Following yesterday’s post Spam or Death Threat, I figured out it would be useful to share with you the steps I took in order to prevent it from happening againNote that I am aware that the chances of history repeating itself are pretty high but a pro-active approach towards such rubbish was enough at the time to make me feel better and safer about it all 
I also wanted to say thank you to everyone for sharing your experience on the subject… Fracas made a very good point about teenagers being the prime targets in this sort of situation. I am totally convinced that this was the case here too.
Here is what I did on my blog (hosted by Wordpress).
- First reaction was to hit the Spam button. Hopefully next time it will be identified by Akismet
-All comment authors have to leave an email address before leaving a comment for the first time. I have the address but I choose NOT TO engage at all with the pirate. Instead I looked up at the IP address also showing along the email address and went to Whois By IP Address. This gave me information on the internet provider used by this fool and more importantly an abuse report email address.
-I also looked in my Wordpress settings to see if there was anything else I could do to block that particular IP. There is the option to block certain key words but not the IP – in comment settings, pressing the option Discussions gave me access to a Comment Blacklist box where I simply added all the creepy words from the content of that particular comment.
Chances are it will happen again and again and I have to say that at not point I felt personally targeted by it but it made me think about the new bloggers that venture out for the first time in the big wide web of this funny part of the world called THE INTERNET.
What other steps could be taken? Tell us in the safe little comment box below
If you can read this, then I am innocent! (I always get blamed for Fracas’s shenanigans)
@john: you are too busy plotting to be guilty
I didn’t see yesterdays post until the morning. I am sorry you had to experience this.
I have had commenters who have tried to bait me into arguments but haven’t threatened me. When that happened I simply left a comment in a post or on their comment that stated that the blog is mine and I rule and if they didn’t like it – they should read and comment elsewhere. No one seems to want to be called out in print it seems and the power they think they have seems to evaporate when you let someone know you are the one in charge. But that is just harassment.
Threats are different and I think the steps you took are good ones. Make sure you save all the info you have in case you need to hand it over to authorities.
I was going to mention the constant threats I live under but I think I may have mentioned them before …….. so I won’t.
[I wonder what the TG's IP address is? - I'll have to do some fossicking......]
You can block by IP with a plugin called Bannage:
http://snipr.com/bannage
The disadvantage of Bannage can be seen when I ended up banning myself from my own blogs.
Took me a week to undo that fiasco.
It wasn’t me either that caused the problem there.
@sylvied What’s he plotting? has he got an allotment? has anyone seen his hare? ….. or his rabbit for that matter? what day is it? where’s my cocoa?
Baxter Tocher: Great info thanks!
John C: oh dear…
Daddy P: that’s ok no one is plotting against you…here is your cocao, mind you don’t burn your tongue…
@Sylvie: I tried plotting against DP when I met him. I only stopped because he promised to teach me how to make friends and influence them.
John can’t plot against me – we share the same teeth ………….
No we don’t! I keep the top, and he keeps the bottom.
(Can you imagine having to wait for them through post on the return trips?)
Sylvie – I use both the .com and the .org Wordpress, and so I went into my fraccers settings to see if I could help you with this:
-I also looked in my Wordpress settings to see if there was anything else I could do to block that particular IP. There is the option to block certain key words but not the IP – in comment settings, pressing the option Discussions gave me access to a Comment Blacklist box where I simply added all the creepy words from the content of that particular comment.
Going via Dashboard – Settings – Discussion, the instructions for the comment moderation and the comment blacklist options read as such:
When a comment contains any of these words in its content, name, URL, e-mail, or IP, it will be marked as spam. One word or IP per line. It will match inside words, so “press” will match “WordPress”.
You should be able to place the IP address the comment originated from in the blacklist box, or if you choose… the moderation box. Because you may have legitimate users sharing the same block of IP addresses as the offender, you might prefer to place the IP in the moderation box rather than the blacklist, so that you have the option of checking the moderated comments and saving legitimate ones.
Placing all the words to the post was a good plan, but I suspect that the chain thing was the result of a teen and so likely that person is on the receiving end of tons of that garbage and will be back with a different one. Putting the IP address in the moderation block will probably be more helpful to you than placing all the words of the offending spam.
And thank you for noticing my point. I know without a doubt, that teens believe in this stuff. My teen’s friends really believe all that ‘Bloody Mary’ stuff. I think it’s important to realize it’s likely the result of teens online with no one guiding them. I guess if more people were interested in those “tips for parents” I used to write, we wouldn’t be seeing so much of this kind of stupidity.
Hope that helps. I’ve gotten used to getting nasty comments. Sometimes I block them, sometimes not. So far, the only person to be blocked for good from fracas, is that fellow who argued that anyone who thinks eating disorders are real is a pig who wasn’t bred sufficiently or educated sufficiently. LOL. I just got tired of him. He sucked up too much of everyone’s time.
Thanks Fracas I will put the IP in the moderation box – good plan
These idiots certainly do suck up time and energy!
I either write an Asshat of the Day post about them, or track them down otherwise and tell them exactly where I am. People like that are worthless, and deserve to get their butts kicked by someone like me.