Blogs Cause Spam
Today I was pleasantly surprised to learn that my default install of WordPress does not display email addresses in the comments. Why don’t all blogging tools work this way by default? Maybe there is a logical reason to be displaying email addresses that I am missing here. Try as I might though the only thing I can see resulting from this is more spam.
A quick jaunt through my news reader shows older versions of MovableType to be the main culprit here. Is it possible that this is still the default behavior in the latest releases? There was a time not too long ago that I didn’t have this blog and therefore a URL to leave behind. I have to say that I found it easier to lurk than to join the discussion and possibly have my email exposed to the creepy crawlies of the web. And what about those without blogs? Should they really be left out? Or worse yet, flooded with spam? I know my mother wouldn’t think twice* when filling out that comment form, but then again, she shouldn’t have to. As blogs grow and become more common to the wider, possibly less tech-savvy, web audience, we as maintainers should make sure that we don’t contribute to the volume of spam our visitors receive.
* That thought process would go something like this…
- nice article, maybe I’ll leave a comment
- name, OK
- email address, OK
- URL? What’s that?
- click the button
So, let me be one of the first to comment on your blog. Was looking up an old friend’s website and found he now has a blog - cool; although I’ll admit that I once graduated from university with a Comp Eng degree, I think I now fall under the ‘less tech savvy’ category. The military does that to you! Neet stuff Kev - am happy to see you are doing well. As for my email address here’s hoping you’re the only one who can read it!!
Comment by Sonny Hatton — 10/1/2004 @ 11:27 am
Hey Sonny! Not one of the first, THE first. I haven’t really told anyone about this so you may be the only one reading it who actually knows me.
As for email addresses, don’t worry about that. They are never displayed on the site.
Comment by Kevin LaCoste — 10/9/2004 @ 10:38 pm