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Today, I found out about a new Anti-spam plugin released by Growmap, and Andy of Commentluv. As of yesterday the new plugin was released to the WordPress Directory! I have been waiting for better spam fitting tools for a while, and think this plugin may be the one!

What I like about this plugin is, it was design by a group of great bloggers and small owners and Andy did the code. To me this how the blogging community should work. He runs a great sit and he mad coding skills when it comes to WordPress coding. If the code is broken, or doesn’t work because of your theme, he will help figure out the problem and help you get it fixed in whatever way he can…

What is GrowMap Anti-Spambot Plugin?

GrowMap Anti-Spambot is a client side generated checkbox that will be added to your comment form. The checkbox will ask users to confirm that they are not a spammer. Since the box is generated by client side JavaScript most bots can not see it. It should stop 99% of all automated spam bots, per the plugin’s description on the WordPress Directory.

Why is GrowMap Anti-Spambot Better than the rest?

The plugin was created because, other anti-spam plugins were not the best. They would  consider good comments spam, send commentators to blank white pages, delete real comments, or send those good comments to the spam folder. GrowMap says this plugin is our solution to those problems. As a new blogger, I never really payed much attention to this issue. But after a few months, I found out about these reported issues. I tried muliple plugins and just lost more comments than before. So finally I went with Akismet (comes with WordPress) and just check the spam folders daily.

What’s Wrong With Akismet?

Akismet does a good job at combating spam. It works so well that it can mark good comments and set our regular readers as spam. When configure the plugin you have to be carful or you could loose a lot of comments. For me I hate commenting on sites with Akismet. Below is a list of reasons why we shouldn’t use Akismet taken from GrowMaps article.

1. Large numbers of bloggers and regular commentators who never spam have been flagged by Akismet as spammers.
2. Any commentator who has been flagged as a spammer is treated rudely by your blog. They never see the message your comment is being moderated so they have no way of knowing what happened to their comment.
3. If you have a particular box checked in the Akismet configuration, comments left for real people who have been flagged incorrectly as commentators in posts more than 30 days old are immediately deleted and they see a blank white page. See how to turn off Akismet Comment deletion.
4. Read the many other posts and hundreds of comments related to problems with Akismet.

Why Not Use Captcha or Math Solution

For me I hate commenting on sites with Captcha, almost every time I comment I have to refresh the box because I can’t read text I need to enter into the entry fields. I will have to refresh five or six times before getting one I can read. Another list of reasons from GrowMap as why we shouldn’t use these types of plugins.

1. Even when your commentators enter the captcha or math solution correctly they are sometimes told they have entered it incorrectly.
2. We had three complaints from regular commentators who are experienced bloggers within 48 hours of testing. If they don’t know that deleting cookies will probably resolve the problems of incorrect answers neither will your ordinary readers.
3. They can be difficult for older people and those with poor vision to read.

Reasons To Use GrowMap Anti-Spambot

Below are reason why you should use the plugin take directly from GropMap’s article.

1. No false positives – your favorite commentators and new readers WILL be able to easily comment in your blog.
2. Blocks spam that Akismet was letting through. We are getting ZERO bot spam. Only those commenting manually who check the “I am not a spammer box” can leave comments.
3. Easier for commentators than using a Captcha or math plugin – never a “wrong” answer that isn’t wrong or a problem with cookies!

How to Install GrowMap Anti-Spambot

Installing GrowMap plugin is very simple. There are two ways to do this. The easiest is through your admin panel. Once logged into your admin panel, go to plugins >>> add new plguins >>> search for “GrowMap Anti-Spambot” >>> click on the plugin >>> install >>> Activate the plugin.  The second way would be to go the Growmap Anti Spambot Plugin and download the plugin.  Then uploaded it to your plugin folder through FTP. But as mentioned before, using the admin panel is the easiest and the fastest way to get the plugin setup on your site.

Configuration

Configuration is easy as well, go to your plugin section, scroll down to find the Growmap Plugin and click on settings. Once the page has loaded, You four fields you can change if you choose to. But the default, the wording is perfectly fine and doesn’t need to be changed…. Check out these screen shots to see for yourself.

NOTE: You will only see the checkbox if you are logged out of your site.

Final Thoughts

As mentioned before, I trust the creators of this plugin. I know it will work and if there are any issues with the plugin they will correct it. If you have an questions or support issues contact Gail over at GrowMaps and not Andy.

There is no perfect solution to combating comment spam. But the Growmap plugin is one step closer to a perfect solution dealing with spam. I have turned off my anti-spam plugins except for the Growmap plugin and I will see how much spam gets by. I plan on testing this plugin for a few weeks and see how well it does…

Image Source: iconfinder

WordPress Plugin: Growmap Anti Spambot Plugin