Holy smokes, I've been hit!
My comment spam 'secret code' filter is working like a charm - no spam in weeks, but now they've decided to spam through trackback. The other day I had two new trackback pings on older entries, both spam. This morning I had 135, all spam. Yikes. So, later today I'll be deleting away, but it will take a while. Just be aware - I do not endorse any online gambling sites (or whatever else may be there.) :-)
In some ways these are less intrusive - they aren't little adds for questionable things lurking in the comments of my posts. But they are certainly painful (you have to delete them one at a time) and I'm not sure what can be done about them. I've seen lots of strategies for dealing with comment spam, but none that I remember for trackbacks. Any ideas?
UPDATE: They're still rolling in - 45 more while I was typing this. Argh. Anyone know how to globally turn off trackback in MT 2.661?
Funny...I just started getting TB spam today too, but from the mannais.org site built on EE. I pulled the TB module and removed the links from the template...the spam is still trickling in but I think it's slowing.
I'm a rev or two behind on EE - looks like 1.2 ties the TB system to the refferrer blacklist.
Spammers can sure kill the fun of blogging.
I don't know if moveable type has the Blacklist plugin, but using it, whenever someone thrawts by blacklist database, I can delete all these comments in a few seconds.
Search for the keyword (like poker or today's favortie dish network) Invert Check boxes, Delete Comments.
I also am emailed when a comment appears so I know how many I'm deleting.
Hope that helps somehow.
MT does have a Blacklist plug in, but I'm not sure if it works with Trackback or not. I've had no need for it yet because the Secret Code thing works so well. Looks like I might need to investigate it. I'm also a few releases back on MT (current is 3.15, I'm on 2.661) so this may be as good a reason as any to upgrade.
It seems that it's going to be painful deleting all these. I haven't found an easy way yet to find them yet short of going through all my posts, one by one. That might not be as bad as it sounds since it seems that they've hit each one once or twice.
Ah, the joys of blogging. :-)
The security code you use (called a catchca, I think) works well on comments. I think the Blacklist will work on trackback spam. I got hit with it yesterday, but none today so far, though none deleted by the WP Blacklist plugin I just implemented. I'm going to play with the blacklist plugin and others on my work weblog for a bit, then roll out a common solution to my personal weblogs.
That is one nice thing about WordPress, though. It does give a view of comments in reverse order of their posting (i.e. the new ones first). You can look at them in mass edit mode, which lets you select them all with a single click.
Hang in there. And do write about your solution. I know I'd like to keep up to speed with how you work it out.
Yup - I'm getting hit too
I'll have a solution on my website by tomorrow morning, hope you can hold out until then.
They're still trickling in, unfortunately. I may heve to go with a blacklist, but I think I read that the MT-blacklist plugin doesn't work with Scode - the plugin that I use for the security code. If that's the case, I don't know what I'll do. I like Scode too much to give it up.
One thing I amd going to do is upgrade to MT 3.15. It gives the ability to mass delete trackbacks, something I can't do now. You can even find them by keyowrd, say 'online casino'. :-) I've just got to et all my ducks in a row before hand.
Dean, that's awesome. I certainly won't have them all deleted by then nor will I be ready to jump to MT 3.15 either. For now, I'm, just letting them build up until I can deal with it. :-P
I read on James Seng's blog (the guy who developed Scode) that he has some ideas too. He doesn't run MT anymore though and I don't know when - or it - he's going to come out with anything.
The solution I'm coming up with won't require any MT plug-ins ...
Argh! Another round of 60 or so this morning, including some on posts I'd already cleaned up! Phoey.
I just noticed a ligit trackback right here in this post from Mean Dean - except that I can't get to his site right now. Is it just me or is it down?
Site was flooded w/hundreds of trackback ping attempts (not the emphasis is on attempts).
BTW, go back to my article - I think the "girthy but quick-n-dirty" solution may be the best for a temporary stop-gap until you can get your head around it.
I got hit with 20 or so the same morning. I bet these all came from the same several IP addresses. This is a new attack approach. MT-Blacklist took care of them for me.
I've read a lot that suggest that it was from the same place. The same links appear everwhere - psxtreme, freakycheats, etc. There are a bunch of solutions out there too. For now, I'm about to embark on the MT upgrade which will allow me to mass delete and then we'll see how it goes.
All cleaned up. Over 220 spam trackbacks deleted.
Turn off trackback in your weblog preferences!