Custom Anti-Spam Words On Wordpress

Two things I’ve always admired about Roba’s blog are the ajax plugin which adds the comments inline without refreshing the page, and the custom anti-spam words. In the past few months, I’ve tried a dozen different ajax inline-comment plugins and couldn’t get any of them to work with my theme. I’ve been too lazy to try to setup custom anti-spam words until today.

Result:

Walkthrough:

1. Download Peter’s Custom Anti Spam Plugin here.

2. Extract the (peters-custom-anti-spam-image) folder, and upload it under (/wp-content/plugins/)

3. Login to your wordpress dashboard, and click on plugins, and click (Activate) next to (Peter’s Custom Anti-Spam).

4. Clear your browser’s cache, and go to the comments area on any of your blog posts, and check if an anti-spam image is now visible (just above the text area where comments are typed).

5. If it is visible, skip to step 6, otherwise you have to add it manually as follows:

• While logged in to your wordpress dashboard, click on presentation, then click on theme editor
• On the links to the right, click on comments (take a backup of the text before editing it)
• Find the section where the comment form is added, the easiest way is to search for text that appears on the fields above the comments area (like Email Address (*will not be shown).
• Just above the comment field paste the following text (click the image below for an example:

<?php do_action(’secure_image’, $post->ID); ?>

• click (Update File) to save your changes, and again clear the cache, and check the comments area on one of your posts to make sure an anti-spam keyword is now visible
• While logged in to your wordpress dashboard, click on plugins, and then plugin editor
• On the links to the right, click on (Peter’s Custom Anti-Spam)
• Backup the text before editing, and search for: cas_manualinsert
• Change the property from false to true, and click (Update File)
• Skip to step 7

6. While logged in to your wordpress dashboard, click on plugins, and then plugin editor. On the links to the right, click on (Peter’s Custom Anti-Spam). Backup the text before editing.

7. Search for: $cas_text[]

8. Modify each one of the ($cas_text[]) entries by changing the text within the single quotes. These will be your custom anti-spam words. You can also add additional words. I chose to take the names in my blogroll that are 4 characters or less so as not to make it too difficult to type:

$cas_text[] = ‘ABED’;
$cas_text[] = ‘AMAL’;
$cas_text[] = ‘ASMA’;
$cas_text[] = ‘DANA’;
$cas_text[] = ‘MAI’;
$cas_text[] = ‘HALA’;
$cas_text[] = ‘DAVE’;
$cas_text[] = ‘DIMA’;
$cas_text[] = ‘FADI’;
$cas_text[] = ‘HAKI’;
$cas_text[] = ‘JAD’;
$cas_text[] = ‘KJ’;
$cas_text[] = ‘LINA’;
$cas_text[] = ‘MOEY’;
$cas_text[] = ‘MONA’;
$cas_text[] = ‘NAS’;
$cas_text[] = ‘ROBA’;
$cas_text[] = ‘TALA’;

9. Click (Update File)

10. Test the plugin, by logging out, and attempting to comment on one of your posts

Final notes:

• I typed the names in uppercase, but the commenter will be able to type them in lower or upper case.
• There are options within the plugin to change the background, text, and border color of the antispam word image.
• By default only unregistered users are required to enter the anti-spam words.
• There is also an option to play the anti-spam word as an mp3 for the visually impaired.
• You can also upload your own fonts. I decided to only use one font, the clearest of the default ones.
• Free hosted wordpress.com accounts are not allowed to add plugins!
• If your name is longer than 4 characters but you have a nickname like cucu or fufu, let me know and I will gladly use it !

Enjoy!