If you're getting tired of
Movable Type comment spam, here are some free suggestions that will either stop the spam or significantly slow it down.
We've tried it all and found that implementing CAPTCHA in your blog is pretty much the only thing you will need to stop all the comment spam on your blog. However, I will go ahead and list 3 tips that will help the situation.
Tip 1. Renaming
MT comment script:
Blog spammers generally look for the file called mt-comments.cgi and start attacking it with spam. Renaming the file to something unique, will help the situation.
Open your Movable Type configuration file called mt-config.cgi located in the installation folder of your Movable Type (older versions of Movable Type will have the file called mt.cfg) and make sure you have the following code listed there. If you don't see it, go ahead and add it to your configuration file:
CommentScript mt-anything-here.cgi
If you see CommentScript mt-comments.cgi go ahead and rename it to CommentScript mt-anything-here.cgi then locate your original mt-comments.cgi file and rename it to the same name you used in your configuration file. Next, login into your Movable Type and rebuild the blog.
Tip 2.
TypeKey Authentication.
TypeKey is a service that lets you confidently identify a particular user.
If you haven't already done so, go ahead and sign-up (free) at www.typekey.com and follow their instructions on how to add your Movable Type blog to your TypeKey account. You will then be presented with the TypeKey API token. Next, login into your Movable Type, and enable TypeKey under your Movable Type Blog Settings -> Registration. The next step is to make sure that you have your Commenting Policy setup properly under Blog Settings -> Comment -> Commenting Policy. Please select "Any authenticated commenters". After everything is configured properly a person will need to authenticate themselves before leaving a comment on your blog, and spammers generally don't. Please note that above directions might vary on the Movable Type version you are using.
Tip 3. CAPTCHA.
A CAPTCHA is a program that can tell whether its user is a human or a computer.
Movable Type 4 and up have CAPTCHA built-in. To activate it you'll first need to locate your Movable Type configuration file called mt-config.cgi and add the following line:
CaptchaSourceImageBase /home/username/public_html/mt-static/images/captcha-source
Note: you will need to change the path to match your MT installation directory and the location of your mt-static folder. In addition, ImageMagick needs to be installed on your server.
Next, login into your Movable Type, click Blog Settings -> Comments. There, under CAPTCHA Provider you should see "Movable Type default". Go ahead and select that, then save and rebuild your blog.
If you don't have ImageMagick installed or would rather not touch your configuration files you can also sign-up for
reCaptcha which is a free plugin that you'll need to install on your server and add to your blog templates. For Movable Type 4 instructions please visit: http://joshcarter.com/software/recaptcha
Please feel free to use one or all three tips to combat Movable Type comment spam. If you're in a hurry or don't feel comfortable doing it yourself you can always hire
FirmDot for assistance. Also, Movable Type 4.2 will have some great improvements to stop comment spam. Stay tuned :)
