New Comments Tool – Or A Little Addition Means A Subtraction in Spam

Scared Monkeys is a target for comment spam. Daily we get 1,000s of spam messages that need to be worked through to find the nuggets that you contribute to the site. While there are many tools out there, we have had mixed success with them.

So today and going forward, when you are posting a comment you will be posed a simple addition problem to prove that you are human, and not some soul sucking spambot that is out to drive us crazy. Just answer the question and it will get your comment into the moderation cue so that we can find it and approve it as quickly as we can.

If you see something not working right with the comments, please send me an email at tom at scaredmonkeys.com so I can get it fixed. Since we are testing this out, we may have bugs pop up, so let us know so we can fix them faster! Thanks

55 Responses to “New Comments Tool – Or A Little Addition Means A Subtraction in Spam”

1. Miss-Underestimated on January 25th, 2007 9:22 am

   Crud, I failed math,
   But I save a bundle on my ….

2. chris on January 25th, 2007 9:27 am

   I think haha

3. Rammstein on January 25th, 2007 9:29 am

   great idea, I hope it keeps the robots away.

   —–

   me too, except for “Robot” himself. I like him.

    Tom

4. Brenda on January 25th, 2007 10:36 am

   Maybe this will improve the quality of what we have to read through to get to the good stuff….

   Brenda

5. klaasend on January 25th, 2007 11:07 am

   Testing.

6. Richard on January 25th, 2007 11:38 am

   I tried it and there were no problems. Even a politician ought to be able to do it. Well, that could be a stretch ….

7. San on January 25th, 2007 12:33 pm

   Test.

   ___________

   SM:   Thanks for testing San! (klaasend)

8. JusticeforNatalee on January 25th, 2007 12:35 pm

   I passed! I passed! LOL

9. nychic on January 25th, 2007 12:42 pm

   Brenda -

   I Have A Feeling This Will Not Keep “JohnM et al”
   From Posting !
   Who Knows – Maybe He Cannot Add !

10. Kimmy on January 25th, 2007 12:45 pm

    I thought this might be hard math!! LOLOLOL

11. 2NJSons_Mom on January 25th, 2007 12:47 pm

    I’m glad it wasn’t geometry or algebra!

12. Momto2boys on January 25th, 2007 1:38 pm

    Yikes! It said 9+2 does not = 11
    I feel stupid, but what’s wrong with that? lol

13. Sunny on January 25th, 2007 1:52 pm

    testing!

14. Mere on January 25th, 2007 2:00 pm

    Hi Tom….I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night…
    knew I could do it….although this is my second try…!
    Mere

15. 2NJSons_Mom on January 25th, 2007 2:02 pm

    Test #13

16. 2NJSons_Mom on January 25th, 2007 2:05 pm

    Test #15

17. 2NJSons_Mom on January 25th, 2007 2:07 pm

    Test-Test

18. Mere on January 25th, 2007 2:31 pm

    Am I spam???

19. 2NJSons_Mom on January 25th, 2007 2:34 pm

    Test #20

20. 2NJSons_Mom on January 25th, 2007 2:36 pm

    Test #25

21. 2NJSons_Mom on January 25th, 2007 2:36 pm

    ttt

22. 2NJSons_Mom on January 25th, 2007 2:39 pm

    tttt

23. Mere on January 25th, 2007 2:41 pm

    This is my third try….#1 and #2 did not show up….Mere

24. 2NJSons_Mom on January 25th, 2007 2:42 pm

    jj

25. 2NJSons_Mom on January 25th, 2007 2:42 pm

    tt

26. 2NJSons_Mom on January 25th, 2007 2:45 pm

    ssss

27. 2NJSons_Mom on January 25th, 2007 2:46 pm

    aaa

28. 2NJSons_Mom on January 25th, 2007 2:47 pm

    rrr

29. 2NJSons_Mom on January 25th, 2007 2:48 pm

    rrrr

30. 2NJSons_Mom on January 25th, 2007 2:49 pm

    sssss

31. 2NJSons_Mom on January 25th, 2007 2:50 pm

    wwww

32. 2NJSons_Mom on January 25th, 2007 2:53 pm

    zzzzz

33. another on January 25th, 2007 3:19 pm

    9 and 3 equals 12 which means 1 plus 2 equals 3 and 3 times 3 equals 9 which when added to 3 equals 12 — didn’t I just say that?

34. jerry from ohio on January 25th, 2007 3:46 pm

    OMG !!!!!~
    I didn’t know there was going to be a TEST !!!
    and I didn’t even study !
    No Problem , I knew right away it was 31 :+)

35. slogmonster on January 25th, 2007 3:56 pm

    Oh shoot! What is the sum of 2 and 0? Ummmmmm….dang I’ll never be able to post a comment again

36. jerry from ohio on January 25th, 2007 3:57 pm

    WOW !!! I didn’t know there was gonna be a test !! and again I didn’t study .
    That Darn Klaas Red and Tom all runnin around with those funny shirts with all the big Red zeros on them ROFLMAO !!!
    Sommetimes I just break my self up LOL!
    Uh OH Here comes Tom,Red and the Klaas woman to help break me up somemore :+)—–> Fleeing —->

    Ol Jer from Ohio
    Im a little wild and a crazy too some girls don’t like Boys like me , awe but some Girls do ! hehehe Very wicked Grin wink wink Looking very Sly at Klaas and Mrs Red

37. San on January 25th, 2007 4:18 pm

    Test.

38. Tibrogargan on January 25th, 2007 4:55 pm

    I could not help myself – I had to test it.
    Spam buster is a great idea. Now all we need is a Troll Buster.

39. Patti on January 25th, 2007 4:58 pm

    Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3.

40. Mere on January 25th, 2007 5:40 pm

    Tibro….maybe it will work for them also….maybe
    they will not be able to add….! Mere

41. Scared Monkeys on January 25th, 2007 5:43 pm

    Jerry

    We created the test so that the number will not exceed your toes and fingers, barring any sort of injury.

    We are a caring web site and want to hear from you.

    Tom

42. Patti on January 25th, 2007 5:43 pm

    test

43. snoopy on January 25th, 2007 6:11 pm

    Hello!!

44. OldFart on January 25th, 2007 6:14 pm

    spam test

45. buckeye on January 25th, 2007 6:30 pm

    Will this work at home??

46. mayan_moons on January 25th, 2007 7:03 pm

    lol

47. mayan_moons on January 25th, 2007 7:04 pm

    hahaha ahhhh yay it worked!

48. slogmonster on January 25th, 2007 8:18 pm

    What is the sum of 4 and 0, hey how come I get all the dumb ones?
    I don’t know if anyone has posted this yet but on a more serious note it’s being reported at BFN that Jamie Skeeters died yesterday.

    ____________

    SM:   Sadly it’s true (klaasend)

49. Tidycat on January 25th, 2007 8:55 pm

    This math is a great idea.

    I am so sorry to hear about Jamie Skeeters. That is so sad. I’m also sorry that we will not hear any more from him about what actually was going on with that tape and his hard drive and the FBI, etc.

    I will go search SM for more info on Jamie. Thanks.

50. IndyDan on January 25th, 2007 8:55 pm

    Chic:
    At one time johnm claimed to be a math teacher, either retired or retarded, can’t remember. The obvious give-away was always the lack of grammer/punctuation skills. Maybe Tom should have incorporated both math and language tests to filter out the trash. LOL
    I’m glad it’s just a Spam filter and not a troll filter, where would we be without our trolls?

51. jerry from ohio on January 25th, 2007 10:11 pm

    Awe I also am sorry about Jamie tis a shame that good folks die way too young .
    And to Tom am glad that ya all still want me around is a great group of folks that you and Red have brought on board Tom many great thinkers and a lot of wisdom as well as a lot of fun Thanks Jerry from Ohio

52. justinsmama on January 25th, 2007 10:52 pm

    I HAD to try this!

53. Sleuth on January 26th, 2007 1:08 am

    Is this to avoid the Canashito brand of Spam? hehe

    My response to the math question is exactly how many I think are directly involved in Natalee’s demise…..

54. kay zee ess on January 26th, 2007 10:05 am

    Seems Scared Monkeys has a lot of faith in the intellectual capacity of its viewers.

    Although seeing some(not all) comments made by some posters here, there may very well be a quantum leap in the quality of comments on many of the posts here, as those leaving their juvenile rants will be unable to access the board to make their respective comment.

    Hmm, maybe SM should use the “copy the word” after all.

55. dennisintn on January 26th, 2007 2:47 pm

    #4l, surely you realize there will be a class action suit brought against sm by the digitally challenged.
    dennisintn

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