When comment spam first started becoming an issue a couple of years ago, I hacked my b2 installation with a word-verification field that forced people to enter my last name whenever posting a comment. Since then, some of my friends have implemented the same feature in their journals.

When I upgraded to Wordpress 2.0, I decided to try using Akismet instead of using the “last name” anti-spam method, and what I found was the comment spammers were relentless, and every once in awhile (like last night), a new spam type would make it past Akismet’s filters, flooding me with 50 or more e-mails at a time (as the comments entered moderation). So I’ve reinstated the “last name” requirement, this time using Chris Wage’s plug-in, WordVerify.

I had to modify the plugin to be more in-line with my form presentation, and for case insensitivity. If you want to make WordVerify case-insensitive, just change line 163 from:

if ($word != $this->settings['word']) {

to:

if (strtoupper($word) != strtoupper($this->settings['word'])) {

Thanks, Chris, for a fantastic plug-in! If I don’t see many comment spams getting through, I’ll disable Akismet.