EE: Low NoSpam

This ExpressionEngine add-on helps you win the battle against comment spam. This post now provides a place for support for the Low NoSpam add-on.

Download and docs for Low NoSpam can be found in the Software section

March 1st 2009 | Add-Ons, ExpressionEngine, Spam prevention | 62 comments

Comments

  1. 1 Leevi Graham March 1st 2009, 23:18

    Great work Low,

    Keen to test this out on a couple of new projcts coming up soon.

  2. 2 Erwin Heiser March 1st 2009, 23:24

    Keeping busy I see :)
    Goed gedaan jochie!

  3. 3 Deron Sizemore March 2nd 2009, 06:57

    Going to be trying this out shortly. Sounds great!

  4. 4 Leevi Graham March 3rd 2009, 00:17

    @Low: Any chance of getting this bad boy up on GitHub so we can get updates easily and track the extensions progress?

  5. 5 Low March 3rd 2009, 00:38

    @Leevi: ah, yes, I’ll have a go at that soon.

  6. 6 Leevi Graham March 3rd 2009, 00:41

    @low: Just emailed you a script to create symlinks for the addon into your EE-install. Handy when using a source repo like github.

    If you plan to use Github, I’m trying to establish a naming convention for repos. In your case it would be: low.nospam.ee_addon. This should make searching for EE addons much easier in the future.

  7. 7 Keith Mancuso March 4th 2009, 06:33

    Maybe I am doing something wrong but I am able to get the the module installed but then when I click on it to get to its settings on the modules page i get this error

    Low NoSpam extension settings not found

    It seems as if
    // get service settings from extension
    $query = $DB->query(”SELECT settings FROM exp_extensions WHERE class = ‘Low_nospam_check’ AND settings != ” LIMIT 1″);

    is returning no results..

    am i doing something wrong here?

  8. 8 Low March 4th 2009, 10:01

    Keith, have you installed the extension (ext.low_nospam_check.php)? And have you saved the settings there? The module part of this add-on only marks caught comments as spam or ham. The extension part does all of the checking and needs settings like the API key.

  9. 9 Andru Edwards March 4th 2009, 22:35

    Low,

    I think I found a bug. When I go into the module, it says:

    92 closed Gallery comments

    When I click on it, the next page says “No comments are closed at this time”

    Thoughts? :)

  10. 10 Low March 6th 2009, 14:12

    Dru, you have indeed. If you upgrade to version 1.0.1, all should be well. However, you’ll have to delete the rogue gallery comments manually, using an sql query like this:

    DELETE FROM exp_gallery_comments WHERE status = 'c';

  11. 11 Wade Winningham March 9th 2009, 23:54

    I was not able to get the module to install until I made the following change to the get_comments function of mcp.low_nospam.php…

    //return $DB->query($sql)->result;
    $query = $DB->query($sql);
    return $query->result;

  12. 12 Low March 10th 2009, 10:08

    Wade, are you running php 4, by any chance?

  13. 13 J. Bradford March 17th 2009, 04:15

    Am I to understand that the API key and other settings must be directly entered in the ext.low_nospam_check.php? I’ve installed it, and when I click on it I get the same “Low NoSpam extension settings not found” as a previous commenter.

  14. 14 J. Bradford March 17th 2009, 04:36

    My mistake. I was getting Extensions confused with Modules. EE n00b. Keep up the good work!

  15. 15 JGF April 7th 2009, 16:55

    This looks great. Any plans to add support for EE’s built-in contact form? Is that possible?

  16. 16 Low April 7th 2009, 17:51

    @JGF: before I can add such support, the right extension hooks need to be added to the native EE Email module. Maybe you could add a Feature Request over at the EE forums for those?

  17. 17 Andru Edwards April 9th 2009, 22:39

    I just lost a forum post that I spent about 20 minutes on, because it was marked as spam and there is no holding area for forum posts. I think we need a way to tell it what member groups to NOT moderate. Is that possible?

  18. 18 Low April 10th 2009, 10:47

    It’s certainly something I could make possible, Andru. I’ll put it on my todo-list.

  19. 19 Andru Edwards April 10th 2009, 22:31

    Sweet! Out of curiosity, does this module also spam-check when you create from forum post from the publish page using the Forum tab?

    And another question - I know there isn’t a place for moderated forum posts to be put into a queue - but would it be possible for the module itself to house such a queue? Or is that beyond the scope of what is allowable currently within EE?

    I know I’m throwing a lot out there - but hey, I’d be perfectly fine with paying for Low NoSpam Pro ;)

  20. 20 Low April 17th 2009, 16:50

    @Andru: check version 1.0.4 for the member group thing.

    Building some sort of moderation queue for the forum module sounds like a challenge… It would certainly take up some time, but it should be feasible. I mean, just look at the stuff Leevi pulls off. ;)

    Anyway, it’s not on my agenda for now. I know you’re willing to pay, but I’m not sure if I’m willing to ask money for my add-ons just yet. :)

  21. 21 Derek Hogue April 20th 2009, 18:02

    Hey Low - am I right that this module bypasses comment notifications? That is to say, any email addresses listed for comment notification in a particular weblog will not be notified if a comment is marked as spam?

  22. 22 Low April 21st 2009, 12:31

    @Derek: that’s right. Caught comments do not trigger notifications.

  23. 23 Yann May 26th 2009, 18:51

    Hi!

    Great extension/module!

    Just wondering how one can make sure it’s actually working? I’ve entered typepad API key in extension prefs and marked a few incoming comments as spam from the module’s page but I’m still getting a lot of spam in the moderation queue… It might just be that the blog’s getting blasted like crazy but some of those “comments” are really spammy and one would assume the typepad system would catch them right of the bat…

    Is there a way to check the API key and everything is setup correctly? I tried entering a random string in API key field and did not get any error message so…

    Thanks again!

  24. 24 Low May 26th 2009, 20:36

    You can enter ‘viagra-test-123′ as your name to get a positive spam result from Akismet and TypePad Antispam. That’s the way to test if it’s set up correctly.

  25. 25 Yann May 27th 2009, 14:39

    well, I’m getting real spam with names like “viagra online” and comments filled with links about you know what… And they go in moderation instead of being deleted… Any idea of where I should be looking for potential problem?

    Thanks!

  26. 26 Low May 27th 2009, 14:43

    Yann, that’s what it’s supposed to do. As I explained in the article:

    Caught (gallery) comments will be set to Closed for further moderation.

    You have to delete them manually. Low NoSpam will only quarantine them, so to speak.

  27. 27 Yann May 27th 2009, 14:50

    Ah… ok, my bad… I assumed it deleted confirmed spam, and put the questionable ones in queue…How do you manage blog with heavy spam then (250+ a day…)? Any suggestion?

    Thanks again!

  28. 28 dale. June 29th 2009, 00:39

    Hi, looking forward to using this but I can’t seem to install it right.
    I keep getting Low NoSpam extension settings not found when I click on the module’s name.

    I installed the extension in the extensions folder, the “low_nospam” folder in the /modules folder and the language file in /language/english/ folder.

    You talk about settings, where can I find those? I tried entering my typepad API key in various places in the “ext.low_nospam_check.php” file but no joker.

    Thanks!

  29. 29 dale. June 29th 2009, 01:20

    Sorry, forgot to enable the extension, it’s active now. Thanks!

  30. 30 Mike Johnston July 21st 2009, 22:26

    Great work! Thank you very much. I assume that it simply requires activation to begin protection?

  31. 31 Low July 22nd 2009, 08:34

    That’s right, Mike. Just install, enable and make sure you’ve entered your API key. Then you’re protected. :)

  32. 32 Ben Kimball August 5th 2009, 05:24

    @Yann: I have the same problem. I want to remove the spam comments from the moderation queue. I might just fork the project on github and see if I can add it myself. I’ll let you know if I do.

  33. 33 Ben Kimball August 5th 2009, 06:45

    Okay, that didn’t take long. I’ve only done a little testing, but it seems to work. I sent a pull request to Low. In the meantime:

    I needed to be able to set up NoSpam so that it would automatically delete comments which Akismet determined to be spam, leaving the good comments in the EE moderation queue. So I forked the plugin and made the enclosed changes. I’ve only done limited testing so far, but it appears to work correctly. I added a new setting to the extension, ‘discard_comments_if_spam’. If it is set to no, which is the default, then the 1.0.4 behavior is preserved. If it is set to yes, then you get the new behavior.

    You can get my version (which I’ve labelled “1.0.5,” even though it is not Low’s release) from my github fork.

  34. 34 Low August 5th 2009, 11:10

    Nice work, Ben. I’ll update my version to incorporate your additions as soon as I get the chance.

  35. 35 Kirk October 10th 2009, 00:31

    hey Low, I installed but am still receiving an incredible number of spam comments. While those comments are being held in admin as ‘closed’ their still being published. I tested thing as you recommended by leaving a comment using the name: viagra-test-123 and while I was shown a messaging stating that the comment was going to be held for moderation - the comment was still published. Any ideas?

  36. 36 Low October 10th 2009, 17:30

    Kirk, closed comments being published sounds more like a template issue to me. Are you sure you’re only displaying open comments? If you are, maybe you should also ask the EE Support Team for some help.

  37. 37 eviluncledave November 6th 2009, 21:56

    Is a denial/failure message always returned if a comment is marked as spam? If not, Is there an easy way to implement some sort of failure message for spam comments? I realize that this may be counterproductive in regards to real spammers, but I want to make sure that legitimate users get an explanation of why their comment isn’t showing up. Thanks for your time.

  38. 38 Low November 7th 2009, 11:48

    @eviluncledave: Yes, a message is shown if a comment if considered spam and put in the moderation queue.

  39. 39 pirco December 15th 2009, 19:50

    my biggest issue have been forum comments posted by humans that seem to be relevant and do not contain any words that might trigger akismet or typepad. however, they’re still spam – linking to some obscure sites looking for incoming links (?).
    anyway, is there a way to use this module to mark ALL (forum) comments as possible spam so that I can practically moderate forum comments that way??

  40. 40 Low December 16th 2009, 09:35

    @pirco: ExpressionEngine doesn’t have a native moderating system for Forum posts. That’s why those stopped by this module are discarded immediately, instead of put on hold. So, no. Not possible at the moment.

  41. 41 Roy Hornsby January 4th 2010, 10:25

    Hi

    thanks for creating this application. I’m sure it will be very helpful.

    However, I’m having an installation problem. When I go to install the module I get a fatal error message telling me that “Class ‘Low_nospam_CP’ not found in…cp/cp.modules.php on line 363″

    I’ve enabled the extension and updated the settings and I have installed the files where they are supposed to be.

    I hope you will be able to solve this problem for me

    thanks once again - roy

  42. 42 Low January 4th 2010, 11:35

    Roy, I cannot reproduce your problem. Have you created a directory ‘low_nospam’ (lowercase) in the ‘modules’ directory? And did you put both the mod.low_nospam.php and mcp.low_nospam.php in there? Also, what version of EE and PHP are you using?

  43. 43 Roy Hornsby January 4th 2010, 11:46

    Hi Low

    thanks for your quick reply

    yes, i’ve checked everything and the directory is in place with the correct files in it.

    I’m using ee 1.6.8 build 20091201

    php version 5.2.10

    cheers - roy

  44. 44 David Crane March 6th 2010, 08:31

    Just to say that Ben Kimball’s addition is working for me. I was getting over 350 spam messages a day - even with captcha turned on. And if I wasn’t on it, the number of them in the database became too great for EE or Low NoSpam to delete without a fair bit of work.

    So Ben’s addition was a very welcome find and in my limited testing seems to have worked. Messages are definitely getting deleted and non-spam seems to get through, not that I get very much of that!

    Thanks Ben and thanks Low.

  45. 45 Bjørn Børresen March 9th 2010, 11:41

    There’s a problem with using this with the forums module in EE 2.0 .. I get this error:

    A PHP Error was encountered
    Severity: Notice
    Message: Undefined index: check_forum_posts
    Filename: low_nospam/ext.low_nospam.php
    Line Number: 279

    It seems ‘check_forum_posts’ isn’t added to the $settings array (even though the forum is installed) - so when posting a message in the forums you’ll get the message above.

  46. 46 Low March 9th 2010, 11:48

    Hey Bjørn. Quick fix: open ext.low_nospam.php in a text editor, go to line #279 and change this:

    if ($this->settings['check_forum_posts'] == 'y' AND $this->_check_user())

    to this:

    if (isset($this->settings['check_forum_posts']) AND $this->settings['check_forum_posts'] == 'y' AND $this->_check_user())

    That should get rid of the error message.

  47. 47 Bjørn March 9th 2010, 11:50

    Thanks for that Low :-) I ended up just removing everything but the _check_user() so it will spamcheck the forum posts each time.

    Great plugin btw!

  48. 48 Snowcore March 12th 2010, 19:59

    Could you tell me, please, how can I enable this module after installation?

  49. 49 Low March 15th 2010, 21:45

    Snowcore, just make sure the extension is enabled and you entered your API key. That’s all there is to it.

  50. 50 Angie March 16th 2010, 20:07

    Hi Low - I just installed this after having used your Akismet plugin for at least a year or so. It works, but I keep getting the following error on some legit comments:

    Unable to load the following extension file:

    ext.akismet_check.php

    I removed all the Akismet files (pretty sure anyway), so I’m not sure why I’m getting this. Any ideas?

  51. 51 Angie March 16th 2010, 20:21

    Never mind - just went into the database and removed a row that was still referencing the Akismet check file. :)

  52. 52 Helmi April 5th 2010, 03:58

    I’m unable to open v.1.0.4; it says the file is corrupted.

  53. 53 TB April 14th 2010, 23:27

    This seems to be a huge help, but I’m having a bit of trouble installing it. I reached the last step: installing it under the modules tab, and received this message:

    “Error

    Unable to locate the files needed to install this module”

    I’ve uploaded all of the files and placed them correctly, as far as I can tell. Has anyone else had this problem?

  54. 54 TB April 14th 2010, 23:31

    I spoke to soon and resolved the issue. Thanks for an awesome blocker!

  55. 55 Robert April 24th 2010, 03:26

    Hi there Low - tnx for this extension. Since moving to EE2.02PB comment spam has exploded.

    I also had the Discussion Forum error posted above and have made your manual hack, which seems to have worked.

    Might be a good idea to update your files so other users downloading it don’t have to search around for these php errors and stuff up a busy forum!

    I also couldn’t find anywhere in the settings how to set whether forum posts are checked or not. It only gave me options for member groups; catching comments and the Akismet settings.

  56. 56 Low April 28th 2010, 13:23

    Robert: check out v2.1.0. That should work better for you.

  57. 57 Robert Scanlon April 29th 2010, 01:33

    Hi there Low - SUPER!

    Working beautifully in EEv2.0.2pb01 build 20100415 with your V2.1 (and catching me some spam …)

    Thanks again!

  58. 58 drr May 29th 2010, 18:24

    Im getting this warning when I try to post a comment: “Missing argument 1 for check_comment()”. Any thoughts?

  59. 59 drr May 29th 2010, 18:28

    Further to the previous comment: EE 1.6.8, using Akismet, API key is showing up, Check comments is set to ‘yes’. I’m seeing 41 “comments awaiting validation” but when I click there I get a blank admin screen.

  60. 60 Doug June 1st 2010, 19:23

    install of seemed to go smoothly in 1.6.9, and ext is enabled with API entered, etc. but when i click on the module Low NoSpam it just tries to download the index.php file. Not sure what I’ve done wrong.

  61. 61 Clive Portman June 27th 2010, 13:20

    Hi Low,

    Installed fine.

    I’ve tried two comments of my own from different email addresses, but they’ve both been identified incorrectly and show up in the list of spam.

    I then tried a third comment using the same email address as the third, and, again, that has been marked as spam as well.

    Any ideas?

  62. 62 drr June 28th 2010, 01:38

    I fixed my problem by switching from PHP4 to PHP5.

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