Recently I came across a new anti-spam plugin for WordPress. This plugin is a collaborative project from Gowmap, Andy from CommentLuv, and imput from several other bloggers. This is a new plugin and has only been out just over a week and I have say I love it! So far, I haven’t had any comment spam from the spam bots. It is easy to install and even easier to configure!
Why GASP, Whats So Great About It?
GASP, was created as a replacement for Akismet and other CAPCHTA like plugins. This plugin is more reliable and designed not give us blog owners a headache by deleting and blocking our valueable “non-spam” comments. By default other plugins are designed to block plugins by IP Addresses, usersnames, and certain keywords. Sometimes these “rules” will cause everyday commentors to be blocked simply because they might be a spammer. Once marked as a spammer, it can take sometime to be removed from the spammer databases.
How Does GASP Block Spammers?
GrowMap Anti-Spambot uses JavaScript to generate a checkbox to the comment form. This check box will ask a commentor to confirm they are not spammers. Yeah, its that simple. If you do not check this box, a popup warning message comes up asking you to check the box if your not a spammer. If its bot, it won’t see the box and it can not post a comment. Per the plugin’s description, it should stop 99% of all automated spam bots.
Resason Why to Choose GASP – quoted from Growmap’s article
- “No false positives – your favorite commentators and new readers WILL be able to easily comment in your blog.”
- “Blocks spam that Akismet was letting through. We are getting ZERO bot spam. Only those commenting manually who check the “I am not a spammer box” can leave comments.”
- “Easier for commentators than using a Captcha or math plugin – never a “wrong” answer that isn’t wrong or a problem with cookies!”
Final Thoughts
As I mentioned before, this is great plugin and I love it. And it was coded by Andy, so their shouldn’t any issues with the code. So far, I haven’t gotten any automated spam since installing a week ago. We all know, that no anit-spam plugin is perfect, but GASP is the next best thing. Once you install this plugin you won’t need any other plugin. Get rid of those other plugins and give GASP a try. I promise, you won’t be dissappointed. I will warn you, that this plugin will not stop spam comments created by humans. But you shouldn’t get to many, and if you set your comment system for all new commentors need to be moderated first, then they shouldn’t slip by.
Let us know what you think…
As always, we wanna know what you think. Have you tried it out yet?
Questions About GASP?
If you have any questions, troubleshooting issues, check out Growmap’s article about GASP. Gail will take care of you. If you want to know more, how to install / configure it, screenshots, or just a user review, check out my article about GASP.
Important links
Once you test it out, please head over to the WordPress Directory and tell everyone that it works, and rate it.