# What's up with this strange guestbook spam, and how do I stop it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 17, 2006, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-this-strange-guestbook-spam-and-how-do-i-stop-it/376809 "2006-10-17T18:15:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Green\_Cymbeline](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_cymbeline/32/9244_2.png) [@Green\_Cymbeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Cymbeline)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-this-strange-guestbook-spam-and-how-do-i-stop-it/376809/1 "2006-10-17T18:15:27Z")
I have a personal web page that is mostly dedicated to family photos and stuff, and on it I have a guestbook. It keeps getting spammed with the strangest spam. Periodically I will rename the guestbook link and it will be spam-free for a couple of weeks, but then it starts again. How do these spammers find my guestbook? And many of the comments don’t have links or anything like that, so what exactly are they trying to do?? How can I stop this once and for all? Some examples are below: > [@](#): > > Aannabel > Tuesday, October 17, 2006 03:36 AM IP: [164-103-199-82.iskratelecom.ru](http://164-103-199-82.iskratelecom.ru) > The youth is interested very much i > n this theme, I do not wish to feel myself the old person and I search for everything that can return a youth to me. Having visited your site I have felt myself like the coeval of my son with whom we visit your site together. What?? “The coveal of my son?” WTF does that mean? 😕 > [@](#): > > Ron Leggs > Sunday, October 15, 2006 01:19 AM IP: 222.121.219.31 > I have been reading your guest book from the beginning, page or two a day. Often I have the energy to read and enjoy, but not write (it is difficult to explain emotions). I like the comments in different languages, even though I can read English well, and Spanish a little, and can just understand some of the words in Italian and Japanese. Um, oh-kay.. First of all there are only like 15 real comments in my guestbook, and they are all in English. NOtice how the two above don’t have links or aren’t trying to sell anything. What is their purpose then? > [@](#): > > Plumber 4Art > Monday, October 16, 2006 02:27 AM Host: [ns.km11345.keymachine.de](http://ns.km11345.keymachine.de) > On-line plumbing superstore. Taps, showers, plumbing fittings and tools for the DIY enthusiast and the professional installers. > > Dietiker39 > Tuesday, October 17, 2006 05:43 AM Host: [ns.km11345.keymachine.de](http://ns.km11345.keymachine.de) > Hi everybody! > Cool! > Not bad > Buy Phentermine diet pills > Good night OK these two are obvious, they link to sites selling stuff… > [@](#): > > Indiana > Monday, October 16, 2006 11:44 PM IP: [164-103-199-82.iskratelecom.ru](http://164-103-199-82.iskratelecom.ru) > Thanks a lot for such a wonderful site i see that you created it going the whole hog!! > > Larisa Koh > Monday, October 16, 2006 09:38 AM IP: [164-103-199-82.iskratelecom.ru](http://164-103-199-82.iskratelecom.ru) > Visiting of your site is the real holiday for me. Again, no links or anything… what is the purpose of this spam? ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-this-strange-guestbook-spam-and-how-do-i-stop-it/376809/2 "2006-10-17T18:21:30Z")
These appear to be half-baked, bot-driven attempts to increase website rankings through guestbook spam. My guess is that the automated software that they’re using (the “bots”) were unable to post the links properly, or were unable to determine that your guestbook does not hyperlink the poster names (as some guestbooks do). ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-this-strange-guestbook-spam-and-how-do-i-stop-it/376809/3 "2006-10-17T18:27:26Z")
Assuming the spam is being distributed by bots, you can include Captcha validation such as [this javascript](http://www.archreality.com/jcap/) version. You’d need to be able to modify the HTML source for your guestbook in order to use this, but it will keep bot-generated spam to a minimum. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Cymbeline](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_cymbeline/32/9244_2.png) [@Green\_Cymbeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Cymbeline)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-this-strange-guestbook-spam-and-how-do-i-stop-it/376809/4 "2006-10-17T18:32:07Z")
Thanks Q.E.D., I will try that. I have been wasting too much time deleting spam! Does anyone know how these bots find the guestbooks? Do they search for links called “guestbook?” I thought that might be the case, so I changed the name of the guestbook file to something other than “guestbook.” We will see if that works… ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-this-strange-guestbook-spam-and-how-do-i-stop-it/376809/5 "2006-10-17T18:40:07Z")
What software are you running the site with? If you’re using Wordpress (which is terrific, by the way), you can use [Akismet](http://akismet.com/) to stop spam. A few weeks ago I suddenly started getting from 20 to 50 spam comments a day; I installed Akismet, and not one has gotten through their filter since then. Their [FAQ](http://akismet.com/faq/) says you can use it for non-Wordpress sites too: > [@](#): > > The Akismet API can be adapted for almost any application with submitted content. If you want to adapt it for a different system, please join our development community. I have no idea how to do this though, and any computer project involving a “development community” is sure to be outside my meager abilities. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-this-strange-guestbook-spam-and-how-do-i-stop-it/376809/6 "2006-10-17T19:36:45Z")
Unfortunately CAPTCHA validation of web forms does not meet accessibility requirements. So any government web sites where (US) federal funds are involved would violate [Section 508](http://www.section508.gov/), and other (commercial) web sites may be in violation of ADA requirements under the emerging [Target.com / ADA case](http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060910-7705.html).