Movable Type: Reducing Spam

I just finished making some minor changes to my weblog to help thwart spammers. If you use Movable Type software, here is one trick you can use to reduce your spam intake: Periodically change the name of your trackback and comment scripts.

Step 1: Insert the following lines into your mt-config.cgi file

# CommentScript & TrackbackScript
CommentScript mt-uniquenamehere-comments.cgi
TrackbackScript mt-uniquenamehere-tb.cgi

Step 2: Rename your comment and trackback scripts

Using the same names as in Step 1, rename your Comment and Trackback scripts.

Step 3: Rebuild your site

This step is very important. Rebuild your site so that all the links are now updated with the proper and current names.

If you follow this process every few weeks, you will definitely notice a sharp decrease in spam. Many of the bots will have your old file names. When they try to access those old file names, they will receive a 404 error. After a few weeks, the bots become more knowledgeable once again, so it is necessary to repeat the process.

Because I just completed my monthly ritual, I thought I would highlight it for others.