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For bug-reports exclusively, you can contact me using this online form (do not use the old support email account: it is no longer active).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
[...] Spam Karma 2 Kicsit meguntam, hogy naponta 10-15 spam jön, beraktam ezt a sokat dícsért plugint, meglátjuk mire lesz képes. Ha esetleg nem tudnál kommentálni, dobj egy mailt, ott már van jól működő spam filter. [...]
[...] Zum wiederholten mal innerhalb weniger Tage hat sich heute der Server verabschiedet, auf dem dieses Blog gehostet ist. Der Grund: In Wellen trifft der Kommentarspam mit ungeheurer Wucht auf. Kurz vor der Veranbschiedung waren jeweils mehrere hundert Kommentarspams pro Minute zu beobachten. Das war einfach zu viel für das Blog und für “Spam Karma“, welches die Kommentare analysieren soll. [...]
[...] Spam Karma 2:Ao contrario do Askimet este método de prevenção de Spam nunca me falhou por um servidor estar em baixo ou inacessível por isso segui a velha máxima que diz “se funciona não arranjes”. [...]
[...] Yesterday I spent more time than really justified in playing around with the look-and-feel of The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach. It began innocently enough: I finally reached my breaking point on the comment spam, receiving two blocks of 48 spams within an hour. (And yes, they came in discrete quanta of 48. Odd.) Considering the very low output of this blog, it seemed ludicrous to be getting spam at roughly a 100:1 ratio. So I tooled around the Net for a while and found Spam Karma 2 (excellent tool for WordPress, by the way), which automates the process and so far is doing a great job. [...]
[...] Dr Dave’s Spam Karma A must-have. After using it for 6 months on LINT, only 3 spams have got through – and they seem to be hand entered. We have up to 200 spams stopped per day. [...]
[...] I didn’t want to enable comments and pingbacks before I had some good spam protection. I have that now: Jeroen pointed me to Spam Karma 2. Although the installation and configuration were easy enough, I ran into one snag: it did not display captcha images correctly. [...]
[...] WP Plugin: Comments Post Rewriter Prevents spambots sending their POST request to wp-comments-post.php by inserting a “authentication” code with JavaScript into wp-comments-post.php and writing it back to e.g. wp-comments-post.php?code=xxxxxxxxx. By xxxxxxx is a daily changed hash of several “server-unique” data. Now with an options page in your admin area and a binding to the SK2. (No Ratings Yet) Loading … [...]
[...] Posted by Kelvin on 01 Jan 2007 at 04:50 pm | Tagged as: programming Just spent the last 2 hours cleaning up my spam-filled moderation queue, and have enabled Spam Karma (http://unknowngenius.com/blog/wordpress/spam-karma/). [...]
[...] I’ve also updated Guzzo the Contrarian, with three great WordPress anti-spamming tools, Akismet, Bad Behavior, and Spam Karma 2. So far, and along with comment moderation, these three utilities have almost reduced my spam levels to nil. However, there is a chance that legitimate comments could be mistaken for spam. So, if you have trouble posting a comment, or feel that your comment has been deleted in error, please inform me and I’ll take measures to get it corrected. [...]
[...] We use a modified version of Spam Karma 2 for spam control (the original doesn’t work in our multi-user environment). While this is a phenominal plugin, it does have it’s problems. The karma system is quite neat, it assigns and removes reputation depending on a multitude of variables - such as your email and domain name, previous comments in the past, etc. Unfortunately it’s been acting overly aggressive and blacklisting IP’s and domains of legitimate commenters. We’ve been adjusting the settings attempting to find a balance between nailing spammers and not nailing real people. Just this morning though, it blacklisted me : ) [...]
[...] Nach einem kleines Zusammbruch bzw. Aussetzer meines ersten SPAM Schutzes (Akismet), mit dem ich bis jetzt eingentlich sehr zufrieden war habe ich mich entschlossen mal gleichzeitig SPAM-Karma 2 zu testen. Wenn also das eine oder andere Kommentar nicht gleich erscheinen sollte, kann es sein, dass mein SPAM Filter zu scharf eingestellt ist. Ich muss das die nächsten Wochen testen. Euro Kommentare werden dann 1-2 Tage später freigeschaltet. [...]
[...] Sparm Karma: Zusammen mit Akismet wunderbar gegen Spam [...]
[...] I’ve been spammed. First time. You didn’t see it, only the spammer did. Luckily, though, I have both Spam Karma and Akismet. Captcha’d them like fish to a bait. I feel good. XD [...]
[...] 雖然 Spam Karma 2 不是 GPL 授權，別拿它去架站收錢就不影響合法使用性。 [...]
[...] 最后使用上了Spam Karma 2，有很好的留言管理界面，而且强大的能阻止一切垃圾。缺点便是占用数据库，在运行效率上会差一点。Sk2在对回复的评判上有个Karma的得分，当得分为负数时便被判定为垃圾，一般的垃圾Karma为负的几十或者几百，偶尔有高的会到几千。不过今天遇到了一连串厉害的，竟然都负到20多万，挺恐怖。 [...]
[...] Sparm Karma: Zusammen mit Akismet wunderbar gegen Spam [...]
[...] Mit Hilfe von Spam Karma hab ich es tatsächlich geschafft, die Fülle von nervtötenden Spameinträgen Herr zu werden und von den ewigen Mails verschont zu bleiben. [...]
[...] 所以在忍痛之下，決定向曹操看齊，安裝寧可錯殺一百的Bad Behavior 2 + Spam Karma 2 作消極的抵擋。 [...]
[...] △。とりあえず「Spam Karma 2」は適用済み。 [...]
[...] I’m trying out the Spam Karma plugin for WordPress to see if those evil spammers will get filtered out and real posts are let in.
[...]
[...] Spam Karma 2: Le roi de l’anti-spam, indispensable. [...]
[...] I rarely get human posted spam comments, and Spam Karma captures all the automated comments flawlessly. [...]
[...] Da hier eigentlich nur noch Spam in den Kommentaren angekommen ist und ich eben drüber gestolpert bin, habe ich jetzt das Spam Karma 2.2 WordPress Plugin installiert und aktiviert. Drüber gestolpert bin ich im S-O-S SEO Blog . [...]
[...] Spam Karma [...]
[...] When we started Cosmic Variance over a year and a half ago, we put quite a bit of effort into choosing a web host (Bluehost.com) and blogging software (WordPress) and a theme (K2, heavily modified) and spam-filtering software (SpamKarma) etc. Since then, however, for the most part things have just sailed along smoothly without much tinkering, which is exactly how we like it — none of us is the type who enjoys messing with the blog software just for the heck of it. But occasionally things do crop up that we might want to do something about. [...]
[...] Also required Spam Karma 2 plugin to function. [...]
[...] Spam Karma 2.2 r3 [...]
[...] Thanks to Spam Karma 2 and Askimet, my various WordPress blogs’ comments are 100% spam free from automated spam. [...]
[...] Since the site op over at Spam Karma's web site has disabled commenting, I'm left reporting a bug on my own site, and relying on the pingback to notify him. [...]
[...] Spam Karma 2 Si tienes un WordPress sabrás que los spamers postean comentarios como cosa mala, pues buscando un kaptcha encontré este plugin que hace análisis como los filtros de spam normal y corrientes (por puntuación) y que la verdad, no se le escapa uno. Y así nos eliminamos los kaptcha. [...]
[...] Spam really drive me crazy! Few days ago my host sent me an email telling that my wp-comments-post.php is under attack, the server was flooded and they have to CHMOD it to 000, causing visitors unable to comment in my blog. Out of desperation and frustration i installed Spam Karma 2. [...]
[...] Enter Spam Karma (current version: 2.2) – the savior to all WordPress bloggers! [...]
[...] Enter Spam Karma to the rescue. A plugin that analizes each comment, and blocks those that are suspect. Easy configuration, excellent results! It let through the one comment that was made by a human, and blocked the 100s that weren’t. [...]
[...] Spam Karma 2 : hands down, the best anti-spam plugin there is. I wish SK2 made junk email filters as well. When coupled with manual approval of new comments, virtually nothing gets by it. It filters out 99.9% of the spam comments, and leaves a few in the moderation queue for me to check. [...]
[...] Spam Karma 2 [...]
for WordPress
Spam Karma[via zengun]
[...] Nach meinen Problemchen mit dem bei WordPress mitgelieferten Akismet Anti-Spam Plugin, das bei mir nach langen treuen Diensten plötzlich und unerklärlich sämliche Nicht-Admin Kommentare gnadenlos löschte (so ähnlich wie in China), habe ich Spam Karma 2 eine Chance gegeben. Dabei handelt es sich um ein alternatives Plugin, das auch die Akismet Datenbanken benutzt, aber ansonsten andere Wege geht. Soweit, so gut – es scheint zu funktionieren und liefert gleich noch einen ganzen Berg neuer Einstellmöglichkeiten mit. Für den Moment kann ich es also empfehlen, warten wir ab wie es sich auf lange Sicht entwickelt. Technorati Tags: akismet, blog, plugin, spam, Technik, WordPress [...]
[...] Страница плагина Spam Karma 2 Похожие заметкиNo related posts [...]
[...] P/S : I installed Spam Karma 2, be patience if you don’t see your comment. My blog is receiving way too much of spams lately. Share and Enjoy:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]
[...] Irgendwo auf dieser Welt sitzen irgenwelche Spinner, die meinen, sie müssten sinnlose Kommentare in jedes Blog schreiben, auf das sie stoßen. Für WordPress existieren viele wirksame Schutzmechanismen gegen Trackback- und Kommentarspam. Unverzichtbar ist aus meiner Sicht das Plugin Spam Karma in Verbindung mit der Akismet-Erweiterung. Wer diese Werkzeuge in der aktuellsten Version auf seinem WordPress-Blog einsetzt, für den ist Spam kein besonders großes Problem mehr. [...]
[...] Spam Karma läuft und hat seit gestern schon einiges rausgefischt! Ein großes Dank dem Mon für den Tipp. Und ein großes Lob an mich, dass ich das (fast ohne Hilfe) hinbekommen hab [...]
[...] Spam Karma – както пише, (а дори е вярно!) – The Ultimate Spam Killer! Множество настройки, нива на сигурност и т.н. Задължително е да имате този plug-in! [...]
поменял фильтр спама…
из-за того что Akismet 2.0 как-то неправильно работал – установил себе Spam Karma 2, куча настроек.. вроде неплохо работает
……
Die ersten 100…
Trader’s Quest sagt Danke. Seit Tagen pendelte die Anzeige der Anzahl der Abonnenten
um die 90, gestern hatten zum ersten Mal 100 Leser den Feed von Trader’s Quest
abonniert. Das ist Anlass genug, mich einmal bei allen Lesern des Blogs …
How To Fix WP-Cache And Spam Karma 2 (SK2) Issues…
WP-Cache and Spam Karma 2 are two of the most popular WordPress plugins. If I had to estimate, I would say that at least 30% of WordPress users are using at least one, if not both of these plugins.
Recently there has been a problem with WP-Cache not f…
Traded Aksimet for Spam Karma 2…
So my faithful spam eating Akismet plugin has apparently lost it’s mind and voraciously eating all the suspected spam comments posted to my blog and no longer holding them in it’s queue for myself to moderate. After all, a few of these past…
Spam Begone!…
Just a small note to the effect that this blog has been weathering a fair spam storm over the past 10 days or so. It would appear from the range of IPs that someone with a nice big botnet is doing the spamming. May they die a painful death. My plan had…
SK2-WP-Cache-Compatibility plugin…
When you use Spam Karma 2 with WP-Cache, cached files are not flushed after a successfully comment approval.
That’s basically because SK2 intercepts some actions, WP-Cache will not get notified.
I create a small plug-in for SK2, that will directl…
Why WP-Cache and Spam Preventers like Spam Karma 2.1 will never work in harmony…
WP-Cache and Spam Karma both implement strategies that are contradictory by their very nature. Let’s see why.
In the past, I got along with a remarkably short comment blacklist (hand**b, pi**ing, tran****ual, b**bs) , that was able to bloc…
WordPress Plugin: DoFollow…
Je viens d’installer un petit plugin sur mon blog : DoFollow.
NoFollow ?
L’installation par défaut de WordPress ajoute un attribut rel=”nofollow” sur tous les liens postés dans les commentaires. Cet attribut a pour but de freiner l…