Comment moderation in WP 1.0 is a giant step in the direction of reducing comment spam. I had used a manual method of weeding out comment spam (by going through all comments long after they were posted and had made some damage) for some time, but WP 1.0 takes it one step further. With comment moderation turned on, a message is posted above the comments, which tells the readers that moderation is turned on and the comments posted will not show up on the blog until it is approved by the admin of the blog (which is a deterrent to comment spam by itself). Every time a comment is posted on your blog, you get an email notification (which can be turned on or off) to approve the comment that is posted. You can approve or delete comments by bulk or singly. I envision checking my blog once a day (when I post or make changes) to weed through the comments and authorize the ones I think are fit. Most of the internals of this process can be turned on or off and can be modified to satisfaction. It really is a very interesting and versatile feature which can help tremendously in comment spam moderation. It is also a stepping stone for further automation of comment spam reduction using autonomous/learning methods. Check out WordPress 1.0 Platinum for yourself and see what I mean.
Sounds like too much hard work to me..
Give it a shot. It is not as complicated as it sounds. Check out the test blog I have setup at http://weblogtoolscollection.compress/
Automated comment moderation is definately a plus to have with blogs. I run several blogs and I find it easier to let the filters grab alot of the spammy stuff like people stuffing links into a comment field and not really adding much to the discussion. Obvious stuff. However being able to approve comments through emails coming over can be a big plus for those of us that are busy and I’d agree with you that this definately is a good thing.
LOL, you got a comment on a post from 2004. However, I’d like to point something out.
Funny, that is pretty much how fighting comment spam has come to be. Good eyesight there Mark.
Sometimes posts from 2004 carry more weight than posts from 2008 Jeff. Believe it or not I came across this post looking for information about fighting spam on my blog and thought it to still be relevant and to add my 2 cents to this older discussion. Thanks to Mark for finding my post relevant. Take care.