Favorite WordPress Plugins for Controlling Spam

Spam is such a fact of life on the web these days, but there is a myriad of ways to combat it too. And while not much will stop a dedicated human spammer, there are some good tools out there for at least minimizing the hassle.

What do I typically use/recommend?

Comment Spam:

• WP Captcha Free – A non-captcha solution, so no irritating box for your readers to fill out prior to commenting.  Simple to use/install.

Trackback Spam:

• Simple Trackback Validation – Stops trackback spam either by sending suspicious trackbacks to moderation, or deleting them altogether.  Personally, I like to set it to just delete suspicious trackbacks, so I don’t have to deal with them, but log the deletions so I can check occasionally and make sure that it’s not being overzealous.

More Resources

There are some good lists of anti-spam tools for WordPress out there, so if you want more ideas, try:

• Top 10 Ways to Stop Spam in WordPress
• Review: Top 9 WordPress Anti-Spam Plugins
• 50 Best WordPress Plugins