WordVerify
I have hacked up a little Wordpress plugin to allow for comment submission verification based on a configurable “codeword”. The plugin is called WordVerify, and it’s available here.
It should work fine with Wordpress 2.0 as well as 1.5.x. It has not been tested for versions of Wordpress older than 1.5, so it may not work for those.
The idea is that a lot of commentspam is driven by automation, naturally, and the introduction of a human element in submitting an extra bit of verification can help kill a lot of this spam. SecureImage is an example of a great plugin that uses ImageMagick to display an image with random letters that the commenter must verify. WordVerify provides a simpler alternative to this method, by just requiring the entry of a single word. This provides a healthy compromise for smaller blogs that don’t necessarily need the security of a dynamic image. The chances of any comment spammer bothering to screen-scrape my blog just to comment-spam it, much less OCR an image, are pretty low. For smaller blogs, the simple addition of a codeword is probably more than enough.
Further, WordVerify allows customization of the phrase in which the security word is presented in the form, decreasing the ability of spammers to scrape the word if the plugin gains widespread usage.
The current version is 1.4, and it’s available for download here. A changelog can be found here.
The installation is simple, as with all Wordpress plugins:
- Download wordverify.php.txt
- Rename wordverify.php.txt to wordverify.php
- Copy wordverify.php to your Wordpress plugins directory (wp-content/plugins).
- Go to Plugins and “activate” the plugin.
- You can now go to Options -> WordVerify to configure the security word and the phrase it’s presented in.
Have fun! Any suggestions are welcome. Feel free to test out the plugin in the comments below. Testing is good.
Thanks to Random, whose implementation of this idea on his The Whole Truth podcast was the inspiration for this plugin.
[...] Posted a small fix to WordVerify today. If are using WordVerify and have noticed that trackbacks and pingbacks suddenly stopped working, well, join the club. [...]
[...] So, since I wrote and implemented wordverify, I have only had two comment spams slip by. They were both human-driven. I could see a clear path of them coming in to the site, go to a post, submit the comment, and get the “Please enter the security word” failure, go back, and then successfully post the comment. [...]
[...] You can grab the plugin here. [...]
[...] Well, wordverify has taken care of almost all comment spam, except for human spammers, of course. [...]
[...] When I upgraded to Wordpress 2.0, I decided to try using Akismet instead of using the “last name” anti-spam method, and what I found was the comment spammers were relentless, and every once in awhile (like last night), a new spam type would make it past Akismet’s filters, flooding me with 50 or more e-mails at a time (as the comments entered moderation). So I’ve reinstated the “last name” requirement, this time using Chris Wage’s plug-in, WordVerify. [...]
So, thanks, dude. You used my idea and made a working plugin out of it. And now I finally upgraded my blog that used it (straight from 1.5 beta to 2.0.1, by the way), thus wiping out my hack, and am now using your plugin. KARMA
Hi! WordVerify is a great little plugin. A clever spammer could easily thwart WordVerify, but since most spammers will instead just move on to the next blog. It’s kind of like The Club for WordPress blogs: it does nothing to stop a determined attacker, but it raises the level of effort just enough to make you an unattractive target (by comparison to other defenseless marks).
Aside: I’m experiencing some
stripslashesoddities. In particular, single quotes (in the presentation) are being double-escaped when they go into the DB (so they appear as backslash-quote in the options table). When the presentation comes back out (either on the main page or in the<input>on the options form), the slashes remain. Thoughts? (WordPress 2.0, PHP 4.3.9.)I’ll check into it.. I threw in some stripslashes() depending on whether or not magic quotes were on as an afterthought, but I didn’t test it extensively..
Hello,
I try to install word verify. on WP 2.0.1
I active the plugin I go to the option and write :
Security code word: test
Presentation: write %%CODEWORD%% please
I press update options.
But I have no text field under the comment textarea.
There is something more to do ?
I have the same problem. When I use a non-kubrick template Wordverify doesn’t work. is there any way to manually call the pluginwithin comments.php? thanks.
I’ll see what I can do — which template are you using, or did you roll your own?
I’m using Exquisite from Kaushal Sheth. Thanks in advance.
Ditto here - I’m using the Coppermine theme and I have no textfield for this plugin either.
Disregard. It figures I would resolve the problem immediately after posting the question :\
No problem — but what was the solution? It may be helpful to others that have had trouble.
[...] Realisiert wird diese Abfrage mittels des Wordpress-Plugins "WordVerify" - Danke an die Chikatze für den Tip! Vielleicht kann mir auch noch jemand erklären, wie man die Frage neben das Ergebnisfenster bekommt? Wäre schon chic [...]
[...] Realisiert wird diese Abfrage mittels des Wordpress-Plugins "WordVerify" - Danke an die Chikatze für den Tip! Vielleicht kann mir auch noch jemand erklären, wie man die Frage neben das Ergebnisfenster bekommt? Wäre schon chic [...]
does it work?
nifty plugin! thanks!
[...] Da hier in den Wordpress Blogs mal wieder die Spams die Welle machen und selbst mein “Wordverify“-Plugin nix mehr zu nützen scheint, werde ich nun doch mal “Spam Karma” installieren und gucken, ob das dann wirkt. Wenn nicht, muß ich mal gucken, ob ich es so einstellen kann, daß dann eben nur noch registrierte User kommentieren können. Ist ja auch nicht so ein riesen Act, sich da mal eben einzuschreiben, oder? Aber, naja, nun erstmal Spam Karma. Sieht nicht so aus, als wäre das schwer zu installieren. Ich glaube, einfach nur runterladen und anschalten. That’s it. tags:blog, plugin, spamkarma, technisches., wordpress, wordverify [...]
clever!
[...] Nachdem sich die Ritter der Schwafelrunde nun die letzten drei Wochen auch massiv bei mir breit gemacht haben und mein treues Spam-Karma täglich bis zu 300(!) Spam-Kommentare und Trackbacks wegfiltern darf, habe ich mich jetzt doch entschlossen bei den Kommentaren eine kleine Hürde einzubauen. Da mich allerdings all die schwer leserlichen Zufallsgrafik-Generatoren nur bedingt überzeugt haben, entschied ich mich für eine einfach zu beantwortende Frage, die jeder Kommentator beantworten muß. Die Frage wird einmal die Woche geändert. Das wird zwar nicht alle Spammer abschrecken, aber viel Spambots ausschalten und ist immer noch besser, als wenn ich euch zwinge euch zu registrieren um euren Senf dazugeben zu dürfen. Um es mit Douglas Adams zu sagen: Entschuldigen Sie die Unannehmlichkeiten. Rubrik: TagesBatz — Reaper-Batz um 2:28 am 29, 5, 2006 [...]
[...] For ikke at sidde og slette kommentarer hele dagen har jeg indført et lille kodeordssystem ved kommentargivning. Håber I bærer over med det. Det vil sige, jeg har ikke selv lavet systemet. Det er et plugin til WordPress, som hedder WordVerify. [...]
[...] Zufinden ist es hier. [...]
This is perfect! Thank you.
A commenter previously asked if there was a way to call the function manually from within the comments template. I was wondering if there’s a way to do this because the plugin works for me, but it doesn’t display where and how I want it to display. Great work otherwise.
Here is the error i get. What do i need to do?
Fatal error: Cannot redeclare class in /var/www/html/dronamraju/blog/wp-admin/admin.php on line 63
Interesting plugin, but I am getting these errors:
Warning: Unexpected character in input: ‘\’ (ASCII=92) state=1 in /home/.aska/ncdevilc/thepiratescove.us/wp-content/plugins/wordverify.php on line 2
Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_STRING in /home/.aska/ncdevilc/thepiratescove.us/wp-content/plugins/wordverify.php on line 2
Any ideas?
never mind. Got it.
Have I mentioned that this is an EXCELLENT plugin, Chris? No? Well, it is. Kudos!
I was wondering if it would be possible to know how to call up the plugin manually? The theme I’m currently using (Blix) that’s had it’s comments.php edited (from what it was originally) does not show the verification automatically. Not sure if this is an issue with my coding, or just because it doesn’t like the theme. Any input is appreciate :) THanks!
Hey, Chris, ran into a wee problem. I went to change the password, and now nothing shows nothing for the password after “Please enter.
I tried reinstalling the plugin, but get the same thing, and the previous data was not erased.
Do you know where the data for this is cached? And how to fix?
[...] However, I’ve found something similar that has been working well. It’s called WordVerify. Although not as great, it does it’s job. [...]
Thanks for designing a great plugin!! It is AMAZING!!!
I tested two wordpress blogs - one with Wordverify, and the other without - and Wordverify has kept ALL spammers away!
Testing1
[...] Early this year, we posted the story of a spammer that left a comment spam on our site — circumventing the spam protection (Wordverify) manually. [...]
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not sure where I’m supposed to put the code on my page…
[...] A outra mais simples, porém não funciona em todos os temas, é o plugin WORD VERIFY, que nada mais faz do que uma pergunta simples ao visitante (como no meu blog) e este tem que responder ou até mesmo mostrando a palavra a ser digitada pelo visitante, só que isso facilita um pouco as coisas para os bots!!! [...]
[...] A outra mais simples, porém não funciona em todos os temas (tá aí o motivo da troca do tema por aqui), é o plugin WORD VERIFY, que nada mais faz do que uma pergunta simples ao visitante (como no meu blog) e este tem que responder ou até mesmo mostrando a palavra a ser digitada pelo visitante, só que isso facilita um pouco as coisas para os bots!!! [...]
What a GREAT (and very simple) plugin!
What a relief to have an empty spambox again. Very cool and handy plugin, thank you so much!
[...] Jeg har installeret plugin’et WordVerify, som Lotte bruger p.t. med success. [...]
simply perfect :) and very handy..
good job mate
[...] Some interesting discussion on NiT on the topic of comment verification, in which my wordverify plugin is mentioned — specifically, on the annoyance of the image-based obfuscated letters as verification. I’ll just post what I’ve got on the wordverify page again, for starters as far as what Wordverify aims to accomplish: The idea is that a lot of commentspam is driven by automation, naturally, and the introduction of a human element in submitting an extra bit of verification can help kill a lot of this spam. SecureImage is an example of a great plugin that uses ImageMagick to display an image with random letters that the commenter must verify. WordVerify provides a simpler alternative to this method, by just requiring the entry of a single word. This provides a healthy compromise for smaller blogs that don’t necessarily need the security of a dynamic image. The chances of any comment spammer bothering to screen-scrape my blog just to comment-spam it, much less OCR an image, are pretty low. For smaller blogs, the simple addition of a codeword is probably more than enough. [...]
this plugin may be just what I need
[...] Die WP plug-in is WordVerify . This entry is filed under My Potgooinotas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Leave a Reply [...]
[...] code which did the same thing, but without all the plug-in goodness. 1% | San Diego, CA | link | trackback | posted @ Jan 6, 200701:19:24 [...]
[...] I’m so loving two plugins I recently found and added to the site. Let me introduce you to WordVerify and Comment Time Out… [...]
[...] A httrtmogatst a Wordverify Wordpress plug-in tmogatja. Ezer kszi! [...]
I’ve decided to remove the “nofollow” tags for comments and trackbacks on my blog. Its my way of thanking my community for being involved in my site. That means I need to make extra sure that I don’t let the blog spam through! Akismet does a great job, but this additional layer of defense is great! Thanks for your work.
[...] Heute morgen hab ich mal den Spamschutz mit einer Mathefrage getestet, aber innerhalb von wenigen Stunden nur etwas weniger Spam, als sonst. Nun probier ich es mal mit WordVerify. [...]
[...] UPDATE: Nu er Akismet slået fra, så det bliver spændende at se om WordVerify er noget værd [...]
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[...] Visit [...]
[...] forbindelse med den friske installering af Wordpress, har jeg skiftet fra WordVerify til JSSpamBlock da sidstnævnte ikke kræver brugerinput, med mindre JavaScript er slået fra i [...]
[...] WordVerify – This doesn’t do much by way of stopping the comment spammers that are real people but it does stop bots. [...]
I was going to ask you to send this to me, but I see you’ve posted it here for everyone. Thanks!
[...] Visit & Download [...]
Hello but I’m wondering does this plugin enter the settings in the database once setup? Can the codeword/setttings be hand coded instead of having to set it up? I ask because i’m musing MU and tossing this in the MU plugin folder doesn’t work. Thanks for any advice.
Hi.. I’m not 100% sure I understand your question, but you should be able to set the codeword, yes. What is MU?
[...] Akismet has caught over 100,000 spam since I first installed it (September 2006). Together with WordVerify, which narrowed down the comment spam from over 1,000 per day to only a few per day, I’m glad [...]
[...] Word Verify: Asks visitors to enter a specific word along with their comment. [...]
something
thankyou, excelent clue
[...] meines Blogs von ASCII-Kodierung auf UTF-8 funktionieren die zuvor im Wechsel eingesetzten Captchas WordVerify und Math Comment Spam Protection Plugin leider nicht mehr, die mir bis dahin gute Dienste geleistet [...]
wanted to let you know that i love this plugin the best of all the plugins. it helps greatly with spam, but its not intrusive and complicated. and i have not had a problem with it working on any newer version of Wordpress. awesome!