Over the last few weeks, about a third of my bandwidth here has been eaten by four or five referrer spammers. There may be more bandwidth eaten by a large number of smaller offenders: I haven’t delved into the server logs past the “top 25” list I have on the backend here.
My web host very generously refrains from charging me from running over my allotted bandwidth, which is very nice of him and I wouldn’t be surprised if his accounting team told him to stop sometime soon. I usually run about 150 percent of my allotted bandwidth at a minimum. So I clearly need to do something about the referrer spamming scum.
I’ve just installed the Expression Engine port of Bad Behavior, which is supposed to block suspicious hits rather effectively. The problem is, I’ve read that there’s a minor problem with the software blocking legitimate comments and trackbacks.
So I need your help. Leave a comment here, even a content-free comment saying something like “comment attempt” or “test” or something, and if you’re blocked, send me a note — including any error messages, cutting and pasting is fine — to . If you’re really ambitious, feel free to trackback to this post and send any error messages to that same email address. And if you can’t see this post at all, do twenty pushups. Thanks!
Update! In the past couple hours, we’ve blocked more than 2500 spam pings from 96 distinct IP addresses. And a lot’s still getting through. I could set the thing to strict filtering, which runs the risk of shutting out a few legitimate corporate and government visitors. Whaddaya think?
Update again! OK, setting it to “strict” now. Everyone try again! What’s your least favorite food?
And again: “Strict” mode off. Three false positives is too many.
Posted by: Chris Clarke
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