[...] My blog, like many others (every other, I’m sure), gets a ton of SPAM shot at its comments section. So, awhile back I installed Spam Karma 2 (SK2) by Dr. Dave. It eliminated the SPAM, which was great. But, it also eliminated my ability to moderate comments, which was bad. I looked a few times for a solution to this. I would find tons of information out there on SK2, but, no answers – until today. [...]
[...] Spam Karma 2 terlalu sadis nih. Emang ada baiknya juga berhati-hati dalam memfilter comment, tapi masa comment dari author blognya di masukin moderasi? Masa menurut si Spam Karma, gw nge-spam blog gw sendiri sih, aneh. Plugin anti spam lain (akismet) aja ngga se-sadis itu. [...]
【WordPress ME】「Spam Karma 2.2」を導入してみた。しかし・・・
7月の「WordPress交流会」でも話が上がり、個人的にも気になっていたWordPressプラグイン「Spam Karma」ですが、ようやく導入する決心が付きましたので、導入してみました。
●Spam Karma 2.2 ＠…
MU Spam Karma
Dr. Dave’s Spam Karma is excellent plugin for wordpress. Now it’s also available for MU Version. I just wonder it’s may increased the SQL table and slower the server loading.
Download here: WPMU-SK2
…
[...] While I do have Bad Behavior and Spam Karma 2 running, I have always wondered on how to track down and stop spammers. [...]
[...] Thanks to my friend Tim for suggesting this great utility to deal with blog-spam: [...]
[...] was written by Horatio and posted on August 21, 2006 at 6:28 pm and filed under Meta. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Post a comment or leave a trackback:Trackback URL. « found on osia-discuss@lists.osia.org.au [...]
[...] ACTUALIZADO : creo haber encontrado la solución al problema. El plugin que me da este error es el que utilizo para controlar el spam : el Spam Karma 2 . Parece ser que al actualizar a wordpress 2.0 las bases de datos incluyen un nuevo campo, comment_count, que SK2 no tiene en cuenta. Se lo salta a la torera. A través de un plugin para el mismo SK2, sólo si no tienes la última versión incorporada que es la v2.2, dicen que se soluciona. Si ya tienes la última versión, dicen que este bug está corregido. [...]
[...] Just a quick note to say that some comment posts from my dear readers are being mistakenly caught by my anti-spam plugin and buried with hundreds of daily spam comments. This is getting out of hand and frustrating not only for me but for anyone who spends valuable time writing a comment just to find it disappear. [...]
[...] بس الظاهر أني لقيت الحل. كنت قاعد اقرا آخر مواضيع الأستاذ المبدع فؤاد الفرحان و توني انتبه آخر الموقع، تحت، فيه بار حق Plugin اسمه Spam Karma 2 و مكتوب أنه منع 213 سبام من الموقع! قلت ياولد دام أن الأستاذ فؤاد بزاتو مستخدم البرنامج ، لازم يكون كذا (صورة يد مضمومة و أصبع الإبهام مرفوع للإعلى).بس بعد ما دخلت موقع البرنامج و شفت كم منع سبام….جلست اطنطن “~ سلملي عى السبامز ~”. منع برنامج Spam Karma 2 أكثر من 120 ألف سبام من بلوقه! و أنا مسوي فيها كاتب أكبر لستة كلمات في العالم. [...]
[...] Spam Karma 2 – ultimate comment spam killer. [...]
[...] Das Plugin Spam Karma 2 installiert und konfiguriert. [...]
[...] Pretty slick and snazzy. Also installed Spam Karma 2.2 because, Spammers, suck. [...]
[...] 而除了Akismet外，另外两款比较有名的Anti-Spam插件是Spam Karma 2和Bad Behavior。SK2和Akismet一样是通过事后的分析来过滤掉被认为是spam的内容。不同之处在于SK2是通过调用自带的一系列审查机制来工作，激活后会在数据库中添加三个表——blacklist,spams和logs；而Akismet则是通过服务器端的列表来核对内容。相比之下，Akismet的使用更傻瓜，而SK2的自定义性可能更高。两者选一个来用就好了。 [...]
[...] Enter Spam Karma, which again has ridden to my rescue. I wasn’t hoping WordPress 2 wouldn’t need a spam filter plugin because I haven’t liked Spam Karma– in fact I love it– I hoped I wouldn’t need it because I hoped WordPress users would have a standalone solution that they wouldn’t need to supplement with additional plugins. Off the server, WordPress 2 does come with the Akismet plugin already installed and ready to activate– but I haven’t used it and it looks to me like Spam Karma is a more elegant and less obtrusive solution. [...]
[...] While I hate to use them, I can’t live without three comment spam fighting WordPress Plugins. In fact, calling them WordPress Plugins is making light of the fact that these are “can’t-live-without-must-have” blogging tools. Bad Behavior, Spam Karma, and Akismet make my blogging life easier by stopping or catching comment spam by the hundreds and hundreds. They also make life easier for my blog visitors so they don’t have to see the horrid crap comment spammers spew. I hate using them because I want to live in a world filled with respect and good will, where people work hard to represent the best that humans can be, not the worst. Until then, I love to hate these comment spam evil fighting tools. [...]
[...] I just found another tool for my arsenal against spam. It’s yet another plugin for wordpress that recognizes and blocks spambots from your site. I also learned about a new form of spam called referrer spam. I don’t publish my web stats but after skimming through my log I found some interesting stuff. Sneaky little bastards. That link to the wikipedia info on spambots is a little outdated. It describes a spambot as a program designed to collect email addresses, but they do a whole lot more than that now. I’m not entirely educated as to the extent of their abilities today so you’ll have to do some google research to find out more but from what I’ve read so far, having a spambot just extract email addresses is the least of your worries when it comes to their kind. Anyway, the plugin Bad Behavior should put a stop to the majority of them on my site. I’ll be keeping SpamKarma on as well to see if anything gets past Bad Behavior. [...]
[...] This blog is now protected by dr Dave’s Spam Karma 2. 675 spams eaten and counting…. Don’t even try it. Posted by Kirby Witmer | [...]
[...] Die regelmäßig eingehenden Spam-Kommentare und Trackbacks dürften jedes Blog früher oder später treffen – und sorgen schnell für große Freude beim Blogbetreiber, wenn man nicht Anti-Spam-Filter wie z.B. Spam Karma 2 (unknowngenius.com) einsetzt. Hier in meinem Blog trudeln täglich etwa 30-40 solcher Kommentare ein, bei anderen (bekannteren) Blogs gehen durchaus 100 Spam-Kommentare und mehr am Tag ein. [...]
[...] Докато не открих правилния плъгин – Spam Karma. Наистина – избива спама, изтребва го до крак. За момента от повече от месец няма празно… А е и доста удобен за администриране, така че горещо го препоръчвам на всеки, които има проблеми от такова естество. Настроение : Болнаво Можете да оставите коментар или връзка от Вашия сайт. RSS 2.0 [...]
[...] By the way, I’m loving my Spam Filter. Posted by Kirby Witmer | [...]
[...] I just frigging HATE Akismet so much! I don’t know why they branded my comments as spam. I hate to think that my blogger friends have to dig out my comments from the recesses of Akismet’s ass to retrieve my comments that I wrote on their blogs. Guys I suggest that if you can, ditch Akismet and instead use Spam Karma 2 or SK2 (click here!) which is a lot better and you can control everything with tons of options and other nifty tricks. [...]
[...] Spam Karma 2, para mantener mi blog libre de comentarios basura. [...]