Spam Free WordPress Comment Spam Plugin

Spam Free WordPress comment spam plugin blocks 100% of the automated spam with zero false positives, and with no CAPTCHA.

This plugin was born out of necessity in September of 2007. A comment spam fighting plugin was needed that could handle huge visitor traffic, and huge spam attacks. Today the plugin can scale to handle any amount of comment spam on the highest traffic blogs.

Spam Free WordPress Features

1. Automatically blocks 100% of automated comment spam
2. Local manual spam and ban policy set with local IP address blocklist
3. Significantly reduces database load compared to other spam plugins
4. Zero false positives
5. Option to strip HTML from comments
6. No CAPTCHA
7. Saves time and money by eliminating the need to empty the comment spam folder
8. Option to automatically delete comments marked as spam, trackbacks/pingbacks, and unapproved.
9. Hundreds of thousands of Spam Free Blogs and Counting!

The plugin has the option to generate a custom comment list and comment form for themes that do not work automatically with the plugin.

Comment spam damages a blog’s SEO ranking. This plugin preserves your Search Engine Optimization.

The comment form is secured in the background, so your readers just see your comment form.

Automatically Blocks Automated Comment Spam

Spam Free WordPress several security methods to block spam bots, while allowing real readers to leave a comment without any problem. All security is pass or fail, which means a real person can leave a comment, but a bot cannot. There are no filters to try to guess what is a legitimate comment, ham, or spam.

Local Blocklist

Spam Free WordPress uses an IP address blocklist to block comment spam that is manually submitted by a real person. The blocklist can also be used to ban readers that leave offensive comments. The local blocklist is stored in the database, so it can be used to set policy for a local blog. If someone has their IP address listed in the blocklist that person can still read the blog, but will not be able to leave a comment.

Reduces Database Load

Comments that are blocked are never written to the database, which eliminates all the load on the database that spam creates, and other plugins allow. Blocked comments are sent to an error page that allows the reader to return to their comment, without a loss of data, to try to correct the error. Comments that are blocked have failed security methods that only spam bots would fail.

Option to Strip HTML from Comments

It is very common for manual and automated comment spam to include a URL that links to a web site. Spam Free WordPress has an optional feature that will automatically strip out HTML from comments, so URL links show up as plain text, and will also remove the allowed HTML tags from below the comment text box.

Pingbacks and Trackbacks

The plugin will close pingbacks and trackbacks on all posts and pages automatically when the plugin is installed, and it also has an option to open pingbacks again if so desired.

JetPack Comments

JetPack has introduced a Comments module that takes over the comment form. Spam Free WordPress disables the JetPack Comments module because it doesn’t work with any other plugin that manages the comment form. Spam Free WordPress plays nice with all plugins.

Spam Free WordPress in Action

Comment Form Example

The comment form is secured in the background, so your readers just see your comment form.

Spam protection is invisible to the reader.

Installation Instructions

1. Upload to the /wp-content/plugins directory
2. Activate
3. Turn on the Spam Stats, and try to leave a comment to make sure it is working.

Support

Spam Free WordPress requires a free license key for support, and to activate advanced features, that you can get here.

Requirements

Self-hosted WordPress 3.1 or above. PHP 5 or above. Works with single-site, or multi-site, versions of WordPress.

Download

Download latest version of Spam Free WordPress

Troubleshooting version 1.9.3

Error Messages
Here’s what to do if the plugin displays an error message:

• Error message:
  • “Spam Free WordPress disabled the comment form because it could not retrieve the password from the server. It may be necessary to do one, or all, of the following. Turn on the Old Password Fields option, turn off Nonce Security, or to turn on Generate Comment Form.”
• Solution:
  • It may be necessary to do one, or all, of the following. Turn on the Old Password Fields option, turn off Nonce Security, or to turn on Generate Comment Form.
• Error message:
  • “Spam Free WordPress nonce security check failed. Troubleshooting.”
• Solution:
  • Uncheck the box next to Nonce Security.
• Error message:
  • “Spam Free WordPress could not retrieve the password from the server. It may be necessary to do one, or all, of the following. Turn on the Old Password Fields option, turn off Nonce Security, or to turn on Generate Comment Form. Troubleshooting.”
• Solution:
  • It may be necessary to do one, or all, of the following. Turn on the Old Password Fields option, turn off Nonce Security, or to turn on Generate Comment Form.
• Error message:
  • “Comment blocked by Spam Free WordPress because your IP address is in the local blocklist, or you forgot to type a comment.”
• Solution:
  • Either your IP address is in the plugin blocklist, which can be found under Settings >> Spam Free WordPress, or you did not type in a comment.
• If All Else Fails
  • Switch themes.
  • Disable all plugins until the problem plugin is found.
  • Request help with the Spam Free WordPress support request form (must have a free license key, and must be logged in to use).

Comment form and Comment List Are Not Styled Properly

• Uncheck the Generate Comment Form box. If you then get an error message when leaving a comment, turn the Generate Comment Form option back on, because your theme isn’t working properly. The Generate Comment Form option that displays the comment list and comment form has a CSS style sheet that can be found in the plugin’s css folder where you can make changes. Be aware however, that css folder will be overwritten on plugin updates.

Plugins That Cause Problems

• Minify plugins such as WP Minify, Better WordPress Minify, W3 Total Cache etc. may need to have minification of JS files turned off, or you can have the plugin exclude the file: sfw-ipwd.js. Some minify plugins, like Better WordPress Minify, require a script handle rather than a filename, so the script handles that should be excluded are: sfw_ipwd. All of the Spam Free WordPress JavaScript files are already minified, or more correctly, compressed.
• Minify plugins can prevent JavaScript files from loading, or from loading properly.

Incompatible Plugins

• Disqus Comment System – Since it takes over your comments completely
• JetPack Comments module – Since it takes over your comments completely

Languages Supported

• English
• German – Deutsch (de_DE)
• Italian – Italian (it_IT)
• French – Français (fr_FR)
• Hebrew – עברית (he_IL)
• Japanese – (日本語 – ja)
• Chinese – 中文 (zh_CN)
• Hong Kong – (香港) (zh_HK)
• Taiwan – (台灣) (zh_TW)
• Swedish – Svenska (sv_SE)
• Norwegian – (norsk)

Free License Key Required

Spam Free WordPress requires a free license key for support, and to activate advanced features, that you can get here.

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