Did it install a spam filter?

Hi Alex,

The issue you’re describing is not related to WP-SpamShield.

WP-SpamShield works completely differently in that it does not send comments to your spam folder….when it detects spam, it is completely blocked and kept out of your site’s database altogether. There is absolutely no code in WP-SpamShield that would send comments to the spam folder.

When the plugin is uninstalled, it completely removes itself, including all settings and files and doesn’t leave a trace of itself in a site afterward.

It would be a very bad practice for a plugin to leave a script installed afterward, and I would never do something shady like that. This is a reputable plugin and I work hard to keep it that way.

My advice would be to take a look at your current anti-spam solution, and read all of its documentation thoroughly to see why your comments are getting spammed, and contact the tech support of the plugin that is still active on your site. That’s the most likely source of your issue.

If you’re concerned about the possibility of malware on your site, then you need to perform a security audit on your site.

– Scott

I am so sorry for the mix up. This was actualy a WordPress problem. I specified a list of words that i wanted blocked, and go to find out, that none of those comments had those specific words in them.
Is it your plugin, NO. It was a WordPress bug i guess.

https://ytadvisers.com

Hi Alex,

No worries…it happens. Thanks for letting me know.

Keep in mind when you’re using the WordPress comment blacklist that it is inclusive, not exact match. So if you put the word “press” on the blacklist, it will not only block comments with “press” but “WordPress”, “express” and anything else that includes “press”. You almost have to think of every single possibility that something could match before you add a word to the list, which is a difficult task.

One thing not a lot of people realize, is that it doesn’t just run these terms you blacklisted against the comment content, but it tests against all of the following as well:

1. the user’s name
2. email address
3. website
4. IP address
5. User-Agent of their browser

So if your terms are in any of those, it will get flagged as spam. Most people don’t realize it checks the User-Agent…that one doesn’t seem like a good idea to me, especially since it isn’t mentioned on the settings page or anywhere in the admin. It can be quite frustrating for users if they don’t realize WordPress does that.

Also, some people don’t realize this…if they specific a full IP address, it may match other complete IP addresses. For example…you put in 12.34.56.24, thinking it will only block that one IP. No…it will also block 212.34.56.24, as well as 12.34.56.245. So you have to be really careful.

You might be interested to know that in the Enhanced Comment Blacklist in WP-SpamShield, I changed that blacklist behavior a bit to make it a little more user-friendly and IMO a bit more accurate. It does not check the User-Agent, only does exact matches on email addresses, for IP addresses if you specific a full IP address (123.45.67.89) it will only do an exact match, and if you specify a C-block (123.45.67.), it will match IP addresses within that C-block, not the standard inclusive match. (The plugin checks user agent quite thoroughly so there’s no need for users to have to mess with that.) In addition, instead of sending the comments to spam it will block them altogether. This option has to be enabled though, otherwise it just follows the default WordPress blacklist behavior.

I hope that helps shed some light on it a little bit. Have a good one.

– Scott