Please check your blog for spam

[Tanuki Racoon]

A number of blogs (including mine) are being presently attacked with spam. Please go to your blog and look under TRACKBACKS. You may find a number of posts relating to prescription drugs. Please DELETE them immediately -- they will only attract more spam.

Under settings please fix these two settings which are NOT default:

1. On the first tab "APPROVE GUEST COMMENTS ONLY" should be set. Forum member comments should not have to be approved since forum members need to be approved to begin with.

2. On the second tab, the first two checkboxes need a decision. Either turn off trackbacks /or/ turn on moderation.

As of right now about HALF the blogs here have been hit. I hate spammers.

[Trab]

I just found that if you disallow trackbacks, all the 'bad' trackbacks already there disappear, or, more technically correct, can no longer be seen.

[DesDownunder]

WBMS, this seems like an ideal time to reveal my stupidity and ignorance and ask "What the hell is a trackback?"

I went to my blog and clicked on the trackbacks for each entry and could only see the comments.

I don't understand...

WBMS wrote:

2. On the second tab, the first two checkboxes need a decision. Either turn off trackbacks /or/ turn on moderation

I only see to select on or off. Where/what is moderation turn on.

(Yes Trab, I know I turn on all the moderators.)

I don't see any spam except for my own entries.

thanks.

[EleCivil]

Thanks for the heads-up. I never noticed the trackbacks before, but I had a bunch of 'em. Killed them, though.

[Tanuki Racoon]

A trackback is pointless in the case of this sort of blog. Just turn 'em off. If you leave them on, then underneath you can turn ON moderation which means you approve them.

What a trackback is (in overly simple terms) is a link between your comments and theirs -- if it were a legit blog you might share trackbacks with someone talking about the same thing. Spammers do this because the more links your page/blog/etc has, the higher up search engines it shall climb.