Wordpress is pretty good

[ronnie]

I have to admit, I have been converted.

When I first starting blogging, Movable type looked like the best, a big blogger even recommended it (no one from this board). Maybe it was back then, but since I've been messing with word press, MT is way behind and doing a real bad job of trying to catch up. And to think I paid for it..

I had a mainstream site I wanted to start so I thought I'd try wordpress, see how it was. I installed the lastest version, just came out, 2.1, also found a real nice widget ready theme. Has any one used a widget template? You build your pages by dragging and dropping blocks, I have to say, I am very impressed. Switching themes with a click, I've been working way to had with the other software.

Guess it goes to show the power of open source.

I am a believer.

Now if I could just find a good comment spam solution..

[sean]

I agree, WP rules. To block comment spam I use Spam Karma 2 plugin.

[twn]

And i can only agree, it is also quite easy to change. For example i added my own captcha picture when someone post a comment within 5 minutes. (i couldn't use spam karma for several reasons). Problem is that it is a lot heavier for the server especially when you compare it with the thumblogger software. But when you only have a couple blogs that should be no problem at all, although i heard problems with the dreamhost & wordpress combination.

[ronnie]

There is much talk that captcha can be beat pretty easy, I know I've seen websites that talk about how to read the image with a bot. Course if it's working for you. Problem is many plug-ins either dont work with the new WP version or they dont work with my theme. Probably more my theme.

Actually, I think I am just going to make it register only to comment for a couple reasons. I can't see spam getting though that way.

[walrus]

Originally Posted by ronnie

Actually, I think I am just going to make it register only to comment for a couple reasons. I can't see spam getting though that way.

That should work although I use Askimet (which comes with WP) and just have it set so that I have to approve a first time comment. Askimet catches about 95% of the spam which means I only have a few comments a week that are spam and require moderation.

I've heard good things about Spam Karma too

[twn]

Originally Posted by ronnie

There is much talk that captcha can be beat pretty easy, I know I've seen websites that talk about how to read the image with a bot. Course if it's working for you. Problem is many plug-ins either dont work with the new WP version or they dont work with my theme. Probably more my theme.

That is indeed possible, i actually had a similar problem with my new vbulletin board, i didn't configured the captcha at the board so it displayed a simple picture with text. Within no time i had spam on my board. After that i configured the captcha so that it generated a picture with wavy text with random font and some cool random background and since then i haven't had one spam post on my board Google actually also uses a similar technique to prevent captcha's to be read with OCR software.

But i'm quite happy with my simple captcha for wordpress cause it changes the way the comment system works, this way standard spam software won't work. And when it gets hacked i just replace the captcha with the one that vbulletin uses.

[ronnie]

There were a couple people, though it was rare, said Askimet snagged good comments, just what I was reading, but that was quite rare. I did get a math question one to work, but more I thought, will be register only, building more of a community. Plus I want them to get in the habit of giving up their e-mail and confirming, or surfers that will.

I also turned off trackbacks, if some one wants to trade, they can contact me. A year later I still have trackback spam showing in my stats from when I left it open at first. It's a really annoying. In looking at many mainstream blogs lately, there seems to be a new kind of spam, or should I call it, new load of crap. I see many good blogs with loads of trackbacks, although they have a recip/linkback, and a related article, they sure look like generated sites, they just have that feel. I knew RSS generation was getting advanced, guess it's really getting up there. Seems like "legit"spamming. I dont want that crap in my blogs, even if they do have a link back.

I still need to figure out a contact form, seems that does not come with WP, thought maybe it would. Have to protect that to, know my forms get spammed to. Pretty bad when you have to close up everything because of so many assholes. Did'nt use to be like this.

With all the Web 2.0 talk, WP is coming pretty close, think just need a higher level or interaction. MT just recently introduced a theme switcher.. and only a hand full of ugly themes. And a dollar short. Recent poll, what plug-ins you used and which you would like to see bundled with future versions. What about NEW plug-ins?! lol

[Vivaldi]

I too used Mt at first ...but now I'm all WP. Not because of themes, although it's fine You have predefined themes already, because I always make my themes ... but because overall usability is far easier at WP ... speaking of WP is there an option (or additional module) that requires verification mail confirmation before posting!?

[ronnie]

Originally Posted by Vivaldi

I too used Mt at first ...but now I'm all WP. Not because of themes, although it's fine You have predefined themes already, because I always make my themes ... but because overall usability is far easier at WP ... speaking of WP is there an option (or additional module) that requires verification mail confirmation before posting!?

I agree, WP seems much more flexible.

Unless your wanting something different you can have commenters register before they can post. They register, and get their user name and pass e-mailed to them. Though I know I've seen plug-ins that also send a comfirmation type link.

[walrus]

Originally Posted by ronnie

There were a couple people, though it was rare, said Askimet snagged good comments, just what I was reading, but that was quite rare. I did get a math question one to work, but more I thought, will be register only, building more of a community. Plus I want them to get in the habit of giving up their e-mail and confirming, or surfers that will.

I have had Askimet catch a couple legit comments but it has been few and far between. I figure nothing will ever be 100%

Originally Posted by ronnie

I still need to figure out a contact form, seems that does not come with WP, thought maybe it would. Have to protect that to, know my forms get spammed to. Pretty bad when you have to close up everything because of so many assholes. Did'nt use to be like this.

I use WP-Contact Form although the site seemed to be down when I just checked. Since I haven't moved to 2.1 yet...and probably wont until it's 2.12 or so, I can't tell you if it works but it should.

Originally Posted by ronnie

With all the Web 2.0 talk, WP is coming pretty close, think just need a higher level or interaction. MT just recently introduced a theme switcher.. and only a hand full of ugly themes. And a dollar short. Recent poll, what plug-ins you used and which you would like to see bundled with future versions. What about NEW plug-ins?! lol

I fell in lust with this theme over the weekend http://www.pornblogbytes.com.

As everyone probably knows by now I swear by Ultimate Tag Warrior, I use Google site maps, the contact form plugin I listed and whatever else I need depending on the specific blog.

As far as new plugings, I'd like to see a more flexible feed reader plugin than either feedwordpress or wp-autoblog.