MTDisguiseCommentURL v0.5 Beta (MT Hacks)

MTDisguiseCommentURL v0.5 Beta

This plugin uses Javascript to hide the true location of you comments script, making it difficult for spammers to find it in order to bombard you with spam.

It is important to note that if you use this plugin, commenters must be using a Javascript-enabled brower in order to post comments.

I have been testing this plugin on one of my blogs for about 12 hours, and I have received zero spam in that time period on that blog. I will be installing it on all my blogs today.

Installation:

1. Download Now:

Membership required, please sign-in or register:

2. Extract and upload MTDisguiseCommentURL.pl to your 'plugins' directory within your 'mt' directory.

3. Open your Individual Entry Archive template and find the following line:

<form method="post" action="<$MTCGIPath$><$MTCommentScript$>" name="comments_form" onsubmit="if (this.bakecookie[0].checked) rememberMe(this)">

Delete <$MTCGIPath$> and <$MTCommentScript$> and replace with a fake comment URL. An example might be http://www.mydomain.com/postcomments.cgi -- but don't use this example! Make up something unique. Remember, the URL should point to a non-existent file.

2. In the same template, after the </form> tag, enter:

<$MTDisguiseCommentURL$>

3. Rebuild your Individual Archives, and you are done. Post a test comment to make sure it works.

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Comments (38)

Arvind:

I like this option but my only concern is some people may have javascript disabled in which case they won't be able to post a comment...

Posted by Arvind | December 17, 2004 11:34 AM

Posted on December 17, 2004 11:34

Mark Carey:

True. But in my opinion the percentage of people with javascript disbaled is very, very small. And the percentage of people with javascript disabled that want to post a comment on my sites is an even smaller number.

Posted by Mark Carey | December 17, 2004 12:17 PM

Posted on December 17, 2004 12:17

Joost Schuur:

Your download link is broken. The URL should be: http://mt-hacks.com/downloads/DisguiseCommentURL.zip

Posted by Joost Schuur | December 18, 2004 1:27 AM

Posted on December 18, 2004 01:27

Mark Carey:

Thanks for pointing that out. :blush:

It is fixed now.

Posted by Mark Carey | December 18, 2004 8:45 AM

Posted on December 18, 2004 08:45

Aine:

I have sent you a private email with regards to your comment on my blog. I believe my solution will work, but I can see why they are still spamming you here. Please review my procedure outlined in my email and let me know how it can be improved. I'm not a programmer, but perhaps you can find ways to make it better(?) :)

Posted by Aine | December 18, 2004 2:48 PM

Posted on December 18, 2004 14:48

Kenneth:

Works great. Haven't had any problems with it so far.

Guess it's another tool to make it harder for spammers.

Posted by Kenneth | January 4, 2005 8:38 PM

Posted on January 4, 2005 20:38

tones:

Yeah but now man people are disabling java, especailly newbies, because they see it as just being used for adverts mostly, same as macromedia, 99% of the time it appears on your screen its an ad

Posted by tones | January 25, 2005 4:17 AM

Posted on January 25, 2005 04:17

Mark Carey:

tones. there is an important difference between Java and JavaScript. Java applets can be compared to Macromedia Flash objects. JavaScript, on the other hand is interpreted by the web browser itself, and it wisely used on web pages. Some people may disable JavaScript, but only advanced users would do...

Posted by Mark Carey | January 25, 2005 7:16 AM

Posted on January 25, 2005 07:16

Kass:

I want to try this plug-in, but my comments are set up so that viewers click on a link and a javascript window pops up with the comments form in it.

This means that on my individual entries, I don't have a form to fill out so I don't know where to put the tag. Any tips for me? :\

Posted by Kass | February 22, 2005 3:19 PM

Posted on February 22, 2005 15:19

Enrico:

Thanks alot. hope this works.

Posted by Enrico | March 22, 2005 4:08 AM

Posted on March 22, 2005 04:08

Jonny:

Thanks for this plug-in!!! It really works great!!!

Posted by Jonny | July 27, 2005 6:46 AM

Posted on July 27, 2005 06:46

Guide:

Downloaded! Will give this a go

Posted by Guide | August 3, 2005 4:30 PM

Posted on August 3, 2005 16:30

Tom Hielscher:

Thank you for the plug-in. That's what I was looking for. :wink:

Posted by Tom Hielscher | May 29, 2006 7:50 AM

Posted on May 29, 2006 07:50

Elizabeth:

Is this plug-in compatible with MT 3.2? Thanks!

Posted by Elizabeth | July 8, 2006 11:42 AM

Posted on July 8, 2006 11:42

Hot Girl

I am installing this plug-in. I think its great. I use google analitics to track my visiters and I have found that 99% of them have javascript so that won't be an issue for me.

Thanks!

Posted by Hot Girl | November 10, 2006 7:09 PM

Posted on November 10, 2006 19:09

Bruce Prochnau

I'm just going to try this out, was just going to hire a javascript programmer to do this as the idea makes a lot of sense.

I wouldn't be concerned about those with javascript turned off. Few do so, and for those who do a simple email link on the form suffices (email if you have problems posting).
Well done!

Posted by Bruce Prochnau | November 22, 2006 12:04 PM

Posted on November 22, 2006 12:04

Mark Carey

Thanks, Bruce.

I have been using this approach for almost two years and it works well. If really want to reduce spam, rename your comment script first, and then start using this plugin. That will make it very difficult for autmated spammers to determine the new script name, since the javascript will disguise it.

Posted by Mark Carey | November 22, 2006 7:24 PM

Posted on November 22, 2006 19:24

Nala

Well. I started using this script a few days ago and it seemed to work well.

I renamed the script, rebuilt the individual archives, and didn't see any spam.

Today I started getting spam comments again. MT says they are from known spammers on bsb.spamlookup.net.

I'm assuming spammers have now altered their bots to look for disguised paths to the comments CGI.

Posted by Nala | January 30, 2007 12:48 PM

Posted on January 30, 2007 12:48

Mark Carey

While that is possible, Nala, it also may be the case that those spams were posted manually. I haven't seen much evidence for spambots grabbing the correct script URL from the javascript, but its difficult to sure.

Posted by Mark Carey | January 31, 2007 8:52 AM

Posted on January 31, 2007 08:52

Mankenler:

I am installing this plug-in. I think its great. I use google analitics to track my visiters and I have found that 99% of them have javascript so that won't be an issue for me.

Thanks!

Posted by Mankenler | April 6, 2007 6:42 PM

Posted on April 6, 2007 18:42

sohbet:

very good website thank you

Posted by sohbet | April 27, 2007 8:12 PM

Posted on April 27, 2007 20:12

izle:

Thanks for pointing that out.

It is fixed now.

Posted by izle | April 28, 2007 8:15 PM

Posted on April 28, 2007 20:15

I've got several blogs on one MT install. Will this work on a domain other than the main domain that hosts the MT install?

Posted by DJ | May 16, 2007 11:42 PM

Posted on May 16, 2007 23:42

Mark Carey

DJ, yes it will.

Posted by Mark Carey | May 17, 2007 10:44 AM

Posted on May 17, 2007 10:44

Mike:

Mhumm. So far, so good, but I tried taking this one step further: I got this PHP script to generate a fake filename for fake comment URL. What do you think about this? Good idea? Bad idea?

Secondly, should I install this script also on other pages that allow comment submission? (i.e. the comment pages, the comment preview pages, etc.) I may be mistaken, but they seem to use the same form...

Posted by Mike | July 12, 2007 12:48 PM

Posted on July 12, 2007 12:48

sohbet:

good your site thanks

Posted by sohbet | July 15, 2007 12:49 PM

Posted on July 15, 2007 12:49

Rohit kapur:

I am installing this plug-in. I think its great. I use google analitics to track my visiters and I have found that 99% of them have javascript so that won't be an issue for me.

Thanks!

Posted by Rohit kapur | August 7, 2007 6:45 AM

Posted on August 7, 2007 06:45

Fifty:

Is there anyway that this also lets me know what version of Java that they are using so i can see how far i can move the code?

Posted by Fifty | August 23, 2007 5:54 PM

Posted on August 23, 2007 17:54

perde:

perde :D

Posted by perde | October 1, 2007 1:31 PM

Posted on October 1, 2007 13:31

perde:

thans

Posted by perde | October 1, 2007 1:33 PM

Posted on October 1, 2007 13:33

Melissa:

I appreciate that you keep your site going and allow comments. To me feedback is an interesting part of a website.

Posted by Melissa | October 17, 2007 2:48 AM

Posted on October 17, 2007 02:48

haber:

thanks you

Posted by haber | November 18, 2007 10:46 AM

Posted on November 18, 2007 10:46

haber:

good your site thanks

Posted by haber | November 18, 2007 10:47 AM

Posted on November 18, 2007 10:47

okey:

thank you

Posted by okey | December 15, 2007 7:38 AM

Posted on December 15, 2007 07:38

Kino500

Would it be possible to get this plug-in updated to work on dynamic pages?

Posted by Kino500 | February 2, 2008 4:50 PM

Posted on February 2, 2008 16:50

Mark Carey

Kino500,

That probably wouldn't be too difficult...

Note that you can implement this manually without too much effort. Follow the steps above but in place of the DisguiseCommentURL tag, put something like:

You can also view the source of this entry for another example.

Posted by Mark Carey | February 2, 2008 5:36 PM

Posted on February 2, 2008 17:36

Jerry

Hi Mark,

I'm a total novice helping a friend. I noticed that the randomizer in your plugin might return a value of zero or $pathlength (the latter is probably impossible), in which case the whole path could show up in $part1 or $part2. The following is the way I want to change it, but need to verify java script syntax:

my $randomnumber = int (rand ($pathlength - 2)) + 1;

Would that work? What do you think?

Posted by Jerry | March 13, 2008 7:53 PM

Posted on March 13, 2008 19:53

garry:

I also installed this

Posted by garry | April 21, 2008 10:50 AM

Posted on April 21, 2008 10:50