Spam Protection
Explanation
Spam reaches a public wiki through the forms it leaves open, and the Administration Application holds the settings that close them. Each door has its own defence.
- Anonymous comments are the usual target. Open the Wiki to Unregistered Users requires a CAPTCHA, a challenge a bot is not expected to pass.
- Self-registration feeds spam accounts. Customize the Registration Page covers the "Require CAPTCHA to register" setting.
- Open page editing cannot be guarded by a challenge, so the answer is to make the result worthless and to catch it early. Delay Search Engine Indexing keeps a freshly changed page out of search results, and Notifications bring a change to your attention in time to revert it.
Once spam is on the wiki, the AntiSpam application blocks what matches a keyword list and deletes a spammer's pages and account together. Smaller jobs have a script each: Remove All Anonymous Comments, Remove All Comments and Delete Spam Users.
A form of your own asks for a CAPTCHA through the CAPTCHA Module.
FAQ
Does a CAPTCHA stop every spam bot?
No, it raises the cost of posting enough to discourage automated spam. A wiki open to anonymous contributions still needs a way to spot and remove what gets through.
Should unregistered users be allowed to comment at all?
Only where anonymous feedback is worth the moderation it brings. Denying the Comment right to unregistered users removes the problem instead of filtering it.
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