Welcome to Geeklog, Anonymous Thursday, March 28 2024 @ 02:57 pm EDT

Geeklog Forums

Akismet Spam-X module flagging IPs of all commenters as spammers


Status: offline

jrivett

Forum User
Newbie
Registered: 12/17/11
Posts: 10
This morning a user reported that their attempt to post a comment to my site failed. I tested the function with my own user, and the same thing happened.

The comment submitter sees this:
Text Formatted Code
System Message - 07/27 06:45AM
Spam detected. Email sent to admin.


The Spam-X log shows this:
Text Formatted Code
Fri Jul 26 20:23:33 2019 - Found Spam Post matching Akismet posted by user 354 from IP 162.158.59.57
Fri Jul 26 20:23:33 2019 - Mail Sent to Admin


I don't get a lot of comments on the site (only registered users can comment) so I don't know when this started happening.

It doesn't seem to matter what IP address is used; the same thing happens regardless. You may have noticed my example above is a Cloudflare IP, but even if I disable Cloudflare for the site or try a LAN IP address, the problem persists.

The only solution I've found so far is to disable the Spam-X Akisment module.

Any ideas?
 Quote

Status: offline

Laugh

Site Admin
Admin
Registered: 09/27/05
Posts: 1468
Location:Canada
What version of Geeklog are you using? What was the text of the comment? I will need this information for testing.

The Akismet module doesn't use your IP address to determine if it is spam. It uses the actual text of the comment, author email address, name etc..

Sounds like it might be a bug... but I would have to run some tests when I get back. For now please disable the module and put comments in submission mode so you can review manually.

GitHub Bug Report :https://github.com/Geeklog-Core/geeklog/issues/947
One of the Geeklog Core Developers.
 Quote

Status: offline

jrivett

Forum User
Newbie
Registered: 12/17/11
Posts: 10
Quote by: Laugh

What version of Geeklog are you using?


Geeklog 2.2.0 (latest).

Quote by: Laugh

What was the text of the comment? I will need this information for testing.


My test comment, by which I confirmed this problem, contained only the word 'test'.

Quote by: Laugh

The Akismet module doesn't use your IP address to determine if it is spam. It uses the actual text of the comment, author email address, name etc..


Interesting. I assumed it looked at IP address as well as the other things.

Quote by: Laugh

Sounds like it might be a bug... but I would have to run some tests when I get back. For now please disable the module and put comments in submission mode so you can review manually.


Done.

Thanks for the quick response!

 Quote

Status: offline

Laugh

Site Admin
Admin
Registered: 09/27/05
Posts: 1468
Location:Canada
The word "test" might trigger a spam response...

The Stop Form Spam module checks IP and email address for new users. (I know the name is confusing Smile )

I'll update the docs as well to explain things a bit better.

You might want to look at the Ban Plugin (https://www.geeklog.net/downloads/index.php/1153_5b1956215dc92). It allows more control over IPs. For example you can set it up to ban IPs automatically from the Stop Forum Spam database. You can also set it up along with the GUS plugin to detect suspicious behavior and ban the offending IP.




One of the Geeklog Core Developers.
 Quote

Status: offline

Laugh

Site Admin
Admin
Registered: 09/27/05
Posts: 1468
Location:Canada
Geeklog.net uses the Akismet module. While you are logged in can you post a comment on an article and let me know what happens (I'll delete the comment after)?

Also post the time you did it (so I can look in the logs), the URL of the article, and the comment text as well.

Thanks
One of the Geeklog Core Developers.
 Quote

Status: offline

jrivett

Forum User
Newbie
Registered: 12/17/11
Posts: 10
Quote by: Laugh

Geeklog.net uses the Akismet module. While you are logged in can you post a comment on an article and let me know what happens (I'll delete the comment after)?



Text Formatted Code
System Message - 07/27 04:31pm
Spam detected. Post was deleted.
 


The comment was on the Geeklog 2.2.0 announcement. The comment text was just a link to this forum post with a brief explanation.

Looks like geeklog.net has the same problem.
 Quote

Status: offline

Laugh

Site Admin
Admin
Registered: 09/27/05
Posts: 1468
Location:Canada
Thanks.

Ran some tests and it looks like everything is working right with Geeklog. It's just that the API call to Akismet always flags everything as maybe SPAM. I sent an email to Akismet support with the data we send to them and the data we receive back to see if they can tell us why.
One of the Geeklog Core Developers.
 Quote

Status: offline

jrivett

Forum User
Newbie
Registered: 12/17/11
Posts: 10
Sounds good. Hopefully whatever changed in the Akismet API won't be a deal-breaker for use in Spam-X.
 Quote

Status: offline

Laugh

Site Admin
Admin
Registered: 09/27/05
Posts: 1468
Location:Canada
.Akismet support got back to me and stated:

I looked into the details of the data we have on our end for the spam fighting on geeklog.net, and I found why Akismet was treating the comments as spam.

I've made some changes that should stop this from happening.


I enabled the module again and was able to post comments. It's unclear if their fixes is just for the domain or not so I emailed them back and asked. In the meantime you could try it out again.
One of the Geeklog Core Developers.
 Quote

Status: offline

jrivett

Forum User
Newbie
Registered: 12/17/11
Posts: 10
Quote by: Laugh

I enabled the module again and was able to post comments. It's unclear if their fixes is just for the domain or not so I emailed them back and asked. In the meantime you could try it out again.


I re-enabled the Akismet Spam-X module and successfully commented on one of my posts. Whatever they did, it seems to be fixed.

Thanks!
 Quote

Status: offline

Laugh

Site Admin
Admin
Registered: 09/27/05
Posts: 1468
Location:Canada
They said it should work for all Geeklog sites so enable the Akismet module and let me know if yours works again or not.
One of the Geeklog Core Developers.
 Quote

All times are EDT. The time is now 02:57 pm.

  • Normal Topic
  • Sticky Topic
  • Locked Topic
  • New Post
  • Sticky Topic W/ New Post
  • Locked Topic W/ New Post
  •  View Anonymous Posts
  •  Able to post
  •  Filtered HTML Allowed
  •  Censored Content