Stop Spammers and Other Scumbags with a Custom Blacklist

Jeff Starr — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 09:15:07 +0000

I usually reserve most of my blacklisting content for Perishable Press, but after posting about using WordPress’ built-in tools to stop comment spam, several DiW readers have asked about a good custom blacklist that may be used for the “Comment Moderation” and/or “Comment Blacklist” features in the WordPress “Discussion Settings” screen. Over the years, I have built up an extensive custom blacklist of terms that has proven quite effective at keeping spam and other garbage out of the comments section, even without using any anti-spam plugins such as Akismet. It’s strictly plug-n-play, and should help protect your site (and reputation) against all sorts of malicious nonsense. So without further ado..

(Caution: the blacklist contains several instances of profanity in order to keep vile language out of your comments.)

Custom WordPress Comment Moderation Blacklist

The idea is simple: copy and paste this custom blacklist into the Comment Moderation field in your WordPress Admin area, which will look something like this:

The ‘Comment Moderation’ field in the WordPress ‘Discussion Settings’ Area

Here is the list, in all of its offensive pharmaceutical, gambling, sex-industry glory (see notes afterward for more information on usage and functionality):

Ð´
Ð¸
Ð¶
Ð§
Ð‘
. ,
? ,
[url=
[/url]
thx
sex
byob
nude
loan
debt
poze
bdsm
soma
visa
hotel
paxil
anime
naked
poker
coolhu
cialis
incest
casino
dating
payday
rental
ambien
holdem
cialis
adipex
booker
youtube
myspace
advicer
flowers
finance
freenet
-online
shemale
meridia
cumshot
trading
adderall
gambling
roulette
top-site
mortgage
pharmacy
dutyfree
ownsthis
duty-free
insurance
ringtones
insurance
blackjack
hair-loss
bllogspot
baccarrat
thorcarlson
jrcreations
credit card
macinstruct
hydrocodone
leading-site
slot-machine
carisoprodol
ottawavalleyag
cyclobenzaprine
discreetordering
aceteminophen
augmentation
enhancement
phentermine
doxycycline
citalopram
cephalaxin
vicoprofen
lorazepam
oxycontin
oxycodone
percocet
propecia
tramadol
propecia
percocet
cymbalta
lunestra
fioricet
lesbian
lexapro
valtrex
titties
xenical
meridia
levitra
vicodin
ephedra
lipitor
breast
cyclen
viagra
valium
hqtube
ultram
clomid
cyclen
vioxx
zolus
pussy
porno
xanax
bitch
penis
pills
male
porn
dick
cock
tits
fuck
shit
gay
ass
gdf
gds

As mentioned, to use this list, just copy/paste into your Comment Moderation field and you’re done. Along the way, you may find that additional terms are needed, or that certain terms need removed. Feel free to tweak according to the specific needs of your site. It’s all good :)

A couple of notes about this blacklist:

The first five or so characters are effective at blocking 99% of nonsensical Russian spam.
The period/comma entries block a recent rash of spam that included these particular strings.
Most of the terms are highly specific to spam comments and should keep false positives at a minimum.
Even so, it is recommended that this custom blacklist be used as a “Comment Moderation” list and not as a “Comment Blacklist” in order to retain your ability to screen for false positives.
Additional terms are easily added by appending the list with the character string on its own line.
It would be great to build this blacklist up a little further. If you have your own distinct collection of terms, let me know and I will add them to the list.

Any questions/comments/concerns welcome in the comments area.

Digging into WordPress » blacklist

Stop Spammers and Other Scumbags with a Custom Blacklist

Custom WordPress Comment Moderation Blacklist