Client called in stating that the blog that they manage received a large amount of spam comments.
BGSU Blogs does have spam protection available automatically. However, the blog must be using a modern theme that supports the reCaptcha plugin used to prevent spam.
The themes that we know to support the reCaptcha plugin are currently very limited:
- BGSU Blogs Main Theme
- Twenty Ten
- Twenty Tweleve
- Twenty Thirteen
- Twenty Fourteen
Enabling one of these themes will help prevent spam. To do this:
- login to the administrative area
- click Appearance
- browse for one of the themes listed
- click Activate.
The other way to prevent spam is to limit who can add comments to your blog. To do this:
- go to the Discussion Settings which is under the Settings area on the administrative navigation.
- Once on the ‘Discussion Settings’ page click the checkbox next to ‘Users must be registered and logged in to comment’. This will allow only BGSU users and external users added to your blog explicitly to add comments.
You may also disable commenting by default (this can be overrode on individual posts) by:
- unchecking the box next to ‘Allow people to post comments on new articles’. All old articles would still have commenting enabled until individually disabled.