Most bloggers will have most likely dealt with spammers at one point or another, today was our day. I've spent the past 5 hours trying all sorts of methods to eliminate the massive trackback spam I mentioned in my last post. While I wasn't completely successful, I would still like to share my findings in hopes of possibly helping others.

We are using the Drupal CMS here, so it's all based around that. If you use WordPress, try Akismet as suggested by Steve from AdventureMoney.com

First, I tried the Drupal core version of Akismet. Overall, it was fairly easy to install, but you did need to get a WordPress API key by creating a WordPress account. They seem to have done this to create a global service which you can connect to and get updated spammer lists, which is of course a nice feature. The only problem, which unfortunately completely defeated the purpose, is that it only monitors node and comment spam, and not trackbacks. So, while it seems like a very good tool, it didn't solve my problem.

The next thing I tried was a set of php scripts called BadBehaviour. It has been spoken well of, and even mentions that it can be used with Drupal. The only problem was that I couldn't find a module for it anywhere. The instructions linked to a post listed on the main drupal site, but it was only a patch. Someone even posted a patched module, but that did not work either. Therefore, I was unable to use it.

Lastly, this spam module required me to upgrade to the newest version of the drupal core, but it works alright. It is able to monitor spam in all sorts of content, including trackbacks. Now of course, I told you that I wasn't successful in eliminating my trackback problem, and here's why. This module deletes spam based on urls. For example, if someone posts more than X amount of urls in a posting, the module classifies it as spam. Seemed perfect, as my comment spam is filled with bogus urls... However, my tackbacks are not. They contain simply the link back within the title, and "read more about 'title'". No multiple urls...

There is hope for the spam module yet. In previous versions, it incorporated SURBL, or Spam URI Realtime Blocklists. This is a system most likely resembling Akismet, in where there is a global spammer list that blogs compare posters with to find spammers. It was not included in the most recent version of the spam module, so I assume they could still be implementing it with the new drupal core changes.

As for now, I have enabled what's called trackback_blackhole, which came with the spam module. I believe it simply blocks any new trackbacks, and I will keep it on until a solution is found. Until then, all old trackbacks should be preserved.

If you would like to discuss anything related to spamming, feel free to comment, or create a post in our ever so empty forums, I've created a section just for this :)

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