AKMA’s Random Thoughts

If I was developing blogging software today I think I would start with getting the comment system right and only then go to the application.

Sorry if you already knew this, but there is an MT plug-in which closes comments automatically a set number of days (defined by you) after an entry is posted.

I very much wanted to have it, but it only works if you have a mysql database, or something similarly technical which I don't have and don't understand.

I still go through and delete all spam by hand since the one click spam deletion of the jay allen plug-in doesn't work for me either. Then I manually close comments every 30 days or so. And once closed the comments become invisible on the site although they're still on the server. Altogether extremely time consuming and unsatisfactory.

qB, if you have MT, you have a MySql database so you might get a teching friend to show you how to a run a script to turn off all old posts' comments. And though there are problems with it, MT Blacklist, as I understand it, is a pretty easily installed fix for comment spam. Shelley Powers has written extensiely on this topic, you might check her site.

AKMA, I've been blogging with Textpattern for a week now & have had no comment spam. I'm sure some will sho up at some point, but when it does, there is a single page with each comment listed & a delete button beside it. Txp also comes "out of the box" with the function to set how long comments remain open on a particular post. It is very good software.

Actually, having MT doesn't mean you have a MySQL db. The default MT install uses the BerkeleyDB database, and it can also be used with several other db packages. I believe AKMA's using SQLite.

I didn't know there was a way in MT to turn off all comments...

(If you're not using MySQL, that is...I regularly use a SQL command on my MT/MySQL installation to turn off comments for older posts.)

Well, I thought there was a command in the config menu (I haven’t checked, because my time at the internet cafe here is limited, and we don’t seem to have an active problem today). I’ll light a candle for peace on this front, and see what happens tomorrow.

Liz, well that's what I get for trying to offer technical advice! But doesn't MT Blacklist work with any db?

MT offers a way to turn off comments from now on, but not retroactively w/o running a script. Sheller Powers has the script somewhere on her site for turning off all MT comments on posts older than a period you choose. Does this only work in MySQL?

Liz - yes, fL is on a BerkleyDB database which is why I can't use the plugin.

Joe - thanks, I've read Shelley's extremely helpful stuff. My problem with MT blacklist is only with the one-click de-spamming which doesn't work because of an anomoly in my post numbering. The blocking works fine.

I hope you find a solution soon!